Superstar center Steven Stamkos has been shifted to the wing again. This has raised eyebrows and started the rumor mill churning with conjecture about the uneasy relationship between Coach Jon Cooper and Stamkos. Include me in this group of speculators.
Stamkos will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2016 if a deal doesn’t get done. Recently the Bolts teased on social media that an extension was at hand. “Thank the hockey Gods, they signed Steven Stamkos!” But no, the extension was Coach Jon Cooper’s. The coach and not the player.
After Cooper was extended, he was seen hugging and fist bumping some players at practice, but no such PDA from Stamkos was spotted. In fact it was noticed by some of the talking heads that Stamkos seemed “perturbed” by questions concerning Cooper’s extension and the move to the wing.
Of course there is no news on Stamkos’ extension and any talk of a riff between player and coach is purely speculation, but somehow it felt like GM Steve Yzerman had chosen coach over player when Cooper’s new deal was announced.
Yzerman has some tough “who to keep and who to let go” decisions to make by the end of the 2016-17 season. Goalie Ben Bishop, monster defenseman Victor Hedman and forwards Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn all need new deals. Has Yzerman already decided not to extend Stamkos and eat up a large portion of the salary cap, forcing him to let go of a majority of the team’s core group?
Is there a rift between the coach Jon Cooper and the superstar player Steven Stamkos? (Photo/Christine Gunn)
Stamkos is the ultimate team player and will never publicly challenge his coach’s decisions. “If you ask any player, I think they prefer to play their natural position,” Stamkos said Saturday. “For me, it’s just easier to create speed from my game when I’m in the middle. Again tonight, I didn’t do much offensively, but we found a way to win and make some plays defensively.”
Not a ringing endorsement of Cooper’s methods, to be sure.
Stamkos went on, “I’m going to go out there and do what I’m asked to do. I’ve played there before, so it’s at a point now where you see the lineup on the board, you do anything you can to go out there and win.” Of course he is, but will they start winning?
Cooper said, “Would you rather get the minutes or the position? I think if you ask anyone, they don’t care about where they play, as long as we’re winning.” But they are not winning and Cooper has now begun using Stamkos on the penalty kill, a certain sign of disrespect for a superstar. Wasting your best offensive player and goal scorer’s minutes on the penalty kill, a spot usually reserved for third and fourth line grinders. This has to be grating on Stamkos’ psyche.
Saturday night, Stamkos was asked, “What communication goes on between player and coach when making a positional change?” Stamkos responded with, “Not much.” Cooper was asked the same question and replied, I talk to…”all of our players.” This reeks of, “I know you are but what am I” stuff.
Yzerman announced in June that re-signing Stamkos was his top off-season priority. And yet, the Christmas lights are up and still no deal.
It just smells bad. A battle of egos and of philosophy? Coach vs. superstar player?
If the Coach has won, we all have lost. While Jon Cooper is the slick, smooth talking lawyer coach, he doesn’t have the best one-timer in the NHL and he has no hope of being a 50 goal, 90 point scorer that leads a team to a championship.
(Feature Photo/Getty Images)
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