Coburn watched the Toronto game on TV from the Lightning locker room because the Bolts have too many defensemen playing at a high level. There are seven blueliners on the roster currently. All of them deserve to play. But in the Lightning's 12 forward/six defensemen alignment, which head coach Jon Cooper has used almost exclusively this season after going 11/7 at various times in seasons past, one defenseman has been forced to sit despite being healthy and available to play. On Thursday, it was Coburn. He's sat three times since the Lightning started rotating a defenseman in and out of the lineup. At various times, Dan Girardi, Anton Stralman, Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak have been healthy scratches too.
It's not an easy sell to a player asking him to sit out, especially a veteran like Coburn, who is six games away from playing in his 900th career NHL game. But in the grand scheme, the plan should help the Lightning remain fresh for a potential lengthy playoff run. And showing how a rotation could possibly help the Lightning achieve their ultimate goal of winning a Stanley Cup, well, that is an easy sell to a player.
"It's a good luxury having seven that can play, that should be everyday NHL D-men, but it's hard for those guys to sit out," Lightning assistant coach Derek Lalonde said. "…I think in the big picture, it's worked out well. As a teammate, as a group, it's worked out very well. Coop did an excellent job communicating it."
The problem in the short term, however, is when a defenseman sits out, he might be rusty the next game when he gets back in the lineup.
"What I think you've seen a little bit…guys have sat out and they've gotten out of rhythm a little bit," Lalonde said. "They haven't been as sharp coming off that sit out."
Because of that, the Lightning are going to re-evaluate their defenseman rotation during the bye week, which begins after Saturday's game versus the San Jose Sharks at AMALIE Arena (7 p.m. puck drop), to decide whether it's something they wish to continue doing over the second half of the season.
"With that said, our team defense, we've been committed to that of late and we have been better," Lalonde said. "Even (Thursday) night, obviously a very talented offensive team, a scary forward group, I thought for the most part we didn't give up a ton. It was a pretty good defensive game for us…Defensively, we're happy where we are as a team right now, but there's plenty of room for improvement there."
In his mid-season state of the team interview with local media on December 29, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois stated he and the coaching staff were still working to identify the best defensive pairs for the team moving forward. The defensive rotation has allowed them to see how different players partner with one another. In recent games, Victor Hedman has played with Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman. Stralman has seen time with Ryan McDonagh and Mikhail Sergachev. McDonagh has paired with Erik Cernak at times, capably guiding the rookie blueliner through his first season in the NHL.
The Lightning want to have a set top six by the time the playoffs come around, Lalonde said. But right now, they're still trying to figure out who those six are. And what combination of those six produces their best three pairs.