Round 1 Game 4 4/16 7:00 pm CNBC

[TexasBolt]

It would be a shame if someone posted when their flight lands back in tampa, or when they do the walk of shame to clean out their lockers at Amalie, or where they hang out in the summer. This better follow them around forever.

[Top Shelf]

Is it October yet?

[Pat664422]

Originally Posted by dannybolt

Don't need to see Miller, Callahan, Stralman, Girardi or Coburn in Lightning blue next year. Maybe Coburn. Luckily we are locked into Palat, TJ and Killorn with their NMCs and NTCs. Sigh.

Hell, not sure I need to see Cooper back after that debacle. Good thing he just got extended.

I dont think you fix this by trading lower line/lower pairing players. I'd start with a new coach who has these guys commit to team defense (required for postseason wins) in the regular season so it becomes our new identity. We start trading players who dont buy into the new system, whoever that may be.

[jaydeedub]

So... what did the Bolts accomplish this season? They played just 4 more games than the teams who did not make the playoffs - and got a much worse draft pick. Let that sink in....

[RSchmitz]

Vasy
Stamkos
Cooper

[Maverick9911]

Pete's inevitable writeup is gonna be epic.

I'm glad he will have words because honestly I have none. This is beyond a nightmare.

[Hoek]

Originally Posted by TexasBolt

This is how you demolish a fan base. What credibility does this franchise have now? At least the Bucs straight up suck and you know what you’re getting when you buy tickets.

LOL cmon now. I saw 8 wins in person this season. I got my money's worth. The postseason is a nice side show given how much more it costs to go to those games. I stay home for the vast majority of it.

Okay I'm being way too nonchalant about it. Obviously it sucks. But I will take this over the sheer ineptitude of the Bucs a million times over.

[Maverick9911]

Eh, to each their own, but take it from a loyal Bucs fan that this hurts so much worse.

Closest I've ever felt to this as a Bucs fan was the 1999 NFC Title game. That was brutal, heart wrenching, but nowhere near as painful. Expectations and hope are sometimes more painful than despair and malaise.

Yeah, I'd rather "endure" this than the Derpaneers, though.

[BurnTHalO]

Originally Posted by jaydeedub

So... what did the Bolts accomplish this season? They played just 4 more games than the teams who did not make the playoffs - and got a much worse draft pick. Let that sink in....

They kept their first round pick?

[the_narrow_way]

Originally Posted by jaydeedub

Doubt the arrogance of Coop will say he needed to coach better. Torts just humbled him.

Was it coaching though? What I saw looked like it was the players being lazy and taking dumb penalties. Then the cherry on top was Vasi didn't make ANY amazing saves. Every possible thing that could have gone wrong went wrong. They missed wide open nets every game. The didn't clear Vasi's front porch. The refs decided that only TB still had to play with regular season rules and called almost everything while CBJ was allowed to play playoff style clutch grab and slash.

Well at least I'll have more free time in the next month or so.