Tampa Bay Lightning 25-26 Regular Season/Playoffs Post-Mortem

Stevie Z gives his thoughts on a good Lightning regular season that is capped off with another disappointing playoff exit in the 1st Round. Prepare for some reasoning, some ranting, some rambling and some expletives that he had to get off his chest.

Transcript

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What is going on, everyone? 41 Channel Slide Podcast, Stevie Z here to bring you my opinion on the Tampa Bay Lightning season and a little playoff post-mortem combined. Uh sitting here at this current moment, the Lightning are nine days out from getting eliminated in round one for the fourth straight time. This time to the Montreal Canadiens in a crushing game seven defeat where Tampa Bay allows nine shots and Montreal gets two bounces that end up in the back of the net. Let's see our Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated once again. And so why has it taken me so long to get to this? Right? So, number one, life kind of got in the way after the season ended, right? Like if I've been kind of busy the last week and a half, that that's number one. Number two, there wasn't really much of an urgency to really get this out at the moment because I I wanted to just kind of digest the loss. I wanted to do some research on the season and and kind of try to encapsulate it in and just give it some of in my opinion, and I wanted it to be informed and not so hot take ish, right? I wanted um to get through the playoff or the player exit interviews, right? I wanted to hear uh what they had to say. I wanted to hear what Julian Breeswall had to say. I wanted to see, you know, just everybody kind of digest it, give their opinion, and then just me try to draw some conclusions on what I think. And the other the other thing is I I'm just I'm bitter. I I won't lie to you. I thought maybe if I would give this some time, like a week, right, that I could maybe change the way that I was feeling about how this all transpired for the Tampa Bay Lightning. And to be to be truthful, it it really hasn't made me feel any better about um what happened to them in round one. Um I wanted to see what I wanted to interact with other fans and I I wanted to get their thoughts on it. And um look, like this episode is is gonna be a little bit of reasoning, right? It's gonna be a little bit of ranting, it's gonna be a little bit of expletives, it's it's gonna kind of encapsulate all of it. Um, because like I said, I I am a little bitter still. Um I haven't watched any hockey, for that matter. You know, like it just it's hard, right? And it's not to be a big baby about it. It's just it sucks, right? Like you you invest so much into your team, you and not well, listen, like I'm I'm a full season ticket holder, right? I I go to around 30 games a year, and then you know, the playoffs, and and I'm I'm in, I'm invested, like many of you are, right? And so when you just have that constant investment throughout the year from really September when training camp starts, and then you you get through the regular season and you get the journey of the regular season, and and then you get to the playoffs and it just stops, you're kind of just searching for something. And and I'll be honest with you, I I really like if the lightning weren't in the playoffs, it would be a little bit easier to digest watching other teams play hockey, but watching watching how the playoffs have transpired this year and and you know, knowing that a team like Montreal that obviously beat the lightning in seven and the most crushing way, they're still playing. And like for me, I just don't want to take that in, to be honest with you, because it would just frustrate me. And so, you know, here we are, you know, nine days later. For me, you'll probably get this 10 days uh later from when the lightning eliminated uh last Sunday on what May 3rd. And uh yeah, so we're gonna kind of structure it like this. So let's talk about the positives of the season, okay? Because there were some positives to the regular season. I I thought that from the standpoint of a regular season, uh I don't know if it was amazing, but look, the lightning were one of five teams with 50 wins, okay. Third in regulation wins with 40, they were third in regulation overtime wins with 46. Okay, this was the fifth time in franchise history that the Lightning uh get 50 wins. Okay. Fourth in goals four with 290, they were third in the East. Third in goals allowed, 231, they were first in the East. Right, they were second in goal differential with a plus 59. Third in the penalty kill, right, 82.6%. Uh they were fourth in goals four per game at 3.49 goals uh score per game, third in goals allowed per game, 2.79. And look, and then and that's just some face value statistics. Okay. Now we kind of get to some individual stuff, right? There's six players with 50 plus points for the lightning, right? Kucharov obviously has uh 130 points this year. He ties a career high with 44 goals. Uh Jake Gensel, 88 points. I believe that was a career high for him. And I should know that. I mean, I've had damn near a week and a half to look this up, but I believe it was a career high for him in points. Uh Hegel, 74 points. Uh Radish, 70 points, an obvious career high for him. And he had 22 goals, which is a Tampa Bay Lightning single season record for a defenseman. Anthony Sorelli, 52 points this year. I believe he had 23 goals. And then Brain Point had 50 points to round out the top six players, I guess, with 50 plus points, or the players on the Lightning who had 50 plus points this year. Another right positive, uh, Pontus Holmberg, career high in goals with 11. He had 22 points this year. And I believe like at the beginning of the year, he came in and he thought that he could offer more scoring punch, that his game had that. So to be able to get double-digit goals and an NHL career high of 11 goals for Pontus Holmberg, that that's really good. Gage Gonsalves, Dominic James. So we didn't know about Dominic James prior to the season because he was a free agent signing out of college. Uh we knew about Gage Gonsalves. We wanted him to take a step. And he did. Right? He did take a step. Uh Dominic James, another player kind of in the weeds for the Lightning. Obviously, they've done a great job with their scouting department. And he flashed a lot this season. And when he went down for those eight to eight weeks or whatever, like it was noticeable. Uh Vasi, 39 wins this season. He was first in the league. And then we we kind of get to um we kind of get to some of the awards, right? Kutrov, a hard finalist, I believe, for the third year in a row. Uh, John Cooper, Jack Adams, uh finalist, Anthony Sorelli, finalist for the Selkey, and Vasi, finalist for the Vesna. Kind of looking at it from uh how the Lightning did record-wise against Atlantic Division teams. They were 16-9-1 this year versus the division. And look at there were some there was I think that this is this can't be understated enough, right? I think look, the lightning had the second most man games lost, according to Julian Breeswall. And look how Cooper was able to maneuver that. They get 106 points. Obviously, Cooper has to maneuver, you know, the Olympics, the passing of his father. You have Darren Radish, who has the passing of his father. You have Victor Hedman, who has injury upon injury and has to take a mental health break and step away from the team for a little bit. You have Braden Point, who uh gets he just goes on an absolute cold streak and then he gets hot and it gets hurt again. Um you have Ryan McDonough who played 48 games a shear. You know, like you just look at what like Victor Haven played 33 games a shear, you know, and what Coop and his staff were able to do uh to generate you know the production that they got from the team and to get 106 points and and and probably what was the the tightest race that I can recall in recent memory, it was an excellent job. And I I don't want to understate that. Okay, and it's it's really unfortunate because now we kind of have to take a turn here and kind of look at the negatives, but like I want to preface this by saying this. Okay, so we know that the lightning had 106 points, right? They were 18-3, or 18-3-3 before they were sitting at what fifth in the Atlantic division with 39 points prior to their 21-1 stretch. Okay, so really positive. Getting into the negatives, the big thing about it was despite that 21-1 stretch, it wasn't able to be sustained after the Olympic break. The Lightning went 11, 8, and 2 after the Olympic break. And you kind of saw some holes in their game a little bit. Obviously, they had to play 27 games in 50 days, so the schedule was really condensed. I had a big thing about whether or not they'd be able to kind of flip the switch heading into the playoffs, and we're gonna get to that, right? So, some of the negatives, right?18 goals this year. He had 50 points, he had his lowest goal total since his rookie year. Uh Victor Hedman, 33 games this year, obviously with injury um and just what he had going on mentally. He had 17 points. Uh the power play, 17th in the league. Okay, and and I I want to address this because I I think that it's important to address to provide a little a little bit of context here. Look, uh the power play has regressed significantly since we've had Steven Stamkos. Okay, so 22, uh 23-24, the Lightning are first in the league. Power play percentage at 28.6%. Last year, 24-25. Uh they regressed slightly in their first year without Stamcos, but they finished fifth, uh, 25.9%. This year, the Lightning just I mean, uh just like a complete nosedive on the power play, finishing with what 20.7%, finish 17th in the league. Um look, that's that's not really acceptable for a team that has this talent on the power play. Like it's their calling card, it's been their calling card for years. And I honestly felt that a lot of times this year, the power play actually did more damage for the lightning than anything positive. Kind of looking at it, like here's a the injuries were piling up, I guess, for some of the more experienced players, right? Like Turnak, who seems injured often. He played 60 games. I said McDonough played 48 games, you know, Hedman played 33 games. You know, you're you're missing three, three of your big guys on the back end, missing significant time this year. It's you know, you're relying on the younger guys to step up, and and they did, no doubt. But here's the part is that a lot of these younger guys that Tampa Bay Lightning have coming up, like they're complementary pieces, right? Like none of them, at least to this point, have demonstrated themselves as like elite level players, the likes of Point, Kucharov, Hetman, so on and so forth. And that's okay for me, looking at where this team is going forward. Like this team is gonna be another year older. I think that this team is top heavy. It showed in the regular season and it manifested in round one. And we can look at the regular season stats. Okay, the top six point getters were five of the top six forwards and the top D-man and Darren Raddish, uh, naturally. Okay. After that, the next highest point getter was Corey Perry with 37 points. He had 37 points. He had nine points in 22 games with Tampa in the regular season. So he had 28 points for joining Tampa. Gage Gonçalves was the next highest point getter with 33 points. I get everybody has a role, right? And we're gonna kind of touch on where I'm getting at the symmetry between that the lack of depth that we saw in the playoffs and why that was a little bit concerning, and what they can do to kind of rectify that the hole in the top six and how that trickles down. Look at, like I said, like going back to the power play, you know, Bork Bjorkstrand second on the team in power play goals with nine. He didn't even have a consistent role on the power play um for a lot of the latter half of the season, right? Radish led the team with 10 power play goals, right? You go 17th on the power play, and you've you've dropped from fifth, and Kutrov called it out in training camp. You know, like we're not really seeing anything change with that. That's to me, that's a concern. You got all this talent, you've got an MVP, you've got an MVP caliber player on the power play, and somehow it's worse off because you're missing one player. And we're gonna kind of get into this idea of one player having the ability to undo the Tampa Bay Lightning in many facets, right? The power play, the line, the how the lines are constructed, and all of that. Now we're also gonna start to bleed into a little bit of like the negatives and like going into round one and some of the positives, obviously. So looking at it, I thought in the playoffs our penalty kill was actually very good, right? Despite giving up the three power play goals in game one, I thought Tampa defended really well. I thought, and this is every single game was a one-goal game, guys, right? So, like from that standpoint, I said it the series was on a knife's edge. And we can look at what I said prior to the season, like let's refer prior to the series, like let's reflect, right? So some like some of the strengths and weaknesses, like Tampa's strengths, I thought was their goaltending. I thought Vassie played well. I'm ignoring the the save percentage because of the fact that it doesn't really tell the whole story because I mean shit, like game seven, he has nine shots. He sees like he some games he was not seeing a lot of volume. The depth beyond the first line, I had that as a strength. That was actually a weakness, and we were gonna get into that because that's a negative. Uh, the defending for Tampa, I thought was excellent. The PK, right outside of game one, they gave up three goals for the rest of the series. They gave up two power play goals. Um, an X factor. I had Kucharov as an X factor in the series. You know, he had six points in seven games. I don't think he was an X factor as much as uh as we would have liked him to have been. We're gonna get into that. Uh the Bolt power play. I mean, they score five power play goals. I believe they had 24 opportunities. I thought they were two hit or miss in the series, to be quite honest with you. Like, I think they let the team down in big moments throughout the series, opportunities for them to maybe take control of games, and they didn't. You know, looking at the Montreal, looking at Montreal, I thought coming in, right? Their strength was their first line. Their first line had I don't think their first line had any one five on five goal. One five on five goal. That was in game seven. Right? They were fast. Absolutely, they were fast. I thought they were faster than Tampa throughout the series, without a doubt. Their uh strength, best shot blocking team. They absolutely lived up to that. And listen to the weaknesses that I had for them coming in that I thought were perceived weaknesses, depth beyond the first line, giant egg on my face. Young goaltending, uh, Noah Dobson out.

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X factors for Montreal in the series, scoring beyond the first line, absolutely a big X factor for them. They got that. Youthful and resilient, absolutely, they proved that. And Dobesh was excellent in the series. Their X factors hit, and it's crazy. Like looking back at it, every single strength, everything that I thought was a perceived strength and/or weakness, like some of them, like the weaknesses ended up being strengths for Montreal. They actually favored more so when you look at it, Montreal was actually a stronger team overall, at least from what I had written down, looking back at it, than Tampa. And they won the series, like they played better. And I will say this about the series. Okay. Look, the series wasn't lost in game seven. You look at it, they lose game one on a power play goal because Jake Gensell high sticks a Montreal Canadian with 21 seconds left in the third period, needlessly. Right? They get a goal early in the O team.

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Vassey's off his line. He obviously wants that one back. They called timeout in overtime to get Slavkowski over to that left side. And it wasn't a look that we had seen from him. Obviously, St. Louis saw something. They call the timeout, they win the face-off. Boom, in the back of the net, Vassey off his line. Right? They lose game three in Montreal on failed clearing attempts by Lilleberg and Carlisle. Right? They get hemmed in. They try to go D to D. Puck gets stuck in the corner. I believe Carlisle can't get it out. The puck ends up on a Montreal player stick back to Lane Hudson at the point. Lane Hudson seeing ice shot. Game five. Tampa has the opportunity to take advantage. Right? Tampa has the opportunity to take advantage in the series. And they don't. Looking at it, from game five to game seven, remember those top six point getters that I mentioned? Right? From game five to game seven, Tampa got one point from the likes of Kucharov, Hegel, Gensel, Point, Radish, Sorelli. From those six guys who were the guys with 50 plus points from the Lightning in the regular season, in the latter half of that series, Tampa got one point from those guys. And that was a secondary assist from Brandon Hegel in game six to Gage Gonzalez, who then found Dominic James in that front for the win. One, you know. One point? Oh I'm sorry, two points. Because we we got a we got a goal from we got a goal from Jake Gensel in in game five. So two points. I mean you look at the you look at how the series took shape. Look, they scored the first goal once in round one, and that was in game two. I'm not considering game six because that was an overtime goal of the first person of score goal one, right? Zero zero. So cutting an OT. So for a majority of the series, it felt like Tampa was chasing. You just in the playoffs, you just can't have it happen. Right? You look at remember, I said that a perceived weakness for me. With depth scoring for Montreal. Montreal had 21 depth forward points compared to Tampa's seventh in this series. So the likes of Texier, Anderson, Doc. You know, and and the likes of those guys to know whoever the depth fors were from Montreal absolutely dominated this series. Tampa got nothing in that regard. In this series, Baron Radish, two points. Anthony Sorelli, two points. Brady Point, one point. I mean, that's not getting it done. Right. Here's the positive. Like, let me like I'm gonna hold off because I'm being negative Nelly here, right? Like the positive in the series, right? Like Anthony Sorelli and the likes of that that group, like they defended incredibly well, especially against Suzuki. Faceoffs. I did just another another negative, right? So it during the season, in the season, the lightning were 28 in face-off percentage, 47.4%. They were 15th out of 16 teams in the playoffs, 44.4%. I mean, Montreal had no problem icing the puck because they knew they could win, like Tampa was having a hard time winning face-offs. And people make a big deal about, oh, you don't need a face-off guy. Look, you do need a face-off guy when it's becoming detrimental to the point where you have offensive zone face-offs, you lose it and you're losing an opportunity to possess the puck in the offensive zone. That's when it's becoming detrimental. And I don't think it's ever been more noticeable than in this first round series when there was stretches of games. I'm sorry, stretches within games where Montreal was absolutely owning Tampa in the face-off circle, especially on offensive zone face-offs for Tampa and on the power play as well. Um, I thought Tampa did not play a direct game. I thought Montreal played with more fire to get things to the net, right? And Julian Breeswall in his in his uh exit press conference, right, in Montreal had five goals on shots through traffic, right? So tips, screens, just putting the puck on net in general. Five shots on goal from that, right? Tampa had three. They had timely goals, right? So he I believe he characterized that as goals after goals after uh like the next shift. So if Tampa scores a goal, the next shift they give up a goal, or like the first minute or the last minute of the period, or last four minutes of the period. I don't remember how he categorized it specifically, but in terms of timely goals, uh what Tampa categorizes them as Montreal had seven, Tampa had three. I have been consistent in saying this. Sure, did Tampa deserve to win game seven? Yes. I don't think they deserve to win the series, if I'm just gonna be honest with you. Just look back at the series. Montreal played better throughout the series, they played more consistent throughout the series. I actually thought that they were, they looked like the more experienced and the more mature team throughout the series. I thought Tampa was second best in a lot of puck battles. I thought they were second best just in terms of pace of the game, in decision making, in clutch performances, and the ability to play more directly in terms of just getting shots to the net rather than looking for the perfect shot. I thought that Tampa only played well in spurts, in moments throughout the series. They didn't play well enough consistently to win the series. And I know that people say, well, I went to game seven. Look, it yes, the series was close in that regard, but if you look at it game by game, right, there are really only a few instances within this series where you can say, yeah, Tampa really took it to Montreal, right? Number one, game two in the latter half of the third period. Yeah, they took it to them, they ended up getting the goal. Kutaroff gets a goal um off the wraparound because Hegel steals the puck off the wall. Or not off the wall, but Slawkowski sends a pizza up the middle of the ice, and Hegel intercepts it inside uh the blue line, and then he puts a shot on Ned. Kutaroff follows it and gets the wraparound on Dobesh, right? And then they carry that throughout into OT, they get the winner, right? Game four in the third period. Right, they they absolutely own that third period. OT in game six, you got the feeling that Tampa was the better team. They're obviously playing with a level of desperation. And then in game seven, the entirety of game seven, yeah, but look, this idea that uh Tampa didn't get the breaks or the hockey gods or or whatever, you know. Look, you in hockey, you you earn your breaks, okay? And Montreal earned those breaks from games one through six, in which in the manner in which they played, being willing to go to the hard areas, being willing to block shots, being willing to understand that not everything is going to be a finesse, pretty play. It's just about putting the puck on the net. Right? Look at the two goals in game seven. Absolute jokes. Right? Like you couldn't script that. A double doink off Suzuki, then off Mosier into the net for the first goal, and then a puck that goes behind Vasilevsky, bounces out in front, and you bats it off backhand, just under Batsy's arm. Short side? How about how about in game five, where one minute into the third period, a poor line change, and you know, an absolute bomb of a shot, Batsy can't handle it, hits off his wrist and into the net. If you if you're asking of a game in which the lightning lost the series, it wasn't game seven, they lost it in game five. And Brandon Hegel said so as much. In game five, our best players weren't our best players. And and look, I agree with him, and and we're gonna get to this right now. Tampa's best players were not their best players when it mattered most. Here's the thing, and and I'm seeing a lot of this, all right. So here so here comes the ranting part, right? I gave you some reasoning, and we may come back to some reasoning later on, but here's the ranting part. Okay, I see a lot of people giving like Kuturoff a pass, like, oh, he's got he's got 23, uh, 23 points in his last 23 games in the last four playoffs. Okay, I I got a damning stat for you. In his last seven elimination scenario games, okay, so going back to the Toronto series, right? So when they could have lost in game six or game seven, um the following year when Tampa faced the Panthers for the first time, I believe that was what 23-24, when they could have lost in game four or and then ended up being game five, you know, then the then the following year, game five, and then this year, and game six and game seven. Kutrov has four points in his last seven elimination game scenarios. Kutroff has played seven game sevens in his career, has zero points. Okay, if you want to go back a little bit further, you want to go back to the last Stanley Cup final for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kucharoff has only one more point in nine elimination scenarios. So he's got five points. So going back to the Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup final, Kucharoff has five points in nine elimination game scenarios. Look, I'm I'm I'm over. I'm so over this talk about oh, Kucharov is is not the issue. Listen, why why why does Kucharoff get a pass? I I don't get it. Why does it get a pass? Three years of being a hard finalist, but not delivering in the in the playoffs when it matters. Okay, like I don't care about I don't care about the points per game over the last four years. Show me stats in elimination scenarios. I care about the clutch factor. I want our best players to deliver when the chips are on the table. He knows showed in game six and game seven. Like, sure, he got a lot of shots, but we need we need results. We need production. Listen, if I can't depend as a fan, or if we can't depend on our MVP caliber right winger, one of the best players in the world, to duplicate what he does in the regular season into the first round of the playoffs, then who can we depend on? Why are we depending on a rookie in Dominic James and a second-year regular in Gage Gonçalves to lead the charge in games six and seven? Why is a guy in Oliver Bjorkstrand one of the better players for this team in games five through seven? I watched Nikita Kucharoff's exit interview, and I there are no questions about, hey Cooch, Nikita, you haven't delivered the last four years in the playoffs in elimination scenarios. Why are you not able to adjust your game to the way teams are playing you in the playoffs? Because here it is, teams in the regular season, like they teams are so like they're not hyper-focused. They're just, they don't know what game it is. Like they're just going game to game to game. Like that leads into each other. You get into the dog days of the season, you don't know what game it is, like you're just fighting to get through it, right? In the playoffs, when teams are hyper-focused on you and you know it, teams are seemingly just minimize Kucharoff's impact. Don't let Kucharoff beat us. Make somebody else beat us. And nobody else has been able to do it. Like Brandon Hegel was for a stretch. Jay Gensel was chipping in his part. But really, teams are like that just minimize Cooch, make somebody else beat us. And it's worked the last four years. It's worked. Listen, the last four years for Nikita Kutroff, he's got 508 points and 317 regular season games. So that that averages out to like 1.6025 points a game, right? This past year, he had 40 multi-point games out of 76. Nikita Kutroff wakes up and shits multi-point games on a regular basis in the regular season. But I, as a fan, in some of my interactions, are I'm being told that, oh well, you gotta take it easy on Kutch. We're witnessing greatness. Miss me with that bullshit. Seriously. I am waiting for him to show up. Teams have keyed in on him, he hasn't adjusted. No questions about how he would adjust, why he can't adjust, what the difference is, nothing. Like, I don't understand why he gets a pass from some of the fan base. Right, like I I watched Jay Retcher's uh end of the season Tampa Bay Lightning podcast, and that was great. And he said it best, and I fully agree. Nikita Kucharov has it easy here for Tampa. He's got it easy in Tampa. There's no hard questions, he doesn't have to always address the media, no one's asking him pressing questions. Like the Tampa Bay Lightning have done an excellent job of kind of shielding him away from the media. He doesn't have to do any of that. And look, like that's unique about Tampa. I I enjoy that, right? Like our our guys are not always under the fire, that's fine. But it it's it's getting a little old. This is our MVP caliber player. He's one of the greatest players who will probably ever play the game. He's gonna go down as one of the greatest Russians, he's 16th all time in playoff points. Meanwhile, he's not performing when it matters, when we need him to. Now, I'm not gonna go to the length of I saw something that called him a playoff choker. No, like that's ridiculous. He is not that. But it it is also true that when we've needed Nikita Kuchov to deliver in the playoffs the last couple years, he hasn't done so. Right? The last time he got points in an elimination game scenario was 23-24 against the Florida Panthers. He had three, I believe he had three points in game four when the Lightning won six to three, and then he had a point in game five when the Lightning ultimately got eliminated by the Panthers. Like those were his last points in elimination game scenarios. So you gotta go back three playoffs ago. That that's not I'm I'm sorry, that's that's not cutting it. That's not getting it done. It just isn't. And we can go back to this. Sure, Tampa deserved to win, but they didn't. And I've been consistent in saying this, that the playoffs are about results. We don't care how Tampa gets them. It's getting old quick. We're gonna get into some of the comments here by some of our guys, but here's the thing is and and then maybe this is controversial to some the lightning have been successful for so long in this league, and they constantly, you know, have great regular season outputs. And I'm not saying that the lightning have to win go win the Stanley Cup every year, but look, after four first-round exits, and your top guys really not delivering when it matters, the culture is good, but even the best cultures in business, in sports, in in relationships, and personal lives, even those things have elements of complacency. I'm not saying that the lightning are complete, but I'm not surprised that in the last four years, right, Kutrov hasn't adjusted how they've how he's played in the playoffs. I'm not surprised that the power play still looks the exact same. There appears to be no adjustments to it. Right? Still relying on the laurels when Steven Stampos was at the left circle and we had a bomb of the shot. Right? This idea that experience will carry you when it matters most, those are elements of complacency. And and here's the thing about it. Miss me with this, we should be thankful for what we've seen over the area, the era of a dominance bullshit. I I had an interaction and I and and I was talking with a fan privately, and they were talking about how we should be thankful. For what? Be thankful for what? What the hell does what happened between 2014 and winning the cups in the first the first the early portion of the the golden era? What the hell does that have to do with four first round exits? Like, what do I have to be thankful for? You know what fans do that? You know what kind of fans do that? Fans of franchises who cling to what was because they have nothing to be excited for. Toronto. Always clinging on to always always clinging on to a past history, similar to Montreal, before this year. I want to see winning when it matters. Having all-time great players and not getting out of the first round four years in a row is not acceptable. You can't tell me this team has a Jack Adams finalist head coach in John Cooper, an MVP finalist in Nikita Kucharov, a Selkie finalist in Anthony Sorelli, and a Vesna finalist in Andre Vasilevsky. And you have those guys, and you can't get out of the first round. I'm not taking anything, and I'm not taking anything move from Montreal. I'm just saying based on fact, right? You have you have the upper echelon of players, some of those players, the elite players in the league, are on your team. Collectively, they play roles, and they are struggling to get out of the first round. Yes, it is a team game. Yes, you do need depth, all of those things. But when it matters, you want your best players to deliver. It's not happening. This idea, listen, constantly referring to the past or how good we have had it as fans, or how how we have it or have had it, is an indicator that the time for the Tampa Bay Lightning may be coming to an end sooner than we all want. Listen, I don't care about what we've been able to see or experience. Okay, greatness doesn't have a limit. So why not expect to be greedy while we have greatness in our hands with the likes of Kucharov, Vasilevsky, John Cooper, right? Like Brain Point, Victor Hedman, Ryan Green, like all those guys. I have no interest in what other teams would be dying to see, what they would be dying to experience. Right? It only makes me more bothered that Tampa doesn't have more cups. Like we can reflect on the greatness of this group and what they've meant to Tampa Bay Lightning hockey and for this fan base and for this city. We can reflect on that when these players, when Coop, when JBB are gone, and statues are being erected, and jerseys are being hung, you know. But for now, they're not meeting the their own standard that they've built. Look, we can go back, okay, the last four years. The only year that I'm willing to give Tampa a pass on is the year that they lost to Toronto. Right? They lost three overtime games. Toronto was due for a first-round series when they were. They got bounces. It happens. Okay. Another knife's edge series. You lose three OT games. It is what is. The next year against Florida, they say Florida was a team of destiny. Tampa got absolutely destroyed in that first go around with Florida when Tampa won their or when Florida won their first cup. I mean, they lost the first three games, they win game four, lose game f lose game five. The next year. The second time. In what was it? 24-25. Okay. Series wasn't that bad. They still lost in five. Julian Breeswald comes out and says, Oh, we had a great regular season, which they did, right? They were top two in goals four, goals against, and they were like top five or six in special teams on both ends, power play, penalty kill. And he comes out and says, We had a great regular season, but we just had a bad week in April. That was the third time they lost in the first round. And now we get to this year. And what is it this year? Right, Julian Breesball, and I appreciate how measured he is. I appreciate how calm he is, and and you know, they they did ask him some tough questions, right? And I do appreciate how candid he is, I appreciate how calculated he is and everything he does for the Tampa Bay Lightning, including in his interviews, right? But the same rhetoric that we're getting about, well, if we would have got two bounces here, we would have got bounces there, or if we would have been healthy here, or when you're kind of when he's kind of cherry-picking stats based on, you know, like, oh well, Braden Point had 35 points and 30 games, and that he'd be on pace for 96 points through a stretch of a season, and you're trying to equate that, you know. When you're doing that, when when you're having to cherry pick certain things, and I get it to quantify your process to kind of explain it, but you're still not getting the desired result in the playoffs, something probably has to change. In pro sports, trying to quantify results based on bounces, or you didn't have so-and-so in the lineup, or whatever, it only gets you so far. Okay, this idea that we need to be proud of this team and be so thankful for what we've seen is a fucking joke. It's a joke. This isn't this isn't a team who is young and coming off a rebuild, just making the playoffs for the very first time. Though those replies, that rhetoric, that dialogue, that would be okay for a team the likes of Ottawa, Buffalo, Montreal. That would be okay for them if they had a first-round exit. It would be expected. There are eight players on this team for the Tampe Lightning who have won a Stanley Cup, and I believe it's seven who have won a cup with the Lightning. Actually, and you probably have to fact-check me on that because I'm just not gonna do it right now. When I at the time, but I believe it was seven players with the Tampa Bay Lightning on the current roster, have one a cup and eight with Jay Gensel, who has won a cup with Pittsburgh, multiple with Pittsburgh. So this idea of being proud of how hard they play and all this stuff, man. Listen, I I I don't I uh miss me with that stuff. I I don't want to hear it anymore. Right? Because just like anything else, when you start resting on laurels and you have to keep going back to well, they did it this, they look at when they did this, and look at when they did that. That's awesome. Like, what's the identity moving forward? Like, what are we trying to build? Right? Because look, in the early stages of the golden era, the identity of the lightning was all finesse, skill, flash and dash. Awesome, really fun to watch. Then they got their ass kicked in 2019, then they had to change their identity, and it became more grittier, it became uh forchecking the hell out of teams, it became in the third period. If the lightning had a lead, they were shutting it down. You weren't like good luck, it was Fort Knox, you weren't scoring a goal. And now, in the current iterations of the Tampa Bay Lightning, I don't know what their identity is. They they don't forecheck like hell with any type of consistency, right? There's no finesse flash and dash with any type of consistency, right? They don't shut down opponents in the third periods like they used to, they don't lock down games with any type of consistency like they used to. So, what is the identity outside of the WWE stuff that Brandon Hegel was talking about, where this team wasn't gonna get pushed around, and like, yeah, I guess that that's a part of the new look, Tampa Bay Lightning. But that doesn't really win you games, right? That doesn't score goals, that doesn't keep goals out of the net. So what is the new identity? Because all I keep hearing about is what they've done and their experience. Guys, listen to me. The experience doesn't score goals in the current. It doesn't. The identities of the past iterations of the lightning don't score goals and stop goals in this current iteration. So stop trying to reflect and talk about and try to be the right guy, the all shucks fan, right? Some of I have interacted with who they're like, oh shucks, it's okay. The boys did great. Fuck that. Listen, listen, and I'm I'm gonna say this. As a fan, as a full season ticket holder, and as a fan, like I said, invested like many of you are, we are at a point now with our franchise where the regular season is seems like a drag. Remember when we used to enjoy it as fans? I'm speaking generally, I'm broad stroking here, right? Like, so obviously, some of you don't fit into that realm. I'm just saying for me, I'm speaking for all. Okay. I used to be able to enjoy the regular season, the journey, and it was a lot of fun, right? When the lightning were coming up, but now the lightning are what they are. They are a standard of hockey, they are a standard of a style in the NHL. They are a brand. Maybe not a fully recognizable big-time brand like Montreal, Toronto, New York, like any original 16 or traditional hockey market, but they are a recognizable brand. They have earned that. They've earned the respect of the hockey world. So when this idea that we can't like any type of criticism of the team when they're failing and they're not, I'm only judging this team based on the standard that they have built for themselves. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not criticizing this team on some far-fetched idea of what they could be. They are this, right? Like this is what they've built. They are a consistent, high-performing, elite hockey team in the NHL that is not meeting their own standard when it comes to playoff performances. Their players, their coaching staff, general manager, whatever. They're not meeting it. You can look at all the metrics up and down, like you got better 5-1-5 play, you did all that stuff. Awesome. Love it. The result is still the same. So we can keep hanging on to this idea about the process over the outcome, and yes, I love that. That's very good. But at some point, when the rubber meets the road and the playoffs are about results, do you think the Montreal Canadians give any shred of a shit about the process of game seven? Like this idea that people keep telling me, oh, the lightning would have won that thing nine out of ten times if they play it. But they but the one time that they did, they didn't win it. Like the one time they didn't, it happened. It's a reality. Right? They gave up nine shots, they lost the game, so they didn't get it done. Don't tell me about, oh well, you know, play that game ten times to win nine. I don't care. It's not getting played nine times. That's a false reality. The reality is that once again, for the fourth straight year, the Tampa Bay have the Tampa Bay Lightning have lost in the first round. And here's this thing that I don't, I'm not sure some of our fan base understand. You keep going back to this complacency, relying on the laurels of the experience, that this division, the Atlantic division, is getting better. Buffalo, 109 points. Montreal, 106 points. The youngest team in the league, by the way, I believe. Uh the second youngest outside of Chicago. Ottawa, a young team, all in our division. You think Florida's gonna be down next year? The only who may be down in the division, maybe two teams. I'll say Toronto. I don't know where they're gonna go. And Detroit keeps having the bottom fall out for them, so who knows? I am fully expecting next year to be just as tough for the Tampa Bay Lightning to make the playoffs. They're another year older, right? They're this team is another year older. The division is getting better. The Brandon Hagel said it best in his exit interview. The teams that we were talking about coming up, well, they're here now. And he is completely right. They are here. So, this idea of being able to rely on what's been done in the past to progress us for the future, I you can't use it anymore. Because the result is still the same. And hey, Brandon Hagel said his interview was probably the best one outside of Vassi's. Well, Vasse said, listen, our best players have to perform when it matters. They everybody has a job to do, and not everybody is doing their job. And I'm paraphrasing, of course, but the underlying tones of that was that was it. And I he wasn't calling anybody out specifically, but he is completely correct. Vassi said he's got to make saves when he has to, the offense has to score when they have to, we have to block shots defensively, clear the puck out, do all those things. That's all very correct. It has nothing to do with this element of bounces or hockey gods. I am fully aware that there's a lot of luck and things you can't prepare for in hockey. I am also a big proponent of, like I said earlier, you make your own breaks in hockey. Like if the idea of playing the right way and constantly pushing the envelope and playing direct and not trying to play finesse and cute and making sure that everything looks pretty, right? You just play gritty and north, just going north hockey, that earns you things like you see in game seven. Because here's the thing if Tampa would have showed up in game five, obviously they don't. They're not facing back-to-back elimination scenarios in game six and game seven. Obviously, Montreal is facing that as well, but they're only facing one, a one-winner game take all. So Montreal has two opportunities to fuck it up. Whereas Tampa has one. They obviously win the game in game six. But guess what? You play the game of your life in game seven with an absolute level of desperation that you probably should have started the series with, but you didn't. You saved it, and then guess what happens? When you need it, you don't get the bounces. Tampa didn't play with that level of desperation throughout the series. They played with it in moments, like I said. Montreal played consistent. They played with a consistent level of desperation throughout the series, and they earned the breaks for game seven, and they got them. So don't, so stop. Like, I'm tired of seeing this idea about, oh well, the Tampa Bay, they're close. What? How are they close? They're getting further away from the cup winning years. It's four straight playoff exits, right? Five years from when they won their last cup. I wish people would stop talking about it as if it has any type of relevancy on what's going to happen next year. It's over with. They won their last cup five years ago. Stop trying to use it to equate some type of it it's progress. It's not progress. The lightning aren't actually progressing. The lightning have always been a good regular season team. They're far too talented not to be. I I'm watching, and it's so it's Tuesday night. I just watched Jakob Dobesh give up a fluke goal from just H. Thompson shooting the puck in it, and it goes off Dobesh. Yeah, Tampa sure didn't get those bounces in the series. Yeah, whatever. Right? But I also just watched in game one, right? From what I can glean, I saw highlights, I didn't watch the game. He gave up four goals on nine shots. How did he do that? Oh, Buffalo was pretty direct. They were getting they were getting bodies in front of the net. They were willing to do a lot of the things that Tampa just isn't willing to do. Yeah, sure, Tampa was later in the series trying to block them and do all those things, but at that point, like, just not happening. So I don't think all hope is lost. This team is still very good. Obviously, as you can tell by my tone, I'm still very bitter about this loss because I understand what's coming down the pipe. This division is getting better, and our team is getting older. And yes, we do have the likes of Gonzalez, Geeky, so on and so forth. But none of them are like the elite group of guys that we currently have, like Victor Hedman, right, who's getting who's gonna be 36 next year, like Mikita Kutrov, who's gonna be 33, Braden Point is gonna be what 31? 30, 31? Sorelli is about to touch his 30s. Those guys who are the elite guys on our in our franchise who are gonna all have their jerseys up in the rafters, they're getting older. Like we we gotta stop talking about all the it's not over, right? Like the our golden era is not over. The window isn't closed, I don't think, but it's just getting the window pane on it, it is just kind of you know, sliding down. Like it's getting there, like it's almost closed. It's gonna close eventually. I just I'm getting tired of it. Every year we we keep trying to we see it, right? And certain some some interactions about well, let's reflect on what we've what we should be thankful for. Man, it's not it's not Thanksgiving. I I don't I don't want to be thankful. I just want to see this team win when it matters again. That's all. Right? And obviously this has nothing to do with it. Shit, the playoffs were more expensive for a full season ticket member. The playoffs were more expensive than the regular season, naturally, right? Well shit, they're two and ten in the last four years at home in the playoffs. You're not even winning playoff games. So if you want to know why teams are probably running our us home fans out of the rink, people are probably selling their tickets because they're not sure if the Lightning are gonna win the game at home. They won one game at home. That's tough. You know, I just I don't know. It it's it's getting old, right, to see our team lose in the first round for the fourth year in a row. It's because you know how talented they are. I I just I don't know. I'm not saying that there needs to be a ground shaking change. It wouldn't, it's not listen, it might not hurt. Like like be objective about it here. A ground shaking change to like shake things up and kind of wake up the room a little bit and be like, hey, it's like I don't know what that is, right? I don't I don't know what that is. So don't come at me and say, oh, what do you suggest? I don't know. I'm just saying it might not be a bad thing. Right? It might not be a bad thing. I I don't know what that change is, but I'm saying, like, what happens if a if a brain point got moved out? You know, what happens if that happens? You know, Julian Breesbaugh sends a message to the team, hey, you lose four four years in a row, it's not acceptable. Right? You gotta start producing or we're shipping out. Like, I don't think it'd be bad to have a little bit of Vegas like relent like ruthlessness. That's not a bad thing either. Yet the other bad thing is a a little bit of toxicity from the fan base, a little external pressure is also not bad. Right? I'm not saying like you gotta be like sending death threats, right? Like they were doing at Kirby Doc. But I am saying, you know, sometimes a little external pressure is good. Like sometimes hard-hitting questions from media is good, you know, like that. That stuff is it just makes those players aware that hey, I've gotta perform because they're gonna be talking about it. Yes, everybody's eyes are on you, but here in Tampa, like our athletes have it really easy, our pro athletes have it cake here, man. They don't really get asked hard questions, like it's yeah, they can kind of live under the radar, and that's fine. I love it. That's what's unique about our market and all sports. But what I'm saying is, if you want in terms of hockey, you gotta stop. We gotta stop with this all shucks. Oh, it's okay, boys, we'll get them next year. You can't do that because some of those people are the same people who are getting upset when we're not being taken seriously as a hockey market. When you're getting, you know, because there's no it makes it look like there's no pressure here to succeed. It just looks like the the success will come and it'll go, and if it happens, it's great, and if it doesn't, oh well, you know, like uh you have to have a little bit of competitive spirit as a fan, I would hope, right? If you're a casual fan, that's fine, you know. But if and if you're listening, if if you're listening as a casual fan, like that's awesome. I appreciate it. I and I what I am hoping is that I'm reaching a a section of fans who just live and breathe lightning hockey, and they for whatever reason, in their deranged minds, similar to mine, they feel like they can kind of affect what happens when they attend games, like they believe they make a difference, even though we actually know we don't, right? Like, but you are just that passionate fan, and you want to like create the rhetoric and the dialogue and communicate and grow our fan base like that, like that's what I'm after. I don't I don't have listen, I don't have a problem with the all shucks groups, the all shucks individuals. I I don't. Right? Like that's okay. If you feel that way, that's fine. And I'm no better, like like you're no better, and I'm no better, and I'm not saying that you're a pansy for that or whatever, like it is what it is, because some of you are probably listening. Some of you are probably the all shucks people, and you're thinking, wow, this guy's an asshole. No, I'm just saying, like, at some point, what we're experiencing as fans for the Tampa Lightning, like it's gonna end, we're gonna go through a significant rebuild, and it's gonna hurt, it's gonna suck. Right? Like the downfall will come eventually. But for the time being, anything less of what this team is capable of, and I'm not talking about winning a Stanley Cup, I'm not talking about going to the Eastern Conference. I'm talking about win, win some, win some home playoff games first, win multiple at home, and then win a first round. Like that's the expectation. That's where we're at. And then let's see where it goes. Like it sucks as a fan, at least in my perspective, when you go through the slog of an 82-game season and you have training camp on top of that, and you're you're you're you're getting really excited, but you get into the back half of the season and you're worried, like I have been, like I was prior to the playoffs, worrying about the if the lightning were gonna be able to flip a switch, because the last four years in mid-April, it hasn't been good. That that that that sucks. And so, look, I don't think the lightning should blow it up. I don't. I also I would welcome a a I would welcome some locker room shakeup, whether it be amongst the coaching staff or the playing group. I would I wouldn't mind it, right? I would just want to see some hunger.

unknown 1:06:03

Right?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

Like Brandon Hagel and Jay Gensel are certainly hungry. No doubt. But like, look, like, I'm sorry, Brain Point can't have another year like he has next year. Like he had this year. He can't have that next year. You're getting paid big bucks, baby. When you come out and say something like, oh, well, I've I've I wasn't facing any injuries. So you were just ass. I hate to be so blunt about it, but it's like you just were not good this season. Like you can't have that. Because you and I get it, careers have ebbs and flows, right? But you just like that's what I'm talking about. There was nothing that you could try to fix as you were, like there was nothing you thought you could try to work. As it was going on, you're just gonna keep trying to jam a square peg into a round hole, which Julian Breeswall may or may not do again. Like he may triple down on this team, he doubled down on last year coming into this year, and it worked for him. The metrics for the regular season were very good, but in terms of the results in the playoffs, it didn't translate. That's a big negative. Sorry, this team is going to be judged on their success in the playoffs because they're not just some franchise who's going to be judged on regular season success. We will reach a point again where we can rebuild the standard, and then we will be judged on the regular season success and the type of progress young guys are making and the strides that they're making towards becoming that elite hockey franchise again in terms of continuously contending the first Stanley Cup. They are that. One day it'll close. So I don't know. I just I would really like this team to win a series and play the way that we know they can. Because right now, anytime you watch the lightning, you don't know what version of the lightning you're going to get. I was talking to a buddy of mine and I was on the phone with him, and I said, look, man, you watch the lightning, you don't know if you're getting a got a group that's coming out, they're gonna be firing on all cylinders from opening puck drop. You don't know if they're gonna kind of sleepwalk through the first period, you don't know if they're gonna have an amazing comeback in the third period, you don't know if you know, like if they're gonna put a crazy amount of shots and they're gonna be invested or they're gonna look like a group that's not invested, they're gonna forecheck, they're not gonna forecheck, they're gonna defend like crazy, they're not like you just don't know what you're going to get. Like I mentioned earlier, throughout the portions of the of this era, of this golden era of 10th Bay Lightning, the first half was flash and dash, all finesse and skill, right? They were winning the cups, it was grit and locking it down, for checking like hell. And right now, I don't know where this group is, like I don't know what the identity is outside that WWE shit that I'm just not really a fan of. But they love it because they they get dialed in and they play with emotion. Like I appreciate JBB's measured, measured approach, his calculated approach. Listening to his exit interview, he understands. He didn't really make the excuses again. I I don't want to call them excuses, but he didn't give the the reasoning outside of early on where he's talking about bounces. That was annoying. Right, but he acknowledged that it has to start translating.

unknown 1:09:38

Right?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:39

Coop's comments about the uh the hockey gods. Ugh. Coop love you. Just you just gotta win, brother. Like, you know that. Everybody knows that, and he knows that. He's he could he wins more games, he's won more games in the NHL that you know I could ever dream about. Heard Vasi's comments about our our guys gotta start performing, and he was pissed because he actually played well this series, right? Braden point, the no injury thing, like he's gotta have a bounce back gear. There, you it's inexcusable. You can't have another year like it. Right? Hegel, he is certainly Captain Material for the future. Right? You can tell he has a burning desire, it bothers him. He said it we're standing here for the same time, four years in a row. We're not getting it done. Our best players have to be our best players, and he takes personal accountability all the time and says, it starts with me. Unfortunately, he's saying that to be, I don't know if he's saying that to be kind or just to just to be cliche. You know, he doesn't want to call anybody out specifically, but he certainly wasn't an issue in the first round, right? Um, you know, coach, coach is coach with the I don't know, I don't know. I don't it it is what he just kind of gives, he gives answers like he can't speak English. Like he's just learning the English language, like he's just being comfortable with interviews. Nobody is asking him the hard questions, like, hey, what do you gotta do to adjust your game to be better when it matters? Why why can't you get your game to translate? What are you gonna do to start getting your game to translate? How do you adjust your game? You know, Hedman's comments look, he looks, he's he's feeling better. Whatever it was, we don't know. It's none of our business. Maybe it had something to do with all the injuries and he and him not being able to perform the way that he wanted, and you know, the high standard that he puts himself, uh, the pressure that he puts on himself to perform. And he remembered like these guys are being compared against other NHLers. Right? Like, I I I feel for the guy, right? I also understand the other side of it. Like, some fans are upset. They're like, look, man, you got all that money in the bank and gas is 460. You know, I've got to make decisions to put gas or feed my kids. I get that. I understand both sides. I'm playing devil's advocate here. I don't think money should, I don't think how much you make should determine how somebody is able to cope with certain things. You know, he just it is what it is. It's life. He he Victor Hedden is a man who plays hockey. Okay, like you gotta remember that. He's a human being first. So I understand that, right? Like, but I also understand the fans that are like saying, look, man, you just gotta shut up and play. I get that too. I'm not saying I agree with either side. I'm just saying, like, I understand both sides. Um it's not all lost, like I've said multiple times throughout this. Right? Sam O'Reilly, you look at the prospect pool, Sam O'Reilly, who they think may be able to potentially help the lightning as early as next year. Brice Bois even said so as much. Obviously, he's gonna have to adjust to the game. You know, uh Benjamin Rottiainen, who's got another, he's under contract for another year in Finland. He's playing in the finals in Liga right now with Tapura. And and look, here is one that is interesting. Look, Connor Gickey. Connor Geeky, all 6-4-215 of them. It's like if he played 14 games this year, he had three points. Is he the answer in the top six? Listen, in the NA in the AHL, he's got 28 goals, 79 points, and 81 games. He's playing every situation, and in the top six, he's gonna have to make the jump at some point because he offers the size and the potential power forward archetype this team is desperate for.

unknown 1:13:49

Right?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:50

They don't have a Cologne or a Palat type right now. I mean, maybe they do. It's Homeburg, but he doesn't produce points-wise like they did. Maybe if he maybe he would if he played in the top six, but it's not his role, it's not where he fits, right? He's a strictly defensive forward who believes that he can chip in more so offensively. And look like that's what so that means like Connor Geeky, he might have a chance next year to get into that top six and be that guy and play with high skill.

unknown 1:14:21

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:21

Hopefully, his third year with the organization, he's feeling more confident. That's what that's what you're hoping. Because he's tearing it up at the AHL level with Syracuse. You know, so hopefully, maybe after another summer, he takes that jump. Yeah, and and here's the thing, here's an interesting thing. Like people saying, like, I've seen people say, like, he's a waste. Look, his brother didn't have a breakout year until 25. Like, players develop at different rates. I he's certainly not a bottom six forward. I I think they've tried to fit him in that role, you know, to see if he can handle it. I he's he's definitely a top six guy, especially at the AHL level. What you're hoping is that it will translate to the NHL. We're hoping that we get, like I said, we get Hetty back, right? This year. He had 12 points in 15 games to start the season. Then he got hurt and it kind of derailed for him personally. And then the remaining 18 games that he played, he he had five points. That that can't happen again. Right? Like, you need Chernak to be healthy, you need McDonald to be healthy. Like, there are so many things, right? Like listening to it, the one thing that kind of put me off was like JBB talking about Holmberg and how when he got hurt it just kind of undid everything. Listen, if a if a guy like Pontus Homburg and him getting hurt is undoing everything, that is a bigger issue. Right? If you have if you don't have a power play guy on the left side and it's undoing everything, that is an issue. Like, that's that's probably more of a systemic issue. Like, I don't know what to say. Like that that's probably what it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:05

But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:07

You know, as we wrap it up, look, all in all, it was a successful regular season that was not translated into the playoffs for the lightning. I know they got it to game seven. I'm only looking at the result here. If you look at how the games were played, it's a lot more frustrating because the lightning I don't think matched a lot of it. I don't think they matched the Montreal in a lot of it. So, and I'll be honest with you, doing this is quite cathartic for me because I've been wanting to do it. I mean, a lot of it is just to really recap the end of the year and kind of set us up for the summer. And I'll probably uh, you know, I'll be researching. I may hop on here and there. I do have a a series of episodes we'll do in the summer that are a little bit more fun. We'll talk about some draft stuff, some free agency, even though Julian Bregebaugh says they don't expect to be very active on July 1st. You can never trust what he says, but you know, we'll see. If there's he's always working, if there's he says if there's opportunities for him to improve the team, he's always looking. Um and we'll do some other fun stuff throughout the the offseason to get some some generate some more fan interaction and just keep Tampa Bay Lightning hockey on the mind. Um it's over, it's sad, it sucks. I'm still a little bit bitter about it. Maybe after this is released, I won't be as bitter about it because I've gotten everything out that I wanted to say. This has gone way longer than I wanted to. I'm almost at an hour and a half. I apologize for that. If you listen to this whole thing, kudos to you. I love you for that. Thank you for sticking along. And listen, guys, I started this thing. This thing has, like I said in my very first episode, I've gotten more comfortable behind the mic. This has been a couple years in the making. I had the concept for it. I finally decided to make a leap of faith in the middle of the season this year. And just people have started listening more and more with the episodes that I've gotten more comfortable behind the mic because I'm talking about something that I love that we all love. It's the Tampa Bay Lightning. And I don't I don't come on here to be a jerk, right? I just want to get thoughts out right about the franchise, the hockey franchise that we all love to support. And if you're not a Tampa Bay Lightning fan and you're just listening to see what Tampa Bay Lightning fans have to say, just remember, I'm just one fan with one opinion, right? I don't speak for all the Lightning fans. I don't speak for the Lightning organization. I'm just one person who's been a fan for 25 plus years, who grew up in the city, who's watched the franchise grow, who is now a season ticket holder, a full-time season ticket holder for the last almost decade, who's had his wife become a Tampa Bay Lightning fan, right? And now that we have, you know, a child who we're trying to obviously raise to be a Lightning fan, like start generation of that stuff. You know, like this stuff is I love it. I love doing this. I love being able to interact with you guys, right? I never try to get personal, I just try to say and speak on what I feel. And so, anyway, guys, I appreciate all of you who have listened from when I've started this in the middle of the season. It is a labor of love for me, and I plan to continue doing it so long as I can find the time to do it, and and so long as I have the energy to do it, and I'm sure all that'll always happen because my ass will still be in my seats next year. I'm not giving those bad boys up. We can't win the cup every year. It's obviously disappointing. You would love to. But you better believe, like I said, my ass is gonna be in those seats. I can't wait for September. I can't wait for October when the regular season starts, and we can begin again. But until then, I'll be bitter as fuck because our Tampa Bay Lightning are not in the playoffs still. Or no longer in the playoffs, I should say. And I'm just not in the mood to watch hockey. Anyway, guys, thank you for tuning on Stev signing off. We'll talk soon. See ya.