Jon Cooper | Pregame vs Ottawa | 10.9.25
Coupe, just what does opening night mean to you? Oh, it’s like uh you know when you’re a little kid and Christmas morning comes, that’s kind of how it is. It’s uh first day of the regular season and first game of the playoffs. They’re two unique uh they’re unique days and you this builds for months and months. Um, you know, only one team’s wins the Stanley Cup. The other 31 are chomping to get back at it and uh that’s what this day is. Plus, everybody for the most part’s in first place this day. So, you’re really pumped about your team. Six and one in the preseason. How are you going to take that to kind of carry over for a fast start this regular season? It’s uh I’ve known teams in this league that have gone undefeated in the preseason, didn’t make the playoffs that year. So you you take parts of your game out of the preeason, but the win loss um kind of irrelevant to be honest other than you feel good after the game, but um it’s all about, you know, hopefully being healthy, hopefully, you know, you’ve got your guys in order of of how you want them to play the game. But yeah, the win loss, like I said, it’s look in the standings now, you don’t see those games. Couple for HD, man. What can you say about the captain? I mean, what have what have I said that? You know, what can I say now that I haven’t said already? You know, it’s 17 for him. I think it’s 16 for Mac. You know, a couple players that have uh you know, hopefully have their names in the rafters and a lot of places after this. So, u just phenomenal leaders for our team. you know, to have that kind of longevity, especially in this league, you know, in this sport. It’s uh and to keep playing at such an elite level. It’s uh it’s impressive. It’s u impact players in this organization, this city, and you’ll just love those guys. What are your impressions of the Ottawa Senators and the way that they’ve built up their Well, I think you know from ownership all the way, you know, I want to say down, but you know what what they’ve done and you know, Ste like I just I like everything they’ve done, you know, from the coach, the GM to the the owner. I think you know, their captain’s really, you know, come into his own. I think uh you know I said this after Four Nations. I think that was probably a little coming out party for him. I think a lot of people obviously knew about him, but I think just for his personal confidence. Um, I think he’s uh phenomenal player and there’s a whole bunch of guys around him and they’ve got a some, you know, Sanderson and Zoo is that’s an elite, you know, pairing on the back end. And, uh, there’s they’ve just got guys that savvy vets. You look at Prawn and Jaru. Um there’s just I just like the way they’re built, like the way they play and pretty honest team. How would you describe the challenge of getting matchups against a player like Tim Stutz at their topline center? Well, it’s always a challenge a little you hope at home it’s a little bit easier to to kind of get after. But uh like I said, they made the playoffs for a reason. I mean, they’ve they’ve got some good players and they’re young and and they’re up and coming and so I’m pretty sure they don’t want to be one and done and so I’m expecting, you know, guys like Tim and everybody else to give us everything. John, you mentioned yesterday that maybe you might give Curtis a couple of days to kind of adapt himself and it looks like he’s going to be in the lineup tonight. What do you want to see? Uh, you know what, like that’s just new team, first ever NHL game. It’s always an exciting time for any player and uh you know it’s one of these games though, you know, players always remember, you know, who they played against in their first NHL game, but a lot of times they don’t remember what happened in the game just cuz it’s a bit of a blur. Uh but it’s a you know, tough assignment for him because I mean he’s been in the city for like three days and and now he’s playing and his first ever NHL game. So he’s pretty pumped. We’re pumped for him. And um like I said, just pucks in deep. Go get it and let the rest take care of itself. Yeah.
Jon Cooper talks to media ahead of the Lightning’s first game of the 2025-26 season.
Join the Thunder:
http://tampabaylightning.com
Tweets by TBLightning
http://instagram.com/tblightning
#tampabaylightning #gobolts
1 comment
how about “Hey Coop you were fined $25,000, why do you think that happened?”