EP. 9 "The Eagle Flies Away"

Stevie Z catches up on the happenings involving the Lightning as the 2026 off-season continues.

-Bolts award winners

-Raddysh gets the bag

-Potential trades at Center

-The Bolts most valuable asset right now

*Editor Note*: There is a terrible misquote of Raddysh's contract with the Bolts the last 3 years. It's quoted as "making under $100,000,000 per year". It should be "making under $1,000,000 per year".

Transcript

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What is going on, everyone? 41 Channel Side Podcast, DVD here. And I've done it again. Another three weeks since I've recorded it. June 19th. Look, I hope you've missed me as much as I've missed getting on here and and you know sharing some thoughts with all of you. Look, to be quite frank with you, not much has happened over the last few weeks regarding the Tampa Bay Lightning up until really today. And a little bit of movement this last week. But over the last three weeks, we finally have a new Stanley Cup champion. Congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes and Rod Brindemore for finally getting over that hump of winning their second cup. Rod Brindamore has now been a part of both Stanley Cups for the Carolina Hurricanes, one as a player and one as a coach. I will say this that Ron Brindamore is probably my second favorite head coach in the NHL. Other than, of course, now that we can say this for the first time, the Jack Adams Award-winning head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, John Cooper. And look, a lot has been made about whether or not John Cooper deserved this. This was a lifetime achievement award. Like trying to discredit him. And look, it's not to say that Lindy Ruff didn't deserve the award. Like let's look at what he did two years ago. Right, two years ago, the Buffalo Sabres finished with 79 points. And this year, they have a 30-point uptick, finish with 109 points, win the Atlantic division, make the playoffs for the first time in 15 years. Uh, comparatively, John Cooper, you know, also leads the Tampa Bay Lightning 250 wins this year. Like the Buffalo Sabres. They finish with 106 points. And look, the people that try to discredit the work that John Cooper has done and they try to slight him as if it's uh, oh, this is a lifetime achievement award, or oh, he has all that talent. Look, truth be told, everybody in NHL is talented. Um here are some interesting things about this, why John Cooper probably won this award, that has much more to do with it than being a lifetime achievement award. Look, so this year, John Cooper led the Lightning to a 50, 26, and 6 record for 106 points. And Lindy Ruff, 50, what, 50, 23, and 9 were the Buffalo Sabres. So this idea, right, that the Sabres just absolutely took the Atlantic division by storm and blew it out of the water, and that it was Lindy's Ruffs, uh, Lindy Ruffs going away. They had the same record as the Tampa Bay Lightning outside of they had three more overtime losses. Right? It's so convenient to forget what Tampa Bay dealt with with injuries, particularly on the back end throughout the season. Okay, so in that stretch of the lightning going 21-1, the lightning fielded, or I I don't want to feel iced is the correct term, iced a defensive lineup of JJ Mosier, Darren Radish, Charles Edward Dastu, Emile Lilleberg, Max Crozier, Declan Carlow. For a stretch of that 21-1, you know, in-season stretch that the Lightning had this year, that was their defensive lineup. Okay, so no Headman, no McDonough, no Chernack. The Lightning had 187 man games lost by defensemen this year. That was the most in the NHL, according to NHL injury viz. Okay, McDonough played 48 games, headman played 33 games, Chernack played 61 games, and for all intents and purposes, I'm going to say Mosier was the other top four defensemen because he started the season with the lightning, right? Darren Raddish was scratched for the first six games of the season. He played 79 games. Conversely, you look at Buffalo's top four defensemen, okay. Dallin, 77 games. Power, 81 games, Byram, 82 games, Samuelson, 78 games. Let's flip that. Let Buffalo have their top four defensemen, at least three of their top defensemen, three of their four top defensemen miss as much time as the Tampa Bay Lightning, and let's see how they fare. Now we'll never know that. But I would like to believe that that had a lot to do with it. You know, John Cooper for the adversity that they faced this year as a team, John Cooper did an excellent job in keeping this team rolling, regardless of who was in the lineup in the regular season. Like 50 wins, like that's nothing to scoff at. And like I said, Lindy Ruff also was very deserving of this award. Right? To have a 30-point uptick is nothing to scoff at, right? But I don't think Buffalo had to deal with in terms of value that some of the players have in terms of lightning. They didn't deal with the injuries that Tampa had to deal with on the back end in terms of valuable players. So I do believe that that had something to do with it. Because if Buffalo has to deal with the same thing that Tampa dealt with, it's very different. And and look, like Buffalo Sabre fans were arguing, like, well, well, they missed their forwards missed a lot of games this year, guys. Let's be real here. I I saw some of the other than who was it? Josh Norris. Outside of him, okay, who realistically did Buffalo lose for a significant amount of time throughout the season that was that is a known mass producer of points or impact. Because from what I'm seeing is it's a lot of guys who are they're not playing, or they're bottom six guys who aren't going to have the necessary impact comparatively in the likes of Victor Headman, Ryan McDonough, Hedman, you know, Turnak. And also they play different positions, but I'm just saying what John Cooper did this year to win this award, to be deserving of this award, is more so than just, oh, it's a lifetime achievement award. He's been so close. Right. So if that was the case, why didn't he win it when they won 62 games and then turn right around, Jim Montgomery wins it when Boston, you know, breaks the record for most wins in a season? Like, miss me with the bullshit, man. Like the idea of trying to discredit John Cooper because he has talented players and he's always been this good as a head coach because he's had these players and it's expected of them to do this. Yeah, it's expected when they have a when they can ice a full roster of healthy players, not when you have to ice the likes of, like I said, first pair, Mojer, Radish, second pair, Dasu, Lilleberg, third pair, Crozier, Carlisle. And to keep it rolling, and I've seen Buffalo Sabres fans get really out of pocket with some of the things, like talking about how well, you know, they the Sabres beat the Bolts in the season series three, you know, 3-0-1. And the Lightning Blue, an eight-point lead on the division. Okay. I mean that like that doesn't really have anything to do with anything. You know, like Buffalo finished with 79 points last year or two years ago. The only like you can only go up from there. There is no going down. You're already at rock bottom. So the idea that it's like, okay, Lindy Rubb, they should improve. They've got talent, young talent. They should improve. And they did, and they had a drastic improvement. And I I won't go back and forth on it much more, but like I said, both guys are probably deserving of the award. They are deserving of the award this year. The voters selected John Cooper. I can understand why. Initially, I felt, oh, he won it. Maybe it is a lifetime achievement award. I felt that, not to discredit him, but I'm like, uh, what did he what did he do comparatively to Lindy Ruff? And then, you know, you you listen to some people speak, and you kind of do some number crunching. Like, I personally did some lumber crunching and just seeing, finding some context behind why he won the award, and I can see it. I can I can understand why. So, lifetime achievement award or not, John Cooper is the Jack Adams Award-winning head coach. Finally, other awards. Nikita Kucharov wins his second career heart trophy as the MVP of the NHL. Look, he had 130 points this year, 44 goals, 86 assists in 76 games. And he edged, he edged Connor McDavid. But I think what people maybe may miss is that stretch of 47 games where Nikita Kutrov had 100 points. I mean, that insane tear. Like he struggled early on in the season and then just flipped the switch. It like things started clicking for him. And honestly, we were a little bit worried as Lightning fans early on because things weren't going in, and not only for him, but him as a like the team in general. Kucharov eventually clicks it into gear. And in that stretch of 21-1 and throughout the rest of the season, I mean unstoppable. Like the Kucharoff that we were that we are known to see, we got. And he delivered. So Kucharov finished this year with uh 1,124 career points. The record is 1,137, held by uh everybody's favorite, Steven Stamkos. I would fully expect that Nikita Kuchov will break that early on in the season and become the franchise record holder in points for a career for the 10th Bay Lightning. And it would be well deserved. Well deserved. Moving forward, Andre Vasilewski wins his second Vesna trophy, finished the year 39-15-4 with a 91-2 save percentage and a three-point uh 2.31 goals allowed. Look, it's a nine strength 30th win season. He tore it up this year. We saw vintage Vasi for large stretches of the season. And look, I mean, there's no arguments for me on my end. I thought Vasi was the best goalie of the year. Right? And rightly deserving of the Vesna. Uh Anthony Sorelli finishes runner-up in the Selkie. Nick Suzuki deserves it fully. I mean, he won that award-winning away. He had what 100 points? And as a defensive forward, that's really impressive. And look, you there'll be nothing from me. I I think he deserved it. In other news, in in big news, I mean, and I'm I'm sure all of you have seen this, right? As of this morning, or late last night, however you want to put it, Darren Raddish was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fifth round pick. And then Darren Raddish signs an eight-year contract, 8.5 million. Where do we begin with this? Okay. First of all, congratulations to him. He got the bag, he deserves it. Right? I think any time as a player who has had to take the road less traveled, like he has, to get this type of money, it's very admirable. It's very deserving. He was going to get life-changing money regardless. Right? Like I've said that. From what he was making, less than a million dollars, to now what he's going to be making, it's life-changing. From the standpoint of it makes sense for him, Darren Radish had personal tragedy this past season, uh, losing his father. He's gonna get to go be closer to home, you know, with some family, and he's gonna get to get he's gonna get paid big money. I mean, what more could you ask for? He had the choice, he worked incredibly hard to be able to be in a position to earn the right to test the market and get what he felt he deserved, and he got it. From the lightning standpoint, look, I I have said it many times. I've said it many times, I and I stand by this. I think Julian Breesbois had a number. That number probably was somewhere around six to seven million, and it probably wasn't gonna be for the length of term that Darren Radish wanted, because Darren uh Julian Breeswall is known for just this is the number that we're gonna be at. There might be a little wiggle room, but if we can't compromise and meet somewhere in the middle, I'm just gonna let you walk. Thank you for the service that you provided this franchise as a player and as a member of this community. But in terms of business, we're gonna go separate ways. So the initial rumor that I had seen on the socials was that the lightning had offered Darren Radish five years, 5.75. If you can remember what I've been saying, I felt that six by six was probably the spot where the lightning wanted to be around. Uh, everybody overreacted and said, wow, that's a low ball offer for Darren Radish. Look, in all truthfulness, he had 22 goals this year. He had 70 points. Just last year, right, and this was in 73 games. So just last year, in 73 games, he had 37 points. Now, the time on ice went up five minutes. That's obviously due to injury. Um, I just for me personally, I'm happy that the lightning didn't give him that big of a contract. I'm sorry. I've seen people say that, well, the lightning just lost their best D-man. Look, Darren Raddish was scratched for the first six games of the season. I didn't early on, I didn't see anybody asking for Darren Raddish. Right? Two years ago, people were questioning if if he was even an NHLer. Right? He had 37 points two years ago. This past season he has 70. He isn't probably not a 70-point player from an analytics standpoint. He's probably not that. He's probably somewhere between that 40 to 50 point range, and he may top out at 60 consistently. Maybe. Maybe. Okay. To have 22 goals as a defenseman, that's incredibly impressive. I also believe that there's a human element to this, okay, that I think people are missing. Darren Radish turned 30 this year. Okay. He probably knew coming into the season that if he didn't have the type of season that he could he felt that he was capable of, and that players and fans wished that their favorite player could have in a contract year, I guess. And he went and delivered. I mean, like he bet on himself and he won. And that's credit to him. But this idea that the lightning have lost their best defensemen, and what are the lightning gonna do now? Look, I'm sorry, it's hard for me to be like, yeah, the lightning should have gave him that money. I I don't know if he's ever gonna hit 70 points again. The other part about it, too, is the other part about this too is I saw something online uh from bench rates on X, and they taught and they put out a graphic talking about Nikita Kucharov's influence on the season that Darren Radish had. Okay, so this year, Darren Radish had 22 goals. He had 15 of those impacted by a Kuchrov assist. He had 48 assists, 26 of those with Kucharov scoring points. Okay, 41 of his points, or sorry, yes, of his 70 points, Kucharoff was influenced 41 of that, right? 59% of Darren Radish's season season, in terms of points and how he did, 59% was influenced by Nikita Kuchrov. And I I said this in in the first show of the summer that Julian Breeswall would hypothetically would go up and say, hey, look, you can go and sign wherever you want. You can go, you've earned that. You can walk out the store and and go sign the big contract that you're probably gonna get. But Nikita Kuchrov isn't passing you those pucks. You're not playing with a guy like Kutrov. That's not a slight. That's just a reality. And so how will he do in Toronto? I don't know. Honestly, I I don't. I mean, it Leafs fans l are so thrilled about the signing. They think it's a bargain. I think that John Shaika, as the new GM, had to make a splash and and it's quote unquote splash and went and got the best defensive free agent in a very weak market this offseason. And you're paying 8 million, 8.5 million a year to a player who's hit the numbers at Darren Radish's once. It's steep. Too rich for my blood. So we thank Darren Raddish and we part ways. You know, I mean there's not much more to it. People are like, well, what are we gonna do now? We just lost half of our first pair, first, first defense pair. When I see people say things like that, I was like, did you even Did you even think that that was gonna be the first pair at the beginning of the season? It just became that out of necessity. So it's very easy to say things like that in hindsight. Oh, we just lost half of our first pair. Darren Radish didn't even start the season playing. He became that out of necessity. He got the increased ice time, he made the most of an opportunity that he got in a contract year, understanding that this is probably it. If I want to make the life-changing money, and I believe in this saying that one good year could change your life, and that's for anything. So, aside from being philosophical about things right now, one good year could change your life. And for Darren Radish, this was it. He took full advantage of an opportunity put in front of him, and he had a hell of a year. He's getting handsomely paid for it, which is richly deserved. But I'm glad that somebody else is doing it. And so now we move. Now we move forward. And so what does what does it look like for the Tampa Bay Lightning as of right now? Some questions to ask, right, is are they looking for a D partner for Victor Hedman? Are they looking for a D partner for Mosier? Um, are they gonna be each other's D partner? Like they were to start at the beginning of the season last year. As of right now, right, according to Puckpedia, right, it's Victor Headman and Mosier is the first pair, McDonough Turnak, and then Das Duan Lilleberg. Uh I see a lot of things like, you know, well, the lightning need to get younger in terms of defense. The lightning need to get younger. Okay. So when I see things like people are saying that, okay. Um Charles Edward Destieu is 28, Lilleberg is 25, Mosier is 26. You know. And this is all saying that because there is a rumor going around that the lightning are looking into John Carlson. Is it something that I would have seen coming? Uh, I don't know. I mean, look, John Carlson played 71 games this past year for the Caps and the Ducks, had 14 goals, 46 assists, 60 points, averaged 23 and a half minutes between both teams. Uh, I just I don't know. You know, he's older. Right? He's gonna be 36. The Lightning already have two older defensemen and Hedman, who's 35 right now, and McDonough, who's 37. However, Carlson isn't there, isn't like a downturn in the amount of minutes he's playing. Right? He's still playing mid-20s, 20s in minutes per night, which is impressive at his age. What would his role be like coming to the lightning? Uh that remains to be seen. Right? Is it is he paired with a Carlson on the first first pair and we're bumping headman down to the third pair? I don't know. I think those are questions that have to be asked. Um I don't personally think that losing Radish is that detrimental to the lightning. Just because this could all be a flash in the pan. We didn't know what was coming, that this was coming at the beginning of the year. And I want to reiterate it again before I I don't want to keep beating a dead horse. We didn't see it coming. He made the most of an opportunity presented in front of him. So moving forward, I mean the lightning have continuity on the back end, another season of it. Right, you get a second season of Das 2, you get a third season of Lilleberg, McDonald and Tranak have been a staple D-pair for the Lightning going back to what 2019? 2018, 2019, and you've got Hedman who has had a rotating cast of D partners, and it looks like JJ Mosier is becoming a very underrated two-way defenseman for the Tampe Lightning. And I say underrated because he's just not mentioned amongst the elite guys right now, but what he does, he does it at a very high level, his two-way game. So I don't know what it looks like right now. That's an interesting question that Julian Breesball is gonna have to try to navigate. Is it something like John Carlson? I've seen that John Carlson wants a $8, $9, $10 million contract. You know, two years of 2x8 or 2x9 or 2x10. That's pretty steep. Um will he get that? I don't know. But he's still producing at a clip where it wouldn't surprise me if the lightning go after someone like him, if they're concerned about how the back end generates points. I think they're banking on Victor Headman returning to form. I think you have to let Victor Headman, you have to give him the grace to do that, right? Because Victor Headman had a season like we had never seen before in terms of negative impact is not the right word, but he didn't have the impact that everybody expected. He didn't play the amount of games that everybody expected. So we don't know what it's going to look like. And naturally, it's easy to feel a little uneasy about it when he's 35 years old in the second year of a contract, he's making $8 million. Meanwhile, you had a guy like Darren Radish who stepped up. I said it before, buyer beware. It was written all over Darren Radish. So I think they're gonna bank on the captain Victor Headman to kind of deliver offensively what we may be lacking with the loss of Darren Radish. So that'll be interesting to see. I think people have to let things play out too, right? Like you can't be um you can't be so reactionary as a fan. I know it's very easy, but you gotta let Julian Abreeswall work, right? He's done it with with just about everybody. He did it with Steven Stamkos and said, hey, this is where we are as a franchise, what we're gonna offer you. You are free to go see if you can get a better deal. If not, we're here. Alright, well, the lightning had their number. Clearly, it wasn't enough. And they got a fifth-round pick for it. People are making a big deal about the trade being um in the division. Like they play them three to four times a year. I'll be honest with you, I really don't think that that makes a big of a difference to a GM as it does to a fan, the in-division trade. Um just because, like I said, it's you only play them three, four games a year, right? Like, maybe you see him in the playoffs, maybe you don't. I think that the Leafs have a long way to go. Finishing last in the division last year, I I would envision that it could look a lot of the same this year. Um, and that's just how I'm viewing it, but that's for another time. Moving forward. So, I a couple weeks ago, right, the last episode I recorded, I mentioned that I wanted to get into some potential centerman that the Lightning could trade for. And sure enough, one of the guys that I had on there has requested a trade. And that player being Dylan Larkin. And we'll start with him as being the first player. Look, from a statistical standpoint, if we were concerned about face-offs from for the lightning and having another top six forward who generates scoring. So Dylan Larkin took uh 1,492 face-offs this past season. He won 790 of them, 53%. He had 67 points. Dylan Larkin has had 30 goals the past five seasons. I think it's I think he's a really good player. I'm not sure how he meshes with the Tampa Bay Lightning, if I'm being quite honest with you. Initially, it was stated that he was only wanting the wild, I think, Vegas and Florida. And then I guess Stevie Y went to him and said, hey, can you open this up a little bit? And now it appeared that Tampa was on it. Dylan Larkin could be a fit. What goes back the other way for Detroit? I would imagine it it probably starts with a high high draft pick. Right? So a first round that Tampa seems to give out like candy. There's gotta be some young players involved. I I wouldn't be surprised if they asked for like a geeky, then that's a starter, and then it'd be Sam O'Reilly. I think anything that Tampa, if Tampa wants to make a move for an elite-level player or a higher level, higher level player this offseason is going to require something with a prospect, a highly touted prospect for the Tampa Bay Lightning, potentially going back the other way. Um, Geeky's probably not as highly touted anymore than when he was first traded for, just based off what we've seen, but he hasn't reached his full potential yet. He also hasn't been given uh the platform to do that just yet. Okay, meaning that he's been played like a bottom six player. We have yet to see what he looks like consistently over the duration of a long stretch playing in the top six. Sam O'Reilly is another player. Like, if you want Larkin, that's potentially someone who goes back. Could it be a current roster player, right? A lot of people say Braden Point, Braden Point is an O move. Yeah, sure the Lightning and Red Wings could agree with it, and Braden Point could nix it. Uh, Dave Michigan on Lightning Launch two weeks ago said that if I'm Detroit, if Tampa wants Dylan Larkin, I'm asking for Sorelli. Are you trading Sorelli for Larkin? I'm sure the hell of not. Not at all. So Dylan Larkin was somebody that I had on my list as number one as a potential trade option. I'm gonna be quite honest with you. Some of the stuff that he's like his attitude and things like that, that concerns me. It could also be just what he's been going through in Detroit for the past nine years, ten years. Like they've made the playoffs his very first season. They haven't made it since. And Detroit fans shit on this guy. Like, I don't know why they do when he's seemingly carried the team. Like, name another player outside of De Brinkett who's delivered what he's delivered production-wise for them. And to be truthful, there's nobody else. So when I see Detroit fans slide him, I'm like, that's kind of ridiculous. He's been doing it for a team that hasn't made the playoffs in so long. Like, I don't think that that's the guy you need to be going at. Okay, so Larkin is a potential option. Do I think the Lightning do it? I don't. I don't. That's not somebody that he's a big name, but I think he probably stays put for the time being. Number two on that list, Ryan O'Reilly of the Nashville Predators. So he's older, right? 36, 35, 36. Once again, if face-offs were a concern, 1,342 face-offs this past year, 1,740, 55% in the dot, 74 points. I mean, at his age, still being able to produce consummate professional, good leadership. I think it would take some of those young players that I mentioned, like a Geeky or Sam O'Reilly, a draft pick, to potentially pry him from the likes of Nashville, which I'm just not sure Tampa's willing to do. But is it something that's necessary to win a cup while this core is still intact? Uh, potentially. I'm not saying do it. I'm just saying that he's an option. And Ryan O'Reilly has been consistent no matter who he's played for. So for me, I'm like, no matter where this guy goes, his impact is felt. And who knows? I mean, I I like him. He's just older. One who's incredibly far-fetched. I don't think that's going to happen anymore. Um, early on in the summer, people were saying that Austin Matthews was a potential, you know, trade candidate sometime this summer. I'm not sure the Lightning have the cachet to go and get someone like an Austin Matthews. Uh look, this past year, 972 face-offs. He won 580 of them, 60%. He had 60 points. Uh yeah, I mean, this is a far-fetched option for the Lightning. I don't think that it'll happen. I don't see him leaving Toronto this summer unless someone comes in with just an incredible offer. I don't see it. And also, like if if John Chaika traded Austin Matthews, he might get run out of town uh before they even play a game for this coming season. Uh, somebody else who was on the block or was in potential trade talk in the middle of the season, Robert Thomas, a thousand face, a thousand forty-two face-offs, one fifty-four percent, 53% in the dot, 64 points, another big contract. It's just you have to understand when I as I'm saying these names, think of some of the players that have to go back the other way, right? And it's a roster player potentially, if it's not a roster player and draft picks, it's high draft picks and prospects that we're waiting to see. Uh, you know, what they turn out to be, is it worth it? Is it worth it? I'm not sure it is. If you can go get someone like uh Larkin's interesting, but O'Reilly, Matthews, Robert Thomas? Uh, more so the last two, Matthews or Thomas? Absolutely. I think that you you you make those trades because Austin Matthew is Austin Matthews is is he a generational player? I don't know, but he's an elite level player. And what his game has become in terms of two-way, I would take him in a heartbeat. But what goes back the other way is the question. And do Tampa have the cachet to do that? I'm not sure they do. If Toronto's looking to blow it up and they're like, hey, we want a first-round pick. Uh, we want Connor Geeky, we want Sam O'Reilly, we want your next first two-round picks, we want Geeky and O'Reilly. Are you doing it? For Austin Matthews? Uh, I probably would. I probably would. You get a bona fide asset in Austin Matthews that you know about, a player in which you know about and everybody else in the league knows about the value he brings, especially for the Toronto Maple Leafs. You insert them into your lineup and you give away two first-round picks, which for the Lightning, they don't really seem to care about that because they're always drafting later in the first round if they draft at all. And you get rid of you, well, you don't get rid of, but you essentially switch Austin Matthew for those for that, and two prospects, Sam O'Reilly, in which we don't know anything about in terms of what he can do at the NHA level, and Cotton Piki, who just hasn't had a platform yet to do so. Same with the likes of Robert Thomas, right? Veering into the free agent market on what that could look like. There's really only one player. And I'm just not like I'm just not sure if that's even worth dipping into. Uh, for me, it was Claude Giroux, you know, took 799 faceoffs last year. He won 504, 63%. He had 49 points. Here's the thing. I mean, he's playing in Ottawa, he's playing close to home. I just would envision it'd be a lot to try to get him to leave there. He's 38 years old. I just don't envision that happening. But he was a name that caught my eye on a list of free agents that weren't impressive at the center position. And so, yeah, I mean, it's like as I'm kind of as we're kind of getting through the summer a little bit more, and obviously we're gonna wait till we get to free agency, but the way that the market is, I've also seen something about maybe the lightning take take a swing at Alex Tuck. But I I the word is that he's looking at nine and a half, ten million plus. Um, like everything trending towards him him going to market and commanding that. I know the salary cap is going up, but you also have Kucharoff's extension to uh concern yourself with, to think about. So I'm not sure if if Alex Tuck is someone they take a swing on now next year, and what would be Kucharoff's free agency year? Uh I mean, it's a lot better of a free agent class. So it wouldn't surprise me to see the lightning piss a lot of the fan base off. And have them questioning Julian Breeswall and he stands pat. It wouldn't surprise me. It would not surprise me to see them go into the season with the likes of a forward group that is on your first line, you know, point Kucharov and Gensel, you know, a second line of Hegel Sorelli Geeky to give him that platform in the top six. A third line of I don't know, Paul Gonçalves and James, and then a fourth line of Homburg, Yanni Gord, and Gergenson's. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the Ford group going into the season. And then that defense, the defense pairs are like I stated earlier, Hedman and Mosier are together, McDonough, Chernak, Das do and Lilleberg. It wouldn't surprise me. Because the Lightning have an asset that they haven't had in such a long time, and that it's salary cap space. And to be quite honest with you, the Lightning aren't just going to spend money for the sake of spending money. They finally have that asset. They haven't had it in such a long time. You've got that, what, the fourth around $14, $15 million to spend. Well, you don't have it, you don't have to spend on Darren Radish anymore. You can kind of, if you believe, if Julian Breesball believes that this team is sufficient enough to get to the trade deadline in a position where he can make a move to bolster the lineup, I I I fully believe that Julian Breesball will stand pat. I think a lot of people are missing out on there's an element here that I also believe the Lightning haven't had in a long time. There's elements of continuity. Now, there is a negative to the element of continuity, which is the element of complacency, right? And I've stated that before. Like sometimes when you reach the top of the mountain, you take a collective breath. Ah, I've made it. I can relax. Right? Um, I don't get that with this group. But when I talk about the element of continuity, there's chemistry that's building, right, within the team. And we are finally at a we're we're in a position as a franchise to where now we can begin to see some of the younger players who the lightning have uh acquired, whether that be through trade, whether that be through free agent signings out of college, whether that be through Europe. We are seeing the lightning are now finally able to have a greater platform for these players. The lightning have always done this really well. They find the underdeveloped or the unrealized potential or players who just haven't had the opportunity, and maybe they have a redeeming quality, and usually that's all of them. So you think about it, right? And they give them the platform. March is so that's one of the lightning let get away, but they didn't have what he needed, they didn't have the platform at the time in the mid-the mid-2010s, for him to become what he is now, or or what he was, and he's as he's gotten older, maybe not so much. Right? Verhage. I mean, he was playing in the ECHL. Right? He hadn't been given the platform. The lightning worked with him. He was in Syracuse, he won a cup with the lightning, and he found he made himself valuable. Obviously, it sucks that he didn't re-sign with the lightning, but look at what he did. Now look what he's doing now for Florida. Obviously, that sucks because it's for the Panthers, but the Lightning are have more opportunities to platform these younger players. People are talking about the Lightning need to get younger. There's going to be opportunities for them to do so now. And it's it's going to happen. And the Lightning have always done that pretty well. Look at Darren Radish. He didn't have a platform to develop and create value for himself. Look at the type of year that he had, where he's created the ultimate amount of value for himself to where he's gotten a contract that three years ago, when he was making when he signed a contract for less than a hundred million a year. I mean, he what what over seven and a half million difference now? Like you look at that. Look at the platform that he was given. And so it wouldn't surprise me to see the lightning stand pat and go into the season with this. There is continuity, there's chemistry building. We are seeing what these young guys can do in elevated roles. There are still some that we want to see and how they produce an elevated role, such as a geeky. We've seen what Gonzalez can do on the second line. Um, how maybe Dominic James, how does he do in an elevated role on the you know on the second line and with the line shuffling? Who knows? Right? Maybe uh a Benjamin Raltiainen or a Samuel Riley crack the big club this year. Because here's the thing, especially with uh Raltiainen, is that he either has to make the Tampa Bay Lightnings roster or he has to go back to Finland. So it wouldn't surprise me, and and Dave Mishkin and Greg Linelli said this on power launch, that it wouldn't surprise them to also see Rottianin get an extended look throughout Prospect Camp, training camp, and maybe he's one of the last guys who gets maybe sent back to Finland if he's not gonna make it, just to see what they have in him because he can't go down to Syracuse. Sam O'Reilly, you know, people think that he is really close to making the roster. Jay uh Julian Bries Wall also feels that he doesn't also have a he doesn't have a far way to go to make the roster in terms of rounding out his game. It's just going to be giving him that platform to do so. Like I said, I think that amongst all the forwards, right, the lightning have 11 of their 12 forwards coming back. The one who's not coming back is Bjorkstrand. Okay, there is one hole to fill if the Lightning are gonna stay stand pat, especially with a weaker free agent class, and if they're not gonna make any trades, and they're gonna go into with this valuable asset of salary cap space, it's Connor Geeky's spot to lose. I said that in the last episode. I still think it's his to lose. And I'm and I think that they're gonna say, I think that they're going to say, I don't think like I don't think it's I don't think Dom James has a solidified spot. I would like them to, but just for the sake of keeping him on his toes and wanting to push and edge him a little bit further to see what more they can get out of him, I could see Sam O'Reilly and Dom James fighting for a spot. Geeky's gonna fight for a spot with Ratiinen, right? Like the Lightning are in a position now where they have legitimate competition for spots on the roster in certain areas, right? Like you're always gonna have Hegel, you're gonna have Gensel. Did I say Gensel earlier? As one of the top six forwards? Ah, anyway, sorry, that just came to mind. But he's one of them, obviously, right? Brain Point, Anthony Sorelli.

unknown 51:57

Right?

SPEAKER_00 51:57

Like you're gonna always have those guys in the lineup, right? Five out of the six top six forward spots are pretty much taken, right? They're locked in. There's one spot. Who's that's gonna be? I wouldn't be surprised to see Julian Bridgewell say, I'm not gonna sign anybody. I want to see what these guys do. I believe in this team. He's gonna triple down now. He doubled down on the roster last year, this past season. They got him metrically, they did the same. Obviously, we know what the playoff result was, but we're not talking about that. Let's talk about getting us to a point to the trade deadline where if they're gonna maintain this amount of cap space to where now they can make moves, right? Does Julian Breeswall believe that he has a good enough roster to be able to do that? That is interesting. That is something that I've been thinking about as of late. It wouldn't surprise me. It would not surprise me. It also wouldn't surprise me to see Julian Breeswall put a rabbit at his hat and make a trade for any of the guys that I just mentioned to move some pieces around to sign John Carlson. Nothing would surprise me. Everything that Julian Breeswall is like calculated and measured, and you just appreciate how he goes about it. I think as Lightning fans, we kind of just have to let things unfold.

unknown 53:15

Right?

SPEAKER_00 53:15

Let things unfold with the summer. Let's see how they do with free agency. I don't I don't envision them signing anybody, to be quite honest with you, other than maybe some pieces for Syracuse. Uh, if John Carlson's available at a decent number, maybe he's somebody that they look to bring in, and then how that shakes up the D-pairs will be interesting, but that's somebody else who's another consummate professional, he's just older. Obviously, the lightning would like to get younger in some respect, but John Carlson is still producing at a high enough clip and still, you know, eating minutes at a high enough and a valuable enough clip to where it maybe it makes sense. And so, I don't know, it'll it'll be interesting to see. I I will say this though. Um I think we just have to kind of let these things play out and be patient. I know it stings a little bit because we lost a player like Darren Raddish, but also like there's no guarantee that Darren Raddish was gonna have the same role that he had this year with Victor Hedman looking to have a bounce back year, and that he was gonna get 70 points. There's no guarantee of that. You're talking about the role on the platform for a player like him, there's no guarantee. So, who knows what's going to happen. I would just say that don't look don't be so reactionary. Just appreciate what we got from Darren Radish, appreciate the work that Julian Bridgebois is doing and trying to construct this roster. What is it gonna look like in the next couple weeks when we kick off training camp? What are we? We're in the middle of June, so we are what eight weeks away from training camp. So as things begin to take shape, we're two weeks away from free the beginning of free agency. I don't I don't envision the lightning make any big moves in terms of signing free agents, but on the trade, the trade aspect of it, that'll be interesting to see what what shakes of that. I just think that they're going to see what they have in Samuel Reilly, what they have in Ralph Tiananen, what how has Geeky uh improved, how has Dom James improved, and then kind of go from there. And we'll see what they have on the back end. Yeah, because right now they've got seven defensemen. That that includes Max Crozier. And I I mean, do they assign somebody? I don't think they need to necessarily. Other people feel differently. Uh I'm I'm a contrarian in the fact that I just I think the lightning are good for what they need right now. It doesn't always sometimes it doesn't you don't want to sign players, just assign players and spend money. Because sometimes when you spend money that those players aren't always a fit. Yeah. So uh to round it out, Pierre Beldois Belmar has retired from the NHL. Right, he spent what was it, he spent a couple years with the Tampa Bay Lightning and retires from the NHL as the player, a French player with the most games played in the league. So congratulations to him. And really, over the next couple weeks, Red, we're gonna do a um be on the lookout. I'm gonna kind of pose a couple questions. We're gonna start a Mount Rushmore series. Now, this is something that I've had in the works for a little bit. We're kinda it's and it's not just going to be an all-time deal, it's gonna kind of be for like in an early days, you know, who's your route, who's your who's your Mount Rushmore from the early days of the Lightning? If you can, if you were a fan from that time period from going back then, who was who's a Mount Rushmore from the days of you know, the middle period of the Lightning, from when they won their first Stanley Cup, and then you know, the the team looked like they were going under. Obviously, the golden age, who's your Mount Rushmore of then? Who's your Mount Rushmore of front office, you know, or executives of the Tampa Bay Lightning? Like, we're gonna get into all those things uh just to kind of see where everybody's at and have a little bit of fun with that to just keep the summer going along. I promise that I it will not be another three weeks before I do this again. It's just happening. Like, there isn't much to talk about in terms of the lightning, and it's just like every day I'm like, I I I should really record another episode. I should really record another episode, but I just don't get around to it, and sure enough, like I guess uh patience is a virtue because you get something like what happened with Darren Radish that's worth talking about and being able to kind of stack some other things on top of it. So, anyway, guys, this has been great. We'll talk to you again soon. DVZ out of the way.