Everyone knows how Coop was one of the very few coaches that dominated the 2010s decade and had kept it up in the 2020s so far as well.
In the Olympic 2013-2014 season, Coop was in his first full season in the NHL (2nd altogether having been promoted midway into the previous dreadful 2012-13 lockout year the year before) and was a finalist for the Jack Adams for the first time.
The Bolts got back to the playoffs for the first time since 2011 that year. This was despite not having Stammer in the lineup for 45 plus games due to that broken leg and breaking a 344 game iron man streak up to that day and wasn’t able to get to 100% recovered in time for the Olympic Games after having been one of the players to have been named to the preliminary roster not playing cause of that and coming back a week or two after the tourney ended, but got upset in a sweep Habs (which was kind of a blessing in disguise since it showed them how to tighten up in future years that led to those lengthy runs the next 2 years after and in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 as well).
The Bolts started the year off on a surge mainly because the first line of Stammer, St. Louis and Killorn being so dynamic. After Stammer went down, people expected the Bolts to crumble but instead the guys rallied behind him and continued their consistency.
Guys like St. Louis not letting age slow him down and Killer having a breakout sophomore season set the tone offensively still and Hedman stepped up big as well both offensively and defensively. Even guys like Palat, Connolly, Bishop, Johnson, Panik, etc had lot of clutch moments. A lot of these players like Palat, Panik, Johnny, etc were familiar with Coop’s system from the AHL not long prior and it transitioned to the NHL beautifully.
Marty was once again a Lady Byng finalist (which went to ROR deservedly so) and Palat and Johnny were both finalist for the Calder (which deservedly went to MacKinnon) And Bish was a Vezina finalist for the first time (which went to Rask and was absolutely well earned by him).
This brilliant season the Bolts and Coop had despite major circumstances like not having their biggest icon in 45 contests is why I think Coop should’ve had the Jack Adams.
Don't get me wrong the Avs had a great year too getting the 2nd seed in the West and getting into playoffs for the first time since 2010 (after being awful the previous 3 years before and the next 3 years after) and Roy was a major reason for that (before blowing a 3-2 lead in round 1 vs the plucky seventh seeded Wild and losing to them in 7), but they were much healthier and didn’t have to deal with as much adversity as the bolts did and the team as a whole whether it was the offense, defense, 5v5 play, pp, pk were all mediocre at best (at least compared to Tampa) and Varlamov bailed those deficiencies out on such a rapid basis.
I don’t think Coop was robbed of the Jack Adams at all in 2019, but him not getting it in 2014 will always be criminal to me.3mo 
The Hockey NewsIn 2016, we all knew Holtby was going to win the Vezina as he should've as biased as that might sound since I am a Caps fan lol. But yea he did have an insane 48-9-7 record, 3 shutouts, .922 save percentage and 2.07 GAA in the 2015-2016 season as the Caps won the first of two straight Presidents Trophies and second in team history altogether.
We all knew Ben Bishop was gonna be second too as he should've since he had a splendid season with a 35-21-4 record, 6 shutouts, .926 save percentage and 2.00 GAA.
But man I believe the third finalist should've been Crawford. This is because he had a higher save percentage despite a weaker defensive team and he had a career year with a 35-18-5 record, 35 wins being a career high, a league leading and career high 7 shutouts, a .924 save percentage and a 2.37 GAA. All of these things came with the Hawks having dreadful defense and penalty kill. While the offense, PP and the 5v5 play were all still elite with still stacked depth, the defense and the PK was an embarrassment and Crawford bailed out that tumultuous defense and pk on so many occasions.
Obviously Quick had a tremendous 2015-2016 year as well with a 40-23-5 record, .918 save percentage and 2.22 GAA but the Kings while they were far worse offensively, they were so much better defensively than the Hawks.
We all knew Crow had that concussion on March 17, 2016 in practice that cost him 3 weeks of action and may have played a role in why he finished 5th in the voting instead of 3rd, but I am not going to bother bringing that up because injury what if's would take away from the points I am trying to make.4mo The Hockey News Introduction
I genuinely don’t understand why some people keep pushing for 1–16 like it’s some galaxy-brain fix for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Yes, the current divisional format has problems. Everyone knows that and has for quite some time, but jumping straight to 1–16 ignores how the modern NHL actually works.
1–8 by conference like they did in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s fixes the real issues today. The biggest complaint fans have is "elite teams getting punished for being in stacked divisions and killing each other in Round 1 or Round 2". This is a very fair complaint and one I don't disagree with in the slightest even though everyone knows it is an accomplishment to just make the playoffs since only u teams per conference (16 total) qualify every year.
First round seeding with 1–8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5 within each conference solves that:
- Best teams actually get rewarded
- Fewer Cup contenders knocking each other out immediately
- The regular season matters again
1–16 is a logistical nightmare, not a blessing or a real source of entertainment
This isn’t the 1980s anymore.
- 32 teams
- Bigger geographic footprint
- Seattle, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Dallas, Philadelphia, Tampa, Carolina, etc.
- Players are faster, games are far more intense and recovery actually matters
Coast-to-coast for every playoff series would mean:
- Brutal travel
- Multiple different time zones
- Less rest
- Worse performances
People say “they did 1–16 before,” or they "do it in the Final", but the league wasn’t nearly as big, fast, or commercially complex back then. And yes the Final is always like that, but it is one round and that is it and only 2 teams are still competing by that point.
Conferences and divisions still have purposes
They help with travel sanity, rivalries, scheduling and broadcasting consistency.
Bottom line
1–8 by conference is the best compromise between competitive integrity and reality if people dislike the whole division stuff that's been going on for a decade that is obviously similar to the 1-8, but not quite the same.
1–16 sounds good on paper until you think about it for more than five seconds and realize the headaches it would cause if it were to actually be enacted today.
Fix the dumb part 100%. Don’t create new problems that would be even worse than what you're trying to solve.
People are gonna say "were allowed to have opinions" but the things is facts > opinions.
I am not saying “you can’t have opinions,” I am saying opinions don’t outweigh reality.
And the it isn't that deep comments don't hold up because it actually is when travel, rest, and competitive balance directly affect on-ice results. Also, if it wasn't that deep, the league wouldn't be spending millions to prioritize travel and scheduling.5mo The Hockey News The Hockey News Introduction
So as we all know, the lockout shortened 2012-2013 year was another elite year for the Penguins as they finished as the Presidents' Trophy runner-up (with a 36-12-0 record) and went all the way to the conference finals after 2 straight first round upsets the previous 2 years before by the fifth seeded Lightning squandering 3-1 lead in 2011 and being upset in 6 to the inner-state rival and fifth seeded Flyers in 2012, respectively) and were upset in round 2 in 2010 by a team that had almost no business being in the playoffs (the eighth seeded Canadiens).
Dissecting the Penguins underlying metrics
The 2013 Penguins, while they were indeed an excellent team as they had the 2nd best power play, 2nd best goal differential, highest GF% total, 1st in GPG, 7th best FOW%, no losses whatsoever in the month of March, etc and had elite and flashy players like Crosby, Malkin, Iginla, Letang, Kunitz, Dupuis, Neal, etc, but they weren't quite as good as many made them out to be.
They had the 10th best 5v5 team, were 11th in XGF%, 12th in GA%, 12th in SF%, 15th best in CF% and were 25th on the PK.
They were a team that basically relied on power play merchants to get things done, had mediocre 5v5 play, were mediocre defensively (except Orpik), thin depth, average goaltending and mediocre coaching. They also were a mentally fragile team that were easy to throw off with their emotions and dumb penalties or dirty plays getting the better of them quite often.
So they had a lot of positives sure, but they also had quite a bit of red flags that tend to get slept on by fans. It is like a don't judge a book by its cover kind of thing.
Playoff path
They also had a pretty easy path to the conference final, beating a team in the first round that just snuck in as the 8th seed with John Tavares leading the way at an MVP level (he was indeed a Hart finalist that year, finishing 3rd in the voting behind Crosby and the winner Ovi). The Isles hadn't seen playoff action since 2007 prior to 2013. They beat the Isles in 6 and game 6 went to OT, one goal short away from a game 7 and if a game 7 had been played who knows what would have occurred? So all in all, the series was more competitive than it should've.
After narrowly avoiding a game 7, they went up against Ottawa, the 7th seed who had upset the 2nd seeded Canadiens and they beat them in 5 mainly because like the Islanders, they lacked offensive firepower (except 1-2 players) and lacked proper defense and over relied on goaltending. The Senators were the best penalty killing team, but the rest of the team was quite flawed.
The third round against Boston, the 4th seed, was where they got exposed. Sure, the Bruins didn't have any flashy offensive firepower and their power play was only the 26th best in the league and were 13th in GF%, but they made up for it by their unbelievable defense, puck possession, goaltending, coaching, 5v5 play, penalty kill, SF%, FOW%, GA total, High goal differential. They were top 5 in the league in those respective categories and all around had a lot of toughness, depth and physical/mental stoicism.
Conclusion
Due to these aforementioned things, I knew Boston was going to pull off an upset. I will admit I didn't think it would happen in a sweep and the Penguins would only score 2 goals total the whole series. I originally thought Boston would've won in like 6, but seeing them do so in a sweep and outscore them 12-2 in those 4 games proved even more how flawed that Penguins team was.
While the Penguins were indeed an excellent team in the lockout shortened year, they weren't quite as good as people or their place in the standings portrayed. People seem to neglect acknowledging the red flags they had deep down simply out of popularity bias with Crosby as the team and leagues golden boy or just because of where they ended up in the standings once the 48th and final game ended.5mo The Hockey News Introduction
We all know that Steven Stamkos is one of the top players of his generation (Gen Y) and a top goal scorer all time having scored 60 goals one year (in 2011-2012) and averaging 40-45 goals throughout his career as a whole). He was basically Ovechkin 2.0 for the longest time looking at his style and the relatively similar numbers on average (as Ovi has a career high of 65 and has a career average of 50-55 goals a year) and one of the top captains and leaders all time. He (and Hedman) single handedly revived a struggling team when he was first drafted in 2008 (along with Hedman the next year 2nd overall). The Tampa Bay Lightning, the team that took him in the draft overall and doing so almost immediately changed their fortunes since they practically saved them. Because of all those things, both earned the respect of lots of outlets.
Stammer had captained the Lightning to 2 Stanley Cup titles in (2020 and 2021) and 4 Stanley Cup Final appearances (also in 2015 and 2022, losing both in six games to the Blackhawks and Avalanche, respectively). He also nearly went to the finals 3 other times in 2011, 2016 and 2018) 2 of those 3 times under his captaincy (2016 and 2018), won the Mark Messier Leadership Award (in 2023), won 2 Rocket Richard Trophies (2010 and 2012) and was the runner up 3 other times (2011, 2013 and 2015), was the Art Ross Trophy runner up in back to back years (in both 2012 and 2013), was a Hart Trophy finalist (in 2012, finishing 2nd in voting) and was a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award in back to back years (in both 2011 and 2012, finishing 2nd in both) and scored the second most goals and fifth most points in the 2010s decade (from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2019). Also went to 7 All Star games (2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018 (as captain), 2019 and 2022) and earned a World Cup Gold Medal (2016).
Even after missing a couple bad injuries like the broken leg (tibia) on November 11, 2013 vs Boston (after an unreal ironman streak dating back to of 344 consecutive games going back to January 2009 and into that tragic day on November 11, 2013) and the busted knee (meniscus) on November 15, 2016 vs Detroit that took him out for long periods of stretches (and the 2014 Sochi Olympics since he was supposed to go and only didn't due to the broken leg not being 100% healed quite yet and instead only 80-85% healed by the start of the tournament) and could've been career-altering or even life-altering, he still managed to rank second in goals (only Ovi ahead) and fifth in overall points in that decade (only Kane, Crosby, Ovi and Giroux ahead). That’s not just being “elite for a few seasons.” Instead, that’s resilience, toughness and longevity in a decade-defining output.
He also made so many players around him better as the team built around him (and Hedman) as the years went on. Despite these things, he was always somewhat under-appreciated by certain outlets and opposing fanbases across the league and being subbed for certain awards in certain years. This could be because of the teams he spent so long with in Tampa, a nontraditional market, name bias with others or whatever other reasons out there.
2010 Rocket Richard Trophy reflection
In the 2009-2010 season, Steven Stamkos and Sidney Crosby both got 51 goals. This resulted in them sharing the Rocket Richard Trophy as the top goal scorer(s).
I know the Rocket Richard is an automatic award for the most of something (goals in this case) and not to take anything away from Crosby, but I wish Stamkos had won it solo (with Stammer scoring one more in the Bolts last game vs the Panthers on april 10, 2010 for 52 over 51 and 96 points total rather than 95 counting his 44 assists).
This is because Crosby was already the golden boy of not only his and Stammers generation, but also the league and that I think overshadowed Stammer at least from a league wide standpoint since he was already the next Bolts golden boy after Marty and Vinny (and Hedman too who was a rookie in 2009-2010, but that’s not the point).
Yes, Stammer did get his 51st goal in the last game of the year on April 10, 2010, against the Panthers on an empty net while Crosby had his 51st in the Pens last game against the Islanders that same day with a goalie in net. Yes, he did win it solo 2 years later while also being the runner up on 2011 (only behind future teammate Perry after Stammer and the Bolts as a team I guess had some late season growing pains after having led the league in goals for the first 70 ish games and 5 ish months of the 2010-2011 season, allowing Perry to have a late season surge to overtake him with 50) along with 2013 and 2015 only behind Ovi (plus also being the Art Ross runner up two times in a row in 2012 only behind Malkin and 2013 only behind his linemate St. Louis but never actually won it both in the past or the future). If one more goal by him had occurred in 2009-10, he would’ve had both Rockets solo both 2010 and 2012 instead of one out of two (just 2012).
A hungry upstart (after a relatively quiet rookie 2008-2009 campaign simply figuring out the ropes on the pros fresh out of high school), blazing his own trail on a bottom-tier team, fueled by pure talent and determination.
A solo win in 2010 would’ve underscored that Stammer wasn’t just keeping up. He was leading the pack, even from a disadvantaged position since the Bolts were a much worse team than the Pens at the time and the Pens were the reigning cup champs that finished 4th in the east for a second straight year and coming off two straight finals the previous 2 years prior. Plus, since he was only 19-20 years old and in his sophomore season while the then-22 year old Crosby was already a veteran in his 5th season, it would’ve felt like a generational torch moment.
Again, not trying to take anything from Crosby, especially since he deservedly got the Rocket solo in 2017 with 44 goals (with the runner ups Kuch and a rookie Matthews having 40, 4 below him), but showing that the next great sniper after Ovi had arrived to share the stage.
Instead, the shared trophy that particular year to me blurred that line (to some degree). His career starting in October 2008 and then his badass alpha dog status he had between October 2009 and April 2023 as either a top 5 between 2009-2015, top 10 in 2018-2019 or 2021-2022 or top 20-25 player at any other point in time between late 2015 and early 2023 (until the vibes weren’t the same by late 2023 and onward as teams around him starting declining whether it is Tampa as a team 2 years ago due to loss of depth or this season and last season with Nashville as a team due to various things and/or him individually started declining due to new surroundings or age catching up) into just another chapter in Crosby’s already generational storyline since his start in October 2005.
2012 Ted Lindsay Award win snubbing
As I said above he was named a finalist for the Hart in 2012 as the MVP of his team in the regular season voted by the Professional Hockey Writers Association and the Ted Lindsay award in both 2011 and 2012, which is similar to the Hart as it is for the most "outstanding player" voted by the NHL players association.
I always agreed that Daniel Sedin deserved the Ted Lindsay Award in 2011 after the Canucks had the best season in team history in 2010-2011 and Daniel himself had the best year individually (41 goals, 63 assists for 104 points and +30) and Malkin the Hart in 2012 given that Crosby missed most of the 2011-2012 year and yet he still produced individually and kept the Pens dominant through the season as a team as the team finished 4th in the East for the 4th straight year. Because of those things I was actually rooting for them to get those respective awards in those times. The 50 goals, 59 assists and 109 points despite those things was amazing to see, especially since 38 of them were 5v5 and 9 were Game Winning Goals, 1 OT winning goal and was +18.
However, I think the Ted Lindsay Award should've gone to Stamkos in 2012 over Malkin. This is because that year he became only the 20th player in league history, the second player since after the 2004-2005 lockout and only player of the 2010s decade to hit 60 goals and he did so on a mediocre Lightning team.
48 of the 60 goals were at 5v5 and only 12 on the power play and 12 goals were game winners, tying Radim Vrbata (who was in Arizona at the time) for league leader in GWG’s for that year along with 5 overtime winning goals, which was also most in the league that 2011-12 year.
He also had 37 assists for 97 points and a +7. I always say damn if only 3 more assists had been recorded on say 2 more goals by Marty St. Louis to get Marty up to 27 rather than 25 and another by Victor Hedman to get him up to 6 goals over 5 or something so it could’ve been 40 assists and could’ve been exactly 100 points for Stammer that year (60+40 rather than 60+37) then there is no doubt he would’ve had the Lindsay, even though there is more to hockey than points and 97 was still the 2nd highest in the league that year.
Despite the mediocrity of the Bolts as a team in the 2011-2012 year, he kept the Bolts competitive and in games they had not much business being in.
All in all, he had a season one for the history books, but didn't really get as much respect for it (excluding 2nd rocket richard) as he should've and if Malkin was gonna get the Hart in 2012 as he should've then I think Stammer should've at least had the Ted Lindsay so the dominance of both guys could’ve been recognized equally. It is incredible how even after playing through the last 4-5 weeks of that season with a banged up shoulder he still hit that marker and played all 82 games for a third straight season. All these things were before guys like Kucherov, Point, Vasy, etc, joined the Bolts.
That 2011-2012 year, his 4th year in the league was no doubt his best goal scoring year and that very last game of that 11-12 year on April 7, 2012 against the Winnipeg Jets where he scored that 60th and final goal of that year will always be a special one. Props to Winnipeg fans for showing their respect and congratulations to him after he executed it after initially booing him every time he had possession of the puck prior to it lol. It shows that when someone is within striking distance from a historic number, they know how to show proper credit and admiration once it is all done!
Snubbed of not winning but being a top three finalist for the Hart Trophy in 2022
I also think about how he had the best overall year of his life at least statistically in the 2021-2022 season (42 goals and career high in assists and points with 64 assists and 106 points with a career best +24 rating. 70 of the 106 points total 26 goals and 44 assists being at 5v5). His 106 points were the most on the bolts by a 21 point margin from the next highest pointed player and 6th most in the league and 42 goals tied Matthew Tkachuk, Filip Forsberg and Elias Lindholm for 9th most in NHL. 11 of his 42 goals were game winners which tied Kreider, Draisaitl and Robertson for most in the league. His 64 assists were also 2nd on the bolts and 9th in the league.
These stats happened even after the Lightning lost a decent amount of depth from their previous 2 cup runs due to free agency, trades or expansion draft and Kucherov missed about half of the 2021-2022 year due to a groin injury against the Caps along with Brayden Point for about 1/4 of the year due a shoulder injury against New Jersey and Stammers continued individual dominance kept them in it all year long. Because of these things, I think Stamkos should've at least been a Hart Trophy Finalist in 2022. While the chances of him actually winning it were (sadly) slim because of Matthews hitting 60 goals and while we knew McDavid was going to be second for it, I think Stamkos should've been the third finalist for the Hart instead of Igor Shesterkin.
Obviously Shesterkin had an amazing 2021-2022 season with his 36-13-4 record, 6 shutouts, 2.07 GAA and .935 save% and I was absolutely rooting for him to get the Vezina Trophy which he did and I was glad he did, but I don't think he should've been the third Hart finalist. This is because while he was dominant he wasn't overwhelmingly dominant since he had a great team in front of him who were healthier than a lot of top players on the Bolts and had career years of their own like Panarin (22 goals, 74 assists for 96 points), Fox (11 goals, 63 assists for 74 points), Strome (21 goals and 33 assists for 54 points in 74 games), Zibenejad (29 goals, 52 assists for 81 points in 81 games), Kreider (52 goals, 25 assists for 77 points in 81 games), etc, unlike say Carey Price in 2014-2015 (who actually shared the jennings trophy with Corey Crawford and individually won the Hart, Lindsay and Vezina as he should’ve after a 44-16-6 record, 9 shutouts, 1.96 GAA and .933 save%) where he carried everyone on the Canadiens.
Stammer was a prime candidate for the Mark Messier Leadership Award that year (with it ultimately going to Kopitar deservedly so getting LA back into playoffs for first time since 2018 and giving the C to Brown for one game at the end of the year with Brown announcing retirement) before actually winning it the next year, which was wonderful and all 3 Lindsay candidates for 2022 of Matthews, McDavid and Josi were very choices and Matthews winning not surprising in the slightest I mean Josi had a career year in 2021-22 as well (23 goals, 73 assists for 96 points in 80 games) as the Preds just snuck into playoffs as 8th seed and without him, they would’ve been a lottery team, but idk how Stammer wasn’t in the top 3 for the Hart.
Closing
All in all, I am NOT a Lightning fan by any means and I am not really supposed to send praise to them since I am a lifelong Capitals fan and the bolts have been a big rival of ours since 2011 or so, but Stammer always meant a lot to me and while the vast majority of his lengthy tenure in Tampa was perfectly rated, it is baffling to me by how much he had been ignored at certain times like 2012 and 2022 and by certain media outlets or fanbases.
I think of this post as simply a reflection piece of his lengthy tenure in Tampa and how I think while he was perfectly rated for the most part, I feel like there were times where maybe he could’ve gotten a bit more respect or appreciation. It was wonderful to see him get the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2023, but there are still sometimes where I think a little more appreciation should’ve come, like in 2012 or 2022. Rather than any bias or blind loyalty, this is writing from a long-term observation across certain years and award cycles.
Sidenote
*PS, I don't make any injury what ifs in future years cause as gut wrenching as they are, it’s a contact sport where things like that happen now and then. I understand it is easy for people to do so when it's a generational alpha dog and a team's golden boy, but it undermines the purpose of this reflection. Injuries both major and minor once in a while are a part of the game, as horrible as they are and Crosby had his fair share of injuries both before and after certain years and it never slowed him down.5mo The Hockey News 
