I’m sure I will catch some sh%t about this but I don’t care. Look, this system that Torts likes to run is flawed in so many ways. I requires the goalie to play a perfect game night in and night out. It requires the player to play the puck as opposed to every other team in the NHL which basically preaches playing the body. Anyone who watched the games on TV hears Bobby the Chief talking about this each and every game. Its not just on D either, how about if you are going to play your best players over 20 min a night, why isn’t Vinny leading the team in time on ice? Does Richards give the Bolts a better Chance to score? Is Richards a better defender than Vinny? The answer is very simple, Richards leads the league in ice time so Feaster and Torts can justify the mistake that was paying Richards the highest contract in the NHL. Why a guy who has roughly 15 less points than Vinny would be on the ice more than Vinny is the dumbest thing I see each and every night. Check the paper each morning after the games, its really sad how much Richards plays in comparison to Vinny.

Now lets get to the non-playing of the 4th line. WTF? Why dress that many forwards if the most they might play is 4 min a night. Hey Torts, here’s an idea, maybe if the big 3 didn’t play 24 min a night and the 4th line played 7min a night, the big 3 would be fresher down the stretch. Not only in a game but the overall season as well. Which kinda brings me to the Boyle situation. Fishy, very fishy. Why bring Boyle back early 10 games into the season? I thought they played 82. What exactly was the rush? I understand the Bolts were in a funk, but it was only around the 10th game. And if you were to bring a guy back early, why would you play him 28:35 of his 2nd game back? That is about as piss poor as I’ve ever seen.

The simple fact is, Torts has gotten a free pass b/c of the Stanley Cup, well folks its been 3 years since the Bolts have won. How much longer do we give him? These 5 games win/loss streaks isn’t going to cut it down the stretch. Maybe a new face giving the orders will wake this team up.

1. I think Richey deserves most of the minutes he receives but I agree that if Torts used his 4th line more the Big 3 or 4 would be fresher down the stretch of a game and the season.. they are great athletes in great shape but you can see they’re getting worn down.

2. This aggressive forechecking system requires that the goalie be stellar every nite. Why? this system leads to lots of odd man rushes against.. the 2 forechecking forwards can be caught behind the play easily with one good pass by the opponents.. and that’s one reason you don’t see our guys playing as physically all the time.. you check a guy into the boards while you’re forechecking and you take yourself (as well as him) out of the play up ice.. and our D-men cannot always stand up opponents on our blue line because our forwards are not back to help out yet.. but our forwards usually do a great job of getting back.. but it’s usually after the opponents have already setup in our zone.

3. I see our guys bunched up way too often both defensively and offensively.. not sure if that’s coaching or what. In our own zone it seems like we collapse way too much down low and that leaves the points wide open.. not good.

4. Lately our passing has been pretty bad.. way too many cute little passes that don’t connect.. and so many times we don’t clear our zone when the other team has got us on our heels because we don’t make the simple play to get it out off the boards.. and then on the offense we have some forwards that are in love with the pass and not the shot on net.. and when they do shoot at the net they shoot it wide or high.

5. Why can’t a coach employ a trapping system with the lead near the end of the game? evidently Torts thinks you can’t do that or he’s just too stubborn to give into that mentality. Ask Dave Andreychuk what he thinks of the trap.. I think he’ll tell you it wins games.. the whole idea is to take care of your end and capitalize on the opponents mistakes by having a great transition game.

6. Don’t expect Torts to be fired as long as Feaster is GM.. won’t happen.. and don’t expect any changes until Absolute Hockey Enterprises takes over ownership of the franchise.. the coach is not the one who makes poor decisions on the ice or blow his assignments or let in soft goals.. the players are the ones that play the game and it’s up to them to win games.. I think Torts is a good coach but he’s been here 7 years.. and I doubt that the team is still buying into his system or hearing his voice.. and while I’m at it: give the C to someone on the ice.. not someone on IR.

Are you Tort’s agent or Richards? Richards must have some nasty video of Tort’s that he’s hanging over his head. He is the most over-rated player on this team and maybe the most over-rated( b/c of his salary) in the NHL. He’s not a leader, he doesn’t play D all that well and he is by far and away not the best player on this team. Tort’s system is flawed, whether you want to admit it or not. What you are saying is if the Bolts dont have the best goalie or the best D in the league then Tort’s system doesnt work? That mean s adjustments to the Great Tort’s System are needed.

read my points 2 & 5.. I definitely don’t like the system Torts has in place & I have felt ever since the return of hockey from the lockout year that his system doesn’t work.. once they got rid of the red line the aggressive forechecking style can be a huge liability.. and Richey may be over paid but I don’t think he’s the problem.. there’s no team concept right now.. and we should have picked up Bryzgalov but he would have cost us salary: meaning we would have had to get rid of someone like Richards or St Louis.. would have been ok with me.. but I guess Feaster didn’t think so.. and I’ve said this several times in these comments etc.. Feaster will not get rid of Torts as long as he’s the GM.. so that means there won’t be any coaching changes while the Bolts have the ‘For Sale’ sign out front.

So is Torts a really good coach or was Ramsey the brains behind everything?

I say no to both questions.. a really good coach would have his players all on the same page.. which they are clearly not..  and Rammer was a decent coach but definitely not the brains behind the scenes.. he got the players using their sticks and bodies to block the passing lanes which was a good thing but he had the defensemen playing a less physical style which is a bad thing.. there were some points of disagreement between him and Torts and so the change was made.

In some ways this whole thing about firing Torts is not so much about his system being flawed (which it is) but about bringing in a new voice.. someone the players can get fired up about playing for.. the core of this team has been listening to Torts for 5 or more years and I’m sure it gets old.. you don’t have to love your coach but I think your coach has to inspire you.. you look at this team play and there seems to be very little inspiration.. I can’t help but speculate that had the Absolute Hockey sale gone through there would have been major changes in the front office and the coaching staff and the players knew that.. in the players minds Torts is a lame duck coach.. problem is now that the sale is off (for now) PS&E will not want to do anything to scare off any other potential buyers.. but it’s like trying to sell a car that needs a tuneup.. except the tuneup problem may be just the tip of the iceberg.

Too bad the sale is off...I was hoping that we could finally get someone in here that at least had a clue as to evaluating players. I don’t know if it’s a money issue, but how can we expect anyone to continue to be our minor league affiliate if we keep sending them our so-called “prospects”? We haven’t had a winning minor team since the Atlanta Knights when Espo was running the franchise. Even our scouting director says in the paper that “well....I guess you could say we’ve had some bad drafts”. Bad drafts???? How long has it been since we got a “stud” in the draft that wasn’t a defensemen? Oh yeah...we traded all our 1st rounders for some career 10-goalers. Someone needs to get a clue. I’ll give Torts some credit for at least having the guts to rip the officiating...nobody else seems to. But yeah, looks like they’ve tuned him out. Would be nice if we could just pass the puck, rather than trying to make it look “spectacular”....

Feaster ought to go too.  These goalies cannot stop up a sewer - they are THE worst goalies in the NHL in terms of save percentage.  Feaster did nothing to address this issue and it is a killer.

too bad none of you can could make a dime in the nhl.  whaaa! 3 years.  teams go decades without winning. 

I guess the rest of lightening fans should all chip in and pay you guys to run the team with your vast oozing knowledge of how to put togeather a Stanley Cup Championship Team.  you should spend more time looking up internet porn sites.

big suck.. why don’t you go flame somewhere else.. obviously your vast knowledge is lacking because you can’t even spell Lightning correctly.

i prefer big f… thanks for the spelling correction.
i don’t claim to have vast knowledge of anything other than you have no idea of how to run a hockey team.  go post a resu’me for the “lightning energy team” or the “lightning girls”; then we can all take your written diarrhea a little more seriously.

My résumé for coaching is not the issue.. fact is everything I have posted here or anywhere else on TBO.com regarding the Lightning has been from the perspective of someone who is a loyal fan of the Tampa Bay Lightning and who understands the fundamentals of hockey.

Since the Bolts won the Cup back in 2004 there have been some major changes. #1 is the elimination of the red line and the 2-line pass offsides ruling. Today without the 2-line pass offsides ruling teams in their defensive zone are able to make longer passes and quicker transitions to the offensive zone. Makes for more scoring chances. But as a result you see more teams going towards a more conservative defensive approach: either the trap or the 1-2-2.

The major tenet of Torts system is just the opposite. He puts a heavy emphasis on forechecking. Go-go-go is his mantra. I love seeing a more offensive minded game but often you will see 3 of his forwards well below the offensive blue line even when they don’t possess the puck. When they do possess the puck quite often they’re cycling down low below the goal line. With one untimely turnover of the puck you see the other team streaking down the ice on an odd man rush towards the net while the Bolts forwards are caught up ice.

Here’s my points:
1. When the Bolts won the Cup teams could NOT make that quick long outlet pass beyond the red line. There were a lot less (and I mean a lot less) odd man rushes against.
2. When there was a defensive breakdown the Bolts had a legitimate elite goalie (Khabibulin) and he would often cover up the mistakes with big timely saves.

Regarding Holmqvist & Denis: they’re both capable of standing on their heads and stealing a game but on the other hand neither one has shown they can be reliable on a consistent basis. Somehow Feaster needs to address this problem quickly but I have my doubts that anything big will happen while the team is being sold.

Feaster has said in the past that while he’s the GM Torts will be the coach. So don’t expect to see Torts fired until the new ownership takes over if at all. Instead of getting fired I would just like to see Torts tweak his system just a little more towards team defense. I don’t want to see the boring left wing lock or trap but his aggressive forechecking scheme is not working.

If you see something wrong with my reasoning then I’d like to hear it and have some meaningful exchange of ideas. If you have something derogatory to say that’s not based on objective reasoning then I’ll dismiss you as an annoying flamer.

There is absolutelyno doubt that both Feaster and Torts need to be fired immediately.  As soon as Boyle is healthy they need to trade both he and Richards for a goalie and some defensive help. 

There is no way Boyle will be back next year so get something for him while you can.

Torts is so damn stubborn that he will not tweak his system and Feaster can not evaluate talent to save his life.

I don’t think anyone is getting fired while the team is for sale.. and IMHO Richards is too critical to the success of this team to trade away.. game in and game out Richey is contributing.. just look at what happened in the back-to-back games in Toronto & Montréal.. seriously injured his knee one nite and the next plays over 30 minutes and gets the game winner in the shootout.. if anything we need someone that can play on Richey’s line.. Boyle is a wait & see situation.. he gets back to last season’s form and he’s a keeper.

goalies aren’t falling off the shelves right now so it’s pretty tough to get a legit #1 goalie.. on the other hand maybe someone like: Huet or Raycroft or Turco could be had.. who knows?

I just don’t see anything happening while the team is being sold.. and once it is sold there’s no telling what the new owners will do.

Torts has to go. He loses touch, confidence and …… I can keep going on and on.
He used to be great coach, but that is history.
Players looks like giving up, or leaving because disagreement with coach or misjudgment from him.
Modin, Kubina, Fedotenko,Stillman…..
LeCavalier has problem with him
Only Marty and Richard is in his circle. And I don’t have anything about players. They just have to be coordinated and place on proper positions where they can produce and we can get max from them. That is all. All of them has certain talents, and coach has to bring it up, not buried in nonsense system and tell them ‘you do what I want’. They must do what they can do best not to be retrained and learn something they cannot do. How many times I yelling on Marty wait, and he is always in offside. It’s happening in every game. Great chance and that is it. Can they train him to correct it? Yes that is an exactly what we have coach for. This is only one example.
And like I set million times I don’t thing Martin Brodeur can help us too. He will be not able stop all that 2 on 1 or worst situations. Both goalies are good enough for any team. It’s a way we playing. But like I set, I am not getting pay for this that is coach job, and if he can’t figure it out, we have to find somebody who can. That is how they will treat me in my job. If it is his fault or not, he is responsible for that. And that’s it for me

This is from WIKIPEDIA, I find it interesting:
Tortorella is an exuberant coach, who is also known to criticize his own players and his rather uncommon style of goalie rotation. He was particularly hard on Lightning goaltender John Grahame for much of the 2005-2006 season. Grahame subsequently signed with the Carolina Hurricanes before the start of the 2006-2007 season.