before making a blanket judgement like that based on one years playoffs, why dont we see what happens this year? they have one of the top goalies (vasi), top wingers (kucherov), top defenseman (hedman), and tons of depth. if they get smacked out again i may side with you, but even though a stanley cup is the ultimate goal, its harder to predict due to the limited sample size and therefore more random than a long regular season, something they excel at.

as a blues fan, i understand playoff failures happen. its all too easy to have a bad week or two.

I agree with you on the small sample size. It was one bad week and they were booted out.

Shit happens. Every team has been caught with their pants down at some point.


The problem I have with it is how they responded to the sweep. In particular how coach John Cooper handled it.

When your entire press conference consists of groveling, making excuses, and whining that you did not play meaningful hockey for an extended period which resulted in players losing their edge you have a problem. The coach has to keep the players focused. He failed to do that.

Now the Bolts are riding high on a huge win streak. At the rate things are going they could be presidents trophy winners again. The same scenario could unfold heading into the playoffs.

A hungry team that had to scratch and claw right up to the final game to make the playoffs will be sharp. Tampa will have the luxury of coasting down the stretch again. If they run into a fiesty team like the Islanders or even the Blue Jackets again it won't be easy for them.

This post was edited by Killingyouall on Feb 16 2020 11:00am

This time Tampa has the monkey on their back of last years absolute embarrassment. They won't forget about that. No one else will let them forget about that.