from Joe Smith of The Athletic,

He’s adamant — doubters be damned — that this accomplished and aging core has a few more kicks left at the can. Or the Cup.

The doubt, Cooper says, is why the next one might be the most meaningful.

“What was special about Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters in ’86? He kept grinding and then he did it,” Cooper says. “How about Tiger (Woods) when he won the Masters in ’19? Our window is open. But it’s not as open as it was four, five years ago. At some point, guys are going to get older. (Andre Vasilevskiy) is going to get older. (Nikita Kucherov) is going to get older. (Brayden Point) is going to get older. Stamkos.

“But to win, get knocked down and come back, would be super cool. To be able to knock back at people that said, ‘They were Chicago, they were Pittsburgh, L.A.’ — the teams that dominated, won their Cups and had to take steps back because of the salary cap — if we can fight through that, it’d be really gratifying.”

With the Lightning coming off back-to-back first-round playoff exits, many see them headed to the same purgatory as the other recent multiple-Cup winners: the Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings. They’re too good to rebuild, not good enough to compete for a championship.

Cooper sees this group differently.

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