Even though his team won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021 and reached the Finals in the three years prior to last spring, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper still has the aftertaste of a first-round exit to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Judging by his comments to the Toronto Sun newspaper, the rivalry between the Florida team and the Auston Matthews gang is alive and well. The Leafs and the Bolts crossed swords in the first round in the last two seasons and the scenario remains a possible possibility for 2024. Furthermore, Cooper still expects strong resistance from the Queen City, where key offensive threats like John Tavares, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Matthews are all back.
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“You can logically say that it was not the right team that won these two series: they dominated us in 2022 and we won. The following year we dominated them and they had the upper hand, he reflected. I know there is still a lot of anger in Toronto about the Leafs, but they have a pretty strong team. They were unlucky in the series. However, with the squad they have put together, their players and their staff, they are too good not to win in the playoffs.”
“By triumphing in the first round against a club that had beaten them the previous year and reached the final three years in a row, they took a big step forward,” he continued.
Dangerous section
In addition to the Leafs, there will be a few other rivals to keep an eye on, according to the Lightning pilot. In particular, there are the Boston Bruins, who will have difficulty recovering from the retirement of Patrice Bergeron.
“They lost a generational player. […] His successes in the city outside of the rink exceeded what he accomplished on the rink, he said. They’ll miss it, just like David Krejci, but you don’t win 65 games [comme ce fut le cas en 2022-2023] I’m only expecting two people. They rely on a core that knows how to win. Your group of players knows how to play. They have too many talented athletes and are too well managed to experience a precipitous fall.”
While he believes the current core of the Lightning roster — Steven Stamkos, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman and Brayden Point — will bring the franchise about five years of success, Cooper also had good words for the Reds. Wings, the Senators and the Sabres, all excluded from the 2023 playoffs.
“Our first trip of the season will take us to Detroit, Ottawa and Buffalo. A few years ago we would have finished with at least four points, maybe more. But last year, when Detroit was healthy, he gave us problems. The same was true for Ottawa and Buffalo. Derek [Lalonde, des Wings] got better a year, like Don [Granato, des Sabres]. What if DJ Smith’s group [des Sénateurs] remains in good condition, you can put the names in a hat because we don’t know what’s going to happen.”