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Jon Cooper Throws Former Assistant Under the Bus for Leaking Sensitive Information


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Aaron
April 26, 2023  (6:19 PM)
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Many regard Andrei Vasilevskiy as the best goaltender in hockey. Many would even consider him infallible. Former Lightning assistant coach Derek Lalonde doesn't!

Lalonde Reveals Vasilevskiy's Weakness

Before he was behind the bench as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, Derek Lalonde served as assistant coach to Jon Cooper in Tampa Bay.
Lalonde is a very bright guy, and to try and maximize then young goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, he did a study to determine his weaknesses.
What he discovered is that Vasy has trouble saving shots from the blueline.
With the Red Wings having missed the playoffs, Lalonde joined HNIC's panel. His analysis has been great, and many have enjoyed it. When he shared Vasilevskiy's weakness on air, a lot of people were shocked. Especially Lightning head coach John Cooper.
"He's just there because he was an assistant coach on this team. So he's trying to offer insight and try to give something relevant to the fans, and he should do it for real instead. He just needs to make sure it's accurate."

"Sportsnet pays him good money to give his opinion, so he has to make something up about that kind of stuff." - Jon Cooper

It's safe to say there's some bad blood between Cooper and Lalonde now. But, clearly the latter's analysis has proved relevant, as the Maple Leafs appear to have cracked Vasilevskiy's code.

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