Why am I so optimistic about the Lightning?
Wednesday, 7. January 2009
The Bolts have been a bad team for a couple seasons now and they have become a laughing stock inside the NHL with the circus that they created since acquired by Oren Koules. They are playing better lately but still aren’t anywhere close to the realm of contention and yet I still believe they will be soon. Why? I have come up with some reasons, though they may be lame, and I’ll lay them out for you.
- I like Rick Tocchet. He has the kind of personality that makes you believe he’s got things going in the right direction. He’s a disciplinarian but he seems to have a good relationship with his players and that shows the type of people skills you want in a coach and the team plays hard for him. We’ll see if his plan works, but I like him up top for now.
- We still have Marty and Vinny. Anytime a team has two scoring machines like these guys, they could get hot and jump into contention any minute. Vinny has been hampered with a bad shoulder and looks to have lost something, but he’s not old and I think we all believe he’ll take off at some point. The problem with that statement by itself is that we all have been sort of waiting for the huge season since his arrival. Vinny works hard and has a good attitude but it seems like he’s content with being a star and not a superstar. Vinny has never put together one of those seasons where he just completely distances himself from the rest of the pack and yet for some reason we still believe he will. Puzzler. Marty is Marty and there’s no denying what he is, the ultimate hockey player in someone else’s body. Hope carries us here.
- The defense and goaltenders have showed improvement. There have been a couple solid performances but it hasn’t been consistent enough yet to say they get it, but they look to be on their way. We’re all waiting for them to show more than flashes of it, but the spurts give us hope.
All in all, we may have just overrated this team the last couple years and that’s why we’ve been disappointed and they just are what they are, but I still take the road of optimism here. Even in laying these points out I’m not convinced myself, but every time I watch this team I think it’s coming. They head to Phoenix for a tough one tomorrow so maybe the good team will show and give us more hope. If not, maybe I just need to drink more when watching this club.
