Trade deadline emotions took thier toll on Lightning, but its time to move forward

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
March 2, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – From the outside looking in, it’s easy to tell somebody to suck it up and do their job.

Professional athletes are just that, professionals. They are paid to do a job. Fans have expectations and they want to see players perform at to the best of their abilities.

But like any job, sometimes you are not at your best for a particular day.

The Lightning, collectively, had one of those days on Wednesday. It’s not an excuse for how the team played against Carolina, but it is an explanation.

Following the events of an emotional four days, it took its toll on the Lightning.

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In the span of four days, Tampa Bay traded away three key members of the team – Ben Bishop, Brian Boyle and Valtteri Filppula. Not to mention the number of rumors that were swirling around that involved the likes of Braydon Coburn, Jason Garrison, Tyler Johnson and, as of late Wednesday, Ondrej Palat.

it can have an effect.

”It’s a tough go,’’ said defenseman Victor Hedman, who scored the overtime winner on Wednesdayon just the 16th shot of the game for Tampa Bay. “Three of my closest friends on the team I’ve been around for a long time. I would be lying if I said it didn’t affect you, but come game time we owe it to our fans and we owe it to ourselves to put on our performance. Obviously tonight we’ll apologize to our fans for the performance, but we won’t apologize for the result. We got the two points and obviously the whirlwind of the last few days is finally over and it’s sad to see guys leave, but we know it’s part of the business. In the cap era, it’s tough to keep the same team together for a long time.’’

As much as athletes are painted by some as robotic in nature and they should act and perform based on the amount of their paycheck, at the end of the day, they are human beings. When things are circling around them, there is still an emotional reaction to it all.

It has an effect.

”I’m sure it is for every player in this league,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “Whether you’re in first place and you’re looking to see what’s added or teams that are in last place and they’re moving guys on. I’m sure it’s a stressful situation because you live here, you have a house here, you have family here, you might have kids here. This goes for all 30 teams in the league. Now you’ve got to pick up and move. I’m sure it’s not a fun time for the players. We’re not the only team that probably had a little bit of a stressful day, but we’re only one of four that actually had to play on this day. That probably made it a little tougher.’’

It’s comparable to seeing a sibling go off to college, knowing you are not going to see them except periodically, maybe during holidays or spring break. It elicits emotions.

”It’s definitely tough with the way things have been,’’ Johnson said. “This whole season’s kind of just been tough. When you lose the guys that we lost, that’s tough for everybody. They’re family to us. We’ve been through a lot together. When they’re not in our locker room, that’s hard.’’

But now it’s behind them, they got away with the post-deadline blues against Carolina and entered Thursday just three points out of a playoff spot. There’s 20 games left in the season, it’s time to move forward, not look back.

”For us, it’s about everyone else stepping up here and we’re all ready to make the playoffs,’’ Johnson said. “That’s what we need to do. We need to make a push. The guys in the locker room tonight are the guys that will be on this team the rest of the year and that’s what we have to do.’’

”We’ve got to look forward and keep plugging away,’’ Hedman said.

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