Jon Cooper, Lightning sustaining success despite mixing lineups

Sports admin October 20, 2026 0 Comments

Jon Cooper, Lightning sustaining success despite mixing lineups

One of Lightning coach Jon Cooper’s biggest challenges in this young season has been deciding which 18 skaters to play each game.

It’s a good problem to have.

One of Cooper’s greatest strengths has been getting buy-in from his players, and he’s been able to make everyone in the dressing room feel like a valuable contributor even though they might not play every night.

In the first eight games, he’s played six different lineups. But it’s not due to a litany of injuries like the team experienced at this point last season. And it’s not because Cooper is desperately grasping at straws.

“We have 23 good players, and only 20 can play,” he said. “It just can be frustrating, I’m sure, for guys that don’t get to play every night. But you want the guys driving for spots. But it’s better than the alternative, whatever that is, like not being here, or playing on a different team or you’re in a different league.”

Cooper is used to having fewer options. Over the years, dating back to their 2020 and ’21 Stanley Cup seasons, the Lightning seldom have been able ice a full 23-man lineup due to salary-cap limitations.

Now, he’s taking full advantage of the luxury that currently exists for the Lightning (6-2-0), who have won six of their last seven games going into this week’s three-game road trip.

“I like having it. I like having the players around,” Cooper said Monday before the team left for Las Vegas. “Eventually, as the season wears on – you hope it never happens – guys will get banged up at some point. But that’s the message for a lot of the players. It’s yeah, you’re out of lineup tonight, but you’re probably not out of the lineup because you did something that you deserve to be out.”

With so many options, if he needs a lineup with more speed or physicality, Cooper can do that while also making sure that players don’t go too long without seeing the ice. He’s even gotten two starts for backup goaltender Dennis Hildeby before the first back-to-back of the season games Friday in Colorado and Saturday in Utah.

“We’ve got a bunch of good players here, and we’re going to try and get guys in when we can, and we don’t want guys sitting for a prolonged amount of time to get rusty,” Cooper said. “But it doesn’t take away from some skill sets that we think some guys have that can be put in those spots. It’s just one of those things. When you’re in a pretty deep group, some internal competition is not a bad thing.”

Defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous played well in the first six games but was a healthy scratch Thursday against Seattle so that the Lightning could get Emil Lilleberg, who had missed the previous four games with an injury, back on the ice.

But D’Astous was far from buried. He returned on Saturday and was promoted to run the top power-play unit. A struggling power play scored on its only opportunity of the night, and D’Astous likely will stay on the top unit for now.

“I feel like it’s pushed the team to be better every day, every practice, every game,” D’Astous said. “Everyone is competing for a spot in the lineup, so it makes the team better overall. The coaches, they know everyone can play. So that’s why when we get in, we have good minutes. You just have to show coaches that we want to stay there and force their hands to make sure we stay in the lineup.”

Forward Gage Goncalves also was scratched against Seattle after playing mostly in a top-line role with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. The next game, he returned in a top-six role.

“Every year is different,” Cooper said. “But this one, you know, it’s there’s just a lot of good players and not quite as many spots on the roster when it comes game time, but, you know, things change in a hurry, so it’s a lot of runway left in this season.”

It didn’t receive much attention, but Cooper sat one of his most trusted players, center Anthony Cirelli, for just over seven minutes in the first period Oct. 13 against the Rangers after he was on the ice for two goals against that put Tampa Bay in an early hole. Conor Geekie, 22, took his place for four shifts with Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel. Cirelli returned to start the second period and played well.

“You have a bunch of very talented guys that are super good at adapting,” said defenseman J.J. Moser. “So basically, whatever is asked of you, you just find a way to deliver and to make it happen. So I think that’s why we’re good at adapting and good at playing with whatever lineup we have that night.”

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