Bobby Taylor Q&A: Lightning asserting themselves early
TAMPA, Fla. -- Initial returns on the Tampa Bay Lightning are mostly positive. Consider Bobby Taylor part of the crowd eager to see how they develop.
After 17 games Tampa Bay has 24 points, placing the Lightning a point behind the Montreal Canadiens atop the Eastern Conference standings. Before a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night, the Lightning had yet to succumb to consecutive defeats in the season's opening weeks.
Taylor, a Sun Sports analyst, recently shared his thoughts on a variety of issues about Tampa Bay's play.
FOX SPORTS FLORIDA: With the Lightning asserting themselves as early Eastern Conference contenders, what do you think of this team right now?
TAYLOR: It's amazing to me how young they are and how they've really bought into what they want to have. ... I mean, case and point, when you take a look at (Vladislav) Namestnikov, he has just blown my doors off. He was always a smart kid and a smart player, but he was never strong enough to play up in here, because if you talk to all the ex-players, the hardest thing about coming up here as a young player is realizing that they're faster and they're stronger. You can play in the minor leagues, you might play three games in a weekend, but you're going to have a crappy team, so you can kind of coast.
You can't do it up here. So that strength and conditioning is imperative up here. He threw the monkey wrench into everything. For him playing so well at training camp, now you get (Valtteri) Filppula on the wing because of it, because (Namestnikov) is playing so well.
FSF: What do you think of the Tyler Johnson-Ondrej Palat-Nikita Kucherov line so far?
TAYLOR: So many times you'll find a great combination by accident. It's not like, 'Oh, let's try these guys together.' Really. I know they played Kuch with (Steven Stamkos) in the preseason, and that helped, too, but you've got two shooters there. So you need a guy that's going to distribute the puck. But when they were put together in Winnipeg, it was just like, 'Holy crap.' If you look at it, you've got the speed -- all three of them have speed. You've got the corner work of a Palat. You've got the play-making ability of a Johnson. And you've got the finishing touch of a Kucherov.
It's like what everybody's talked about from Day One (that) this hockey was ever invented. That's the idea of a perfect line: The guy that can work and get the puck out of the corners for you, the guy that can set up and make the plays and pass well, and the third guy that's the gunner. And if you talk to people from the dawn of time, that's what makes a great line, and those guys just seem to click like crazy.
FSF: How does the success of one line affect the others?
TAYLOR: I don't think it's a matter of, 'We better pick our game up.' I think it's a matter of, 'Wow, we're going to get (ice time) if we play hard.' ... One of the games, Stammer only had like 11 minutes of the first 40. Then he played about five or six of the last period and got a couple of shots. But usually, he's a 20-21-minute guy. The thing of it is, they played Namestnikov, (Cedric) Paquette and (Jonathan) Drouin a lot more. And what I like about the coaching staff is that they're not afraid to cut back on guys' ice time that aren't playing really well or struggling right at the (moment). Or (if) somebody's playing really well, they give them the ice time.
In this day and age of money, your superstars are going to play come hell or high water. And rightfully so, because that's why they're superstars. They usually are your best players 90 percent of the time. But that 10 percent that they're not going, they're not afraid (to go), 'OK, let's back them off a bit and let's play the guys that are.' That's really been impressive.
FSF: How does the scoring depth that has been shown so far enhance this team?
TAYLOR: I think what happened last year with Stammer breaking his leg, everybody had us dead and buried. And the young guys came in and really played well -- I mean the Palats, the Johnsons, even Kuch came up. ... I think what happens now is when you get these young guys that are coming in there, they're seeing, 'We're not coming up here just to fill out the lineup. We're going to get a chance to play, so I'm going to play as hard as I can, and who knows?'
The hardest part now is who do you take out of the lineup? That's the hardest part. It's not who are you going to put in? Who are you going to take out? That's a tough decision. ... I think it's more of a realization by young players that, 'If I play hard, and I go back even to Syracuse and play hard, they're going to bring me back up.' And you're rewarded from effort.
FSF: This team still has room to grow. What areas are you watching for in the coming weeks?
TAYLOR: I think (Andrej) Sustr is getting better and better. I think he has to work a little bit more on his feet, get a little bit quicker. But I like the way he's very aggressive. He'll jump up in the play. He'll stay up in the play. I like that right there. I think our mix has been good.
When (Victor) Hedman was starting out, he was going to have a Norris Trophy year. He was unbelievable. When he comes back, that's just going to help us a lot. I'd just like to see us get more consistent. With young teams, there are peaks and valleys. I think the peaks and valleys shouldn't be real deep. Every team goes through it. But I'd like to see us be really consistent. And so far, we've done a pretty good job of that.
You can follow Andrew Astleford on Twitter @aastleford or email him at aastleford@gmail.com.
