Tocchet: "We're within striking distance"

Take this, perhaps, as coach-speak optimism but when assessing where the Lightning is in the playoff race, coach Rick Tocchet said his sights still are on winning the division title. Entering Wednesday's games, Tampa Bay was nine points behind the leading Capitals and with a game in hand.

The key, Tocchet said, is not having any more slumps such as the 2-7-5 downturn in which the team is stuck at the moment.

"We don't have any of those left," Tocchet said. "We can't go through those long slumps like we're going through now. We have to get our act together. We're nine points out with Washington. Still plenty of time; we're within striking distance. But the urgency has to be there. We can't let that hole get deeper and deeper."

Tocchet said he can't complain with the effort of most of the players on the three-game road trip that ended 0-2-1. He did, though, take issue with the mentality of the team that, as he said, is waiting for bad things to happen instead of making good things happen.

"If it's 1-1 or we're up 2-1, don't wait for things to happen," Tocchet said. "We have the mentality, what bad is going to happen? Is it going to be a bad call? Is it going to be a bad goal? If you have that mentality, you're on your heels. I want our players to be on their toes, go, go. Don't worry about things you can't control. You can control your game. We're waiting for bad things to happen."

And as the team has proved, when that is the case, bad things usually do.

Other stuff: The good news is that center Steven Stamkos, with three goals and 10 points, is now tied for eighth among rookies. Not bad considering he had points in only two of his first 17 games. ... Center Chris Gratton (lower body believed to be a knee) and wing Gary Roberts (groin) did not practice and will not play Thursday against the Bruins. ... Goaltender Mike Smith will start. ... Tocchet praised rookie Radek Smolenak for his grittiness and Paul Szczechura for his willingness to backcheck. "I really enjoyed coaching those guys," Tocchet said. "I really think they're going to add something to our team." ... Smith skipped all of Wednesday's practice while Vinny Lecavalier and Ryan Malone left halfway through for body maintenance. "Lower body," Lecavalier said. "That's all I'm saying."

Comments

[Steve R]

Ajax, to put things in perspective re: the Bolts being in striking distance of the Caps:

Semin out 10 games and still has more points by a large margin than any Bolt

Green (a D-man) out 8 games and has more points than all but 2 Bolts

Other starters out for a good block of time: Poti, Schultz, Erskine, Clark. 4 defensive starters out, plus our captain and the guy who was leading the league in most offensive catagories before being hurt....

You're 11 points back of us with one game in hand. We're going to get some serious firepower back in the line up soon and will look a lot less like our AHL team. You really think you're going to catch us when we're healthy when you couldn't catch us when we're hurt?

[hockeytalkie]

Tocchet: "We're within striking distance"
just keep drinking that Koules Aid, Toch, and you'll be asleep soon.

whoo hoo! only two and a half more weeks until training camp ends.

[Guilty]

Hey can someone answer a question for me? 7 years ago when the cops slapped the first of many pairs of handcuffs on me, Vinny was a bright young star. Since then it sounds like he's had one great year. Why the heck was an underachieving bust given the C? Did staring at metal bars day after day screw with my mind, or is this nuts?

[Guilty]

OK-wait a second. I was a bad boy and got caught and just did hard time for the last 7 years and need to catch up. We won a stanley cup, then had 2 years of mediocrity, then have totally sucked? Wow, it's gotten weird. And Brad Richards is gone? When the cops came to pick me up, I was actually watching a bolts game where they were talking about how he and V4 were so great. I actually remember as they put the handcuffs on me watching Ritchy put one in!

[hockeytalkie]

PD

actually you're right. he only spent parts of 4 years in TOR (2 full), and parts of 4 in NJ (3 full), which is what he spent here in TB (3 and a half), right?

in BUF he's top 10 in most every signif category and top 3 in many of those. TOR has plenty of history w/o him.

[PD]

Andy had a great career but I don't see him as any Leaf legend.

More Buffalo and Tbay.

[PD]

DW right back, thx

Plates, project much?

[hockeytalkie]

one more thing on "not in BUF and TOR's rafters". dave is from hamilton, ont. which is about as close to halfway btwn those two nhl cities as you can get. could any kid growing up ask for anything more as far as who he played mst of his career for? maybe they're both waiting for him to be a HOFer first, then both do it in the same season... perhaps when BUF @ TOR, then later in same week TOR @ BUF. now that would be awesome!

hyjyljyj -i agree with you(and feaster) on what codifies the honor. hard to say BB19 doesn't deserve it. 40/40 on that expansion team was utterly amazing. and everyone wanted him at every trade deadline after that too. he was definitely a beacon on a hill back then.

coach bill -32 years, bravo! my dad taught at a prep school for 13 (english and spanish). when the school closed the local public school system wanted him, but unfortunately the could/would not give him credit/tenure for the previous 13. so he'd have to start over at base pay. well it was 1963 and he had 4 kids to that point so base pay ($1,200 i think) was not an option. he borrowed some money, bought a bar and ran that for the next 21 instead. i'll still run into his former students today and they ALL, to a man, speak of him as if he was the robin williams character in Dead Poet's Society. some even make the direct comparison. it broke his heart that he wasn't able to teach formally ever again. but he had to feed his family. enough of that let's get back to hockey.

re VL4 and the C.
i think i already said this, but my insider had said long ago (in 2003) that neither VL4 or MSL were captain types. they kind of come in do their own thing and go home. BR19, FM33 and DB22 were the three that he had observed as the young leaders. moreover those 3 commanded way more respect from the officials than VL4 ever will. Halpurn (if he makes it back)and Malone are the two that i'd recommend at the moment.

something else to note. the story of Andy, the C, how he got it and the cup run of 2004 is actual quite unique. those of you who are looking at it as a blue-print to win are being short sighted. you don't just sign a cup-less geezer, give him the C and start winning. there was a whole lot that when into building that team. we really had lightning in a bottle (sorry for the pun) that year and the lock out/salary cap, etc flushed the chance for more away. but that's life, eh?

[hyjyljyj]

32 yrs as a teacher, hats off to Bill. That is indeed quite a record to be proud of, esp. since research shows most people's greatest fear is speaking in front of a group. Maybe if a person does what they fear, every day, the fear disappears eventually. A lot of Ed.D.s out there would differ w/you that teaching can't be taught, but I'm sure it's like anything--the student has to have the basic makeup to handle what's being taught, as well as motivation, or they'll never get it. Like, I did fine in school except for Cs in trig and calculus, yet I would never make it as an accountant. Just not cut out for it. Maybe Dave just isn't cut out to coach, or they'd have his lanky self behind the bench already.

Speaking of The Captain, I had a bit of a lengthy chat with Feaster about raising his #25 to the rafters, and the reasonable upshot of it was that they felt they needed to codify more specifically what qualified a player to have that honor. Leading a team from 50 losses a season to the Stanley Cup through leadership by example, intense commitment and a sheer heaving effort of the will...that should do it, but whatever. I don't think COL should have retired Bourque's number after one measly season on a team ALREADY on the brink of a championship. That was for BOS to do.

That Dave's number isn't retired in BUF or TOR amazes me, but it sure would have made common sense to me and a host of other fans to raise that puppy to the roof in Tampa along with the division, conference and Cup banners. Too late now

[Hockey Chic]

Morning fellow posters,

Well since my name came up figured it was time to chime in. VOTT I liked the post in that it would be nice to have some other affiliation with Capt Dave than the bar across the street and him working with the radio/tv personality shows.

That being said GM he is not. Dave is and will always be just a player and our beloved Captain and that is what he would want to be known for. IMHO he never really wanted to be in the lime light he just wanted to lead the team and so he did.

This franchise still needs a leader. Vinny is trying but I am not sure he has it in him. You either have it or you don't.

Even I think Tochhet and Lawton are pushing it with winning the division at this point. Hell I would take a win right now and go from there.

Lets see what happens. As a friend of mine said, it is still early in the season.

See ya at the game. Yes this is the chic just trying to change the MO.

Lets go lightning.....

[hockeytalkie]

VOTT et al,

your thoughts on Dave25 are sentimental but not really sound. have you ever spoken to Dave for more than 5 minutes? if so you'd know exactly why he would not make a good GM. a GM does a lot more than just sit at a desk, wear nice suites, pull the trigger on trades/ufa signings and attend the league meetings (at least some do). there are a whole host of things -office mgt. things- that fall under the GMs umbrella that a guy like Dave would not know AND care nothing about. i cannot imagine Dave25 negotiating a contract with a player's agent. it's the same reason Howe never coached or GM-ed. DET gave him a job as long as he wanted, but knew he had no biz making real biz decissions. in short i think it would be like the Yankees actually hiring george costanza... except that he (dave) wouldn't buy Jon Voight's car or John Voight's car either. :-) Dave doesn't run that bar across the street, he merely lends his name and $ to it, same with Neckar's rolling cigar bar. as i understand it, his wife owns a beauty spa of some sort in new tpa, but i dont believe he's signing checks over there either.

not crazy about 25 being a coach. a good coach is like captain "squared". not only does he have to reach different players on different levels, he also has to TEACH them. 25 was fab in the locker room, could adjust to the role he was asked to play and could tell his line mates where to stand on his face-offs. but i never thought of Dave as a tactician or student of the game.

not too sure about putting the 25 in the rafters either. that's really a job for BUF or TOR to do first, dont you think? lets see what sweater he wears at his HHOF induction then decide.

one final thought, ever notice how many of the HOFers in any sport make it as coaches? not many. for every bill russel, there's 5 gretzkys. it's usually the b/up QB, the bench warmer, the utility infielder or the 3rd liners that coach successfully. it must have something to with watching so much of the game for so long during their formative years.

[plates]

PD, did you get fired from the Lightning?? Or get beat up by Barrie when you were younger?? Your posts are full of jealousy and insecurity and show that you not really interested in the Lightning at all. Until you get some therapy, start a blog to deal with your major insecurities so we can keep this blog about the Bolts.

[Mike13]

I think that I finally figured out what's wrong with the Bolts.

They forgot to come up with a nonsense slogan at the beginning of the season.

6=8

[PD]

Vott the concept with Andy is sound but even if they named him GM it wouldn't work..reason simple and you guys continuously just gloss this over..Len Barrie runs the club and all personnel issues start and end with him. Cronyisn is king with Len.

Tough to lead when the players know the score.

Lawton and Tocchet are nice guys but minimum wage , no experience in the position, just glad to have the job, guys.

I'm sure Stevr can point it out but the Caps have palyed without 6 of their best players for a few weeks ie Semen, Federov ect and they still haven't lost at home. Catching them would be the upset of the year.

Ajax your player list really is astounding and does give a bit of credence to my not better different.
How many of those guys were D men? I bet half at least.

[olin]

...I like it too VOTT. Alway's thought Capt. should be somewhere other than community relation's. Definitly #25 need's to go to the rafter's, and would be a very wise choice to be the GM. He could have an assistant for the legal dramatic's. I also like Tocchet as coach for time being. See what he can do. He deserve's a shot.
Forget about Laviolette, he would be just another revolving circus episode. Stand pat for time being - see how it goes.

[ajax]

A buddy in my group said he heard on a talk radio show the following. I would like to post it each and every Friday this year as it says alot about where we are at and about "expectations" The Lightning have already dressed 34 different players this year. Staggering total. But even more staggering: 21 of them were not on our team last year. Says alot about the need to be patient and build. With that knowledge, I apologize for any negative I might have said. I apologize in advance for every single blog of PD's for the past 4 months. Give it sometime. Build for the future. It isn't like we have missed the playoffs for 3 seasons in a row.

[Boltflasher]

Coach Bill, will give you a call tomorrow about Bruins!
Thanks

[Boltflasher]

So, Carolina has panicked. Canes are currently in the last and precarious 8th playoff spot. I think their financial situation played a significant role in their coaching change. They are scared to death that they might not get in the playoffs and appear to have gone into panic mode with Ward going down.

[BrianB23]

Hey, Peter Laviolette just got fired from Carolina. Let's bring him in!

[ajax]

I so much like Rick Tocchet. He says things that I haven't heard under past regimes. Patience please Lord. I think he is a good teacher and I think that is what we need with so many new faces etc etc. Break-outs, crash the net, move your feet, play to win versus sitting on your heels. So much of it is an inherited mindset and the newness of trusting each other. Tocchet for President. Faith, Hope etc etc. Tomorrow they will get killed, but I now rest my hope with our new leader. So they made a huge mistake with Melrose. Anyone ever ask out the wrong girl?? The past is the past. Now win the division?? That is even more optimistic than Hockey Chic. But we are in a crud division and it won't take much to actually do it. Washington has looked absolutely horrible the last three weeks. I would give anything, ANYTHING, for two playoff games. That is my Xmas wish. Of course if they do make the playoffs I will be peepeed if they don't make it further. Har Har.
Can't wait to read PD and how he will blast Tocchet, should be juicy reading from the grinch tonight.

[Boltflasher]

GREAT comment VOTT!! Why not make him an "honorary" captain and assistant coach that will travel with the team and do all those "extra" things that he can do best...great idea VOTT!

[Herb]

Another reason for the inability for the Bolts to score goal in any situation is because there is NEVER!!!!! anyone who stands in front of the net. The Flyers scored 3 goals with traffic in front of the net. I can't count the number of times that the Bolts center passes in front of the net with no one there to drive them home. The Bolts would rather stand behind the net for some stupid reason.

[Herb]

Mike p, You are right. The only thing this version of the Bolts will do is get the first overall pick.

[The Voice of the Turtle]

Looking at the results and watching body language, one gets the sense that Tocchet is quite correct when he indicates that the Bolts are suffering from a negative mind set. The problem is igniting the spirit of these guys. Often a few good wins against credible opponents will start the ball rolling, but sustaining the competitive zeal throughout the season is a more difficult task.

I had thought that Lecavalier was an excellent choice to serve as team captain. It appeared to me that his time had come. There were a few voices on this site that held out question. I am now wondering if their skepticism was not warranted.

By contrast, the recollection of Dave Andreychuk's heroics and leadership skills bear on my mind. He called team meetings and barred the coaches, he started traditions (like not stepping on the logo), he led by example, and he inspired his teammates. Dave made the Bolts proud of themselves as individuals and as a team. He took an outpost NHL franchise on his back, touching the right buttons with players, fans, and all the cynical doubters around the NHL.

Is it too late to instigate a some kind of stronger connection between Dave and the 2008-9 Lightning? Here are some ideas:

1) If it would not create a problems with Rick Tocchet, Dave might be added to the coaching staff.

or

2) Give Dave a shot at GM. Its time to get rid of that inexperienced and mistake-prone flubadub, Brian Lawton, anyway.

and

3) Let's get Dave's number up on the rafters ASAP with a major tribute before some game. Let the current Bolts stand there and watch the ceremony to see how a hero is to be remembered.

Any of these ideas could re-energize fans and get these guys tuned in to the one bright spot in Lightning history.

Do any of you have any better ideas?

[Boltflasher]

Division Title?...they will do well to get out of the cellar and compete, maybe for the last, playoff spot. Tocchet has to talk Div title because of Barrie's comments earlier...

[mike p]

Yea, Tampa Bay is also within striking distance of another #1 overall pick. Could go either way...what do you guys think?

[HockeyBay.com]

Ahhhh, 24 6 10 8 does Toch read the Standings? .. Peter Laviolette is available Koules Aid!