Not surprising at all. GL to Stevie Y and Derek.

lol 😂

I mean, a lot of people saw a hiring from Tampa coming. All the other teams hiring while we didn’t make a peep. It really wasn’t that hard to predict lol.

@@MrHunterbg Perhaps not, but the rumblings in my world, not following it very closely, spoke of Fedorov, The Trotz, and even Larionov’s name was bandied about. Was it known that Lar LaLonde would be leaving Primus, I mean the Lightning?

As an assistant though keep that in mind. I'd have Derek on a short leash, I'll give him a couple seasons 1 season to let the team learn the systems and another season to be all in. Blashill had winning experience at other levels as well. I'm taking that with a grain of salt. No head coaching experience at the NHL level is concerning.

@@slaybomb96 I mean, you're free to see it however you see it but I don't see these two as being THAT comparable. It's one thing to win championships at the AHL, it's another to be the reason the team made it over the hump and started winning cups in the NHL. Don't forget, Tampa wasn't having a ton of playoff success until Lalonde came in and really put them over the edge with his attention-to-the-details mindset.

@@CertifiedClapaholic Look at the team he came into and Cooper was already in there. My whole point is having no head coaching experience and we saw how that turned out for Blashill. We don't need another decade of losing.

@@slaybomb96 are you a younger fan? I don't really understand the lack of faith in the Yzerman decision to hire this guy. We're not in for a decade of losing. I see us being a cup contender by around 2024, and see us winning one by 2027 (give or take a couple of seasons), depending on how things play out.

@@slaybomb96 And Cooper was there but he wasn't winning cups until Lalonde came along.