Tampa Bay Lightning G Louis Domingue trying to move on from negativity

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Louis Domingue has set the record straight about his time with the Arizona Coyotes and his transition to the Lightning.

As some Tampa Bay Lightning fans may know by now, Lightning goaltender Louis Domingue was a guest on the Power Play Podcast hosted by Matt Sammon on January 11. During the interview, Domingue discussed his time with the Arizona Coyotes, the obstacles he’s overcome, and his transition to the Bolts.

Unfortunately, some people have taken the comments he’s made as a slight on the Arizona Coyotes organization, which isn’t hard to factually accomplish as of late. The thing is, this wasn’t Domingue’s intention at all. According to the goaltender, his account was more about how he overcame challenges rather than dwelling on the darker side of things.

Still, this hasn’t stopped people from having a differing opinion on the matter. One of those people was Arizona Coyotes Correspondent Craig Morgan. Morgan took issue with the fact Louis Domingue was offered a lower position within the Coyotes organization but declined said offer to look for greener pastures.

The exchange started after Morgan had seen a tweet from Raw Charge Managing Editor Achariya showcasing a snippet from the site’s transcription of Louis Domingue’s appearance on the Power Play Podcast.

Morgan continued on with this scenario in response to a commenter.

Let’s be real here for a moment. Hockey is just like any other business in the world. If you are not happy with your job, you explore better options. If your job decides you can sit at home for an undisclosed amount of time while they search for a lower position for you, it’s on you to reach for something better.

Staying in one place spinning your wheels is what makes people stagnant. By definition, this leads to a lack of development. Obviously, this is something no player ever wants. The goal of any professional athlete is to continue moving forward until they have reached their full potential.

It wasn’t long before Domingue himself entered the conversation. He points out how he expressed his gratitude for the team in the original interview, a point which many people seem to be glossing over before expressing their opinion on the matter.

Domingue then turned the situation around in a matter which makes sense on more of a business level.

Domingue continued by once again expressing his gratitude for the time he had while he was in Arizona and expressing his desire to move on and leave the negativity where it belongs…in the past.

Even the most elite goaltenders in the world go through slumps. Henrik Lundqvist, Tuukka Rask, Martin Brodeur…they’ve all had their bad games (and sometimes seasons.) This doesn’t make them any less talented.

Another thing you have to take a closer look at it the team in front of them. For example, if you take a look back in Lightning history and reflect on Andrei Vasilevskiy’s first moments as the backup to then-goaltender Ben Bishop, the rest of the team seemed to play vastly different in front of Vasy than they did Bishop.

Is this a true reflection of a goaltender’s capabilities? Absolutely not. You can only lean on one player for so long before said player snaps and the game quickly gets out of hand. This is not to say a goaltender can’t or doesn’t have faults. Everyone does. It’s how you come back from those down moments that truly matter.

Before closing the door on the matter, Louis Domingue made things as crystal clear as he possibly could. The entire interview with the Power Play Podcast wasn’t about trashing the Arizona Coyotes, their organization, their players, or anything else, for that matter. It was about overcoming challenges and moving on.

The truth of the matter is, sometimes, things are lost in translation. The tone of a person’s voice is a powerful thing and can make the most innocent words turn into something sarcastic and spiteful. At the same time, hearing the tone in someone’s voice and bring a certain degree of sincerity to a matter.

At the end of the day, what matters the most here is Louis Domingue did overcome his challenges and came out on the other side mostly unscathed. Not only did Domingue get an opportunity to continue his career at a higher level of play, but the Lightning got a solid backup goaltender, a great top guy for the Syracuse Crunch, and potentially someone who could step into the Lightning roster in a bigger role in the future.

Since making his way to the Syracuse Crunch, Louis Domingue has played in 15 games. In this time, he has maintained an 11-4-0 record with a Save Percentage of .921 and a Goals Against Average of 2.07. The same can be said about his debut with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Granted, Domingue has only had one start on the Tampa Bay Lightning roster, but it was a spectacular game to behold. On January 7, as the Lightning took on the Detroit Red Wings, Domingue faced a total of 36 shots and was able to stop all but two of them. This gave him a Save Percentage of .944 and a GAA of 2.00.

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Louis Domingue has a ton of potential and a solid work ethic. At 25 years old, he has plenty of time to continue to work hard and push his way through the system. If he continues to play the way he has since joining the Lightning organization, it would be more than reasonable for him to earn himself a more permanent spot on the roster in the seasons to come.