Cooper, Lightning thriving under rookie GM BriseBois

MONTREAL -- For the first time in his NHL career, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper is working under a general manager who isn't named Steve Yzerman.

So Cooper wants to share two things that most don't know about Julien BriseBois, who was promoted to GM when Yzerman stepped down on Sept. 11, two days before the start of training camp.

"If you ever go out and have chicken wings with Julien, the hottest the restaurant can make them will not be hot enough. And even if he's sweating, he'll grind through and eat them all," Cooper said with a laugh Saturday, hours before the Lightning's 4-1 victory against the Montreal Canadiens.
"The second thing, and this is a Julien quote: 'Burn my steak so much, make it so hard, that I can bounce it off the floor.' "
Cooper was in a bright mood following the morning skate at Bell Centre, his media chat including a few words about BriseBois being his new boss.
"That news made it up here?" he joked of BriseBois' September promotion, well aware that Tampa Bay's rookie GM, a native of the Montreal area (Greenfield Park, Quebec), had spent nine years in the Canadiens' front office from 2001 before joining the Lightning in 2010.
"I'm always indebted to Steve Yzerman because he gave me my first chance in the NHL. What people don't realize is that Julien BriseBois gave me my first crack at pro. When [the Lightning] were looking for an American [Hockey] League coach in 2010 (with Norfolk), he sought me out (as the GM) and interviewed me. We've been together ever since.
"We had a magical run together in 2012 to win a Calder Cup. I learned so much from him [about] how things are run, how to be a pro on the management side of things. He's always prepared, he's always a step ahead. When you think you've got things figured out, he's got a different angle."
Fifteen minutes later, sitting outside the visiting coaches' office, Cooper expanded on their relationship.
"There's a difference between Stevie and Julien but the one thing is, the transition has been seamless," Cooper said. "I know it was never prepared this way, but it was almost as if Steve was prepping Julien for this job. The one thing I really respect about Julien is he didn't come in here and try to put his stamp on something and say, 'This is my show.' He knows that good things have been going on here, he's just keeping the ball rolling.
"It's been different because Steve has been my boss here for the last six years but [the change] has been refreshing. Julien brings an energy I've seen in few, it's how he's always 'on.' You rarely see an off time with him. He challenges me like none other and so far, so good."

The Lightning will face the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVAS, SUN, NHL.TV) with an Atlantic Division-leading record of 9-3-1. That matches the second-best 13-game start for a Cooper-coached Lightning team, tying 2014-15 and bettered only by last season's 10-2-1.
Tampa Bay has advanced to the Eastern Conference Final three times in the past four seasons; the Lightning were eliminated last season by the Washington Capitals in a seven-game series. In 2015, the Lightning lost a six-game Stanley Cup Final to the Chicago Blackhawks; being ousted by the eventual Cup champion Capitals last season, Cooper said, was no consolation.
"To me, that's just a rationalization of helping the sting be a little bit less," he said. "One thing I have learned about playoff hockey is that momentum and a team riding the wave can be hard to stop. … The Capitals rode the wave. We did everything we could, we just got beat by a better team at that time."
Cooper got his 250th regular-season victory when Tampa Bay defeated the New Jersey Devils 8-3 on Oct. 30. He wasn't aware of the milestone when it was mentioned to him Saturday in Montreal, where he views Scotty Bowman as the gold standard in NHL coaching.
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Cooper relishes any chance he gets to see Bowman, an NHL-record nine-time champion, at games in Tampa Bay, where Bowman lives and often scouts for the Blackhawks. And it was Bowman, Cooper said, who paid him one of his greatest compliments in the handshake line after the 2015 Cup Final.
"Scotty put so many things in perspective on the ice," he said. "After he congratulated us and told us what a good job we had done, he told me, 'Hey Coop, keep your head up. I lost my first 12 Stanley Cup Final games (with the St. Louis Blues 1968-70). You'll be back here.' He made me feel good about myself in a situation where I didn't feel too good. Then you hear that Steve Yzerman was coached by Scotty Bowman. To hear some of Scotty's tactics, through Steve, has helped me grow as a coach. Scotty has been a lot more of an influence on me than he ever realized."
As it was with every team Bowman coached, the bar of expectation is set high in Tampa Bay, something Cooper says is embraced throughout the organization.
"You have to set a standard of excellence so that when you walk into a game, you already feel you're up 1-0," he said. "I've been extremely proud of this group because we've never really gone on prolonged losing streaks. The group understands the process and our standard of winning.
"The one thing now is understanding now how difficult it is to get over the top. It can be very easy to take it for granted: 'Oh, we're just going to get back there.' But this group has got back there again. I truly believe that this group doesn't take it for granted. Maybe we did a little after 2015, but they definitely don't now. We just have to find a way to get over the hump."