Speculation: 2018 Off-Season: We fell short again, now what do we do? Part II

[Master P]

Line order doesn’t matter

With that said I don’t really like Killorn-Stamkos-Gourde. I would try this maybe though:

Killorn-Stamkos-Kucherov
Miller-Point-Gourde
Palat-Cirelli-Johnson
Erne-Paquette-Callahan

I would prefer to keep miller with Stamkos and Kucherov. They had great chemistry.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

I would prefer to keep miller with Stamkos and Kucherov. They had great chemistry.

I agree but if at some point in the season it hits a rough patch, I would try what I laid out

 

[HoseEmDown]

lol Stammer puts up 80 points and you want him on the 3rd with Killorn, he'll be lucky to get 20 points.

Why break up Kuch and Stamkos. We know Kuch will get points but why not have two players in the 80's (Stammer) - 100's (Kuch) instead of just one. It would be pretty dumb to break those two up

Point can easily handle his own line

Killorn has put up 33, 35, 34, 26 and 39 non PP points the past 5 seasons. Stamkos last 3 full seasons he has 47, 41 and 53. Killorn is a consistent 30+ point ES guy while Stamkos is a 40+ guy. It's not like Stamkos is putting up 60+ points ES where someone like Killorn would drag him down that much. That's while Stamkos was getting top line minutes with top line players and Killorn has been trolling on the 3rd line. Stamkos will still get his top PP time to pad his stats, he needs to up his ES play and this will force him to improve there.

Stamkos is in the 80's because of the PP, which he still will get time at. I think we should see how he does carrying his own line for once. He was carried by St. Louis for years and has been by Kucherov lately, he needs to earn his money.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I think you gotta keep Stamkos and Kuch together, or at least put Point with Stammer and then have TKO back together. Gotta keep Point and Kuch separate since both can run their own line

I think they will keep Kuch and Stamkos together. It worked for the most part last year. I just thought that it kind of ran out of its magic in the playoffs for whatever reason and thought we should try something new. Hope it continues to work because I do think Coop goes back to the lineup that we used most of last year. We did win the east with that lineup. I think like Dom said we will go with that until it doesn't work. I think chances are high we see this lineup open night.

Miller Stamkos Kucherov
Palat Point Johnson
Killorn Cirelli Gourde
Erne Paquette (whoever makes it out of camp to replace Cally for now)

 

[DFC]

They likely will keep Kucherov and Stamkos together, but I'd like to see what we'd look like with those two and Point separated. We have enough talent to do it and it would be hard to defend.

 

[Master P]

Killorn has put up 33, 35, 34, 26 and 39 non PP points the past 5 seasons. Stamkos last 3 full seasons he has 47, 41 and 53. Killorn is a consistent 30+ point ES guy while Stamkos is a 40+ guy. It's not like Stamkos is putting up 60+ points ES where someone like Killorn would drag him down that much. That's while Stamkos was getting top line minutes with top line players and Killorn has been trolling on the 3rd line. Stamkos will still get his top PP time to pad his stats, he needs to up his ES play and this will force him to improve there.

Stamkos is in the 80's because of the PP, which he still will get time at. I think we should see how he does carrying his own line for once. He was carried by St. Louis for years and has been by Kucherov lately, he needs to earn his money.

Kuch put up 100 pts and Stammer put up 86 pts while playing together. Why the hell would we separate them? Who cares if he "never carried his own line", Part of the reason Kuch was able to put up 100 pts is because he played with Stamkos. They compliment each other and help take pressure off one another. They only thing that matters is results, not who is being "carried" by who.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Kuch put up 100 pts and Stammer put up 86 pts while playing together. Why the hell would we separate them? Who cares if he "never carried his own line", Part of the reason Kuch was able to put up 100 pts is because he played with Stamkos. They compliment each other and help take pressure off one another. They only thing that matters is results, not who is being "carried" by who.

Stamkos had 12 ES goals, the same as Namestnikov and Kunitz. Less than Johnson, Gourde or Killorn. Stamkos put up 86 points because of how good Kucherov was and his PP production. You could put Kucherov with Point, who had almost as many ES points as Stamkos, and any number of wingers with him still getting close to 100. Stamkos and Kucherov don't really compliment each other, Stamkos in his current form is now a pass first player which Kucherov is also. We need Stamkos to be a shooter and playing with Kucherov he tends to defer to him instead of shooting.

Kucherov is gonna produce no matter who he is with, Point the same. If Stamkos wants to turn into Joe Thornton then he can play with guys who aren't playmakers themselves like Killorn, Johnson or Miller and get those guys to 20-30 goal players. If Stamkos could finally get Killorn his 20 goals, or Johnson his 30 or Miller to 25 that makes us a stronger team as we have more goal scoring threats. Stamkos is still considered a top player so seperating him from Kucherov will allow one of them to get more favorable matchups to exploit.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Kuch put up 100 pts and Stammer put up 86 pts while playing together. Why the hell would we separate them? Who cares if he "never carried his own line", Part of the reason Kuch was able to put up 100 pts is because he played with Stamkos. They compliment each other and help take pressure off one another. They only thing that matters is results, not who is being "carried" by who.

Double post

 

[Todd1a]

We out on karlsson?

 

[CupsOverCash]

We out on karlsson?

What's the latest from Eklund?

 

[Todd1a]

What's the latest from Eklund?

That karlsson and karlsson could play in Vegas together! Or he could stay in Ottawa! Or Tampa could get back in on this! Or maybe he will go to dallas! Or maybe even Toronto will jump in! Lol

 

[Aoko]

Oh Vasi. Trying to steal my heart even off the ice.

 

[BoltSTH]

I see he is wearing his watch on the right wrist, so probably left handed. Another reason to like him

 

[JoVel]

I see he is wearing his watch on the right wrist, so probably left handed. Another reason to like him

Fun fact: he would use a right handed cathing glove but there wasn't any available for him when he started playing. He is indeed left handed.

 

[Hoek]

So wait that means he's using his stick wronghanded? I feel bad for the criticism of his stick handling in the past then.

 

[These Are The Days]

I think it's safe to say that we're not going to be seeing any more moves and we're probably not gonna know the final roster until training camp is over. But based on what we know, what is the bare minimum expectation for the Lightning in the regular season for everyone here?

For me I truly do not care anymore. I've made my peace with the fact that our team is gonna coast along during certain stretches of the year and against certain opponents. Like for example, if it's Feburary and we're playing the worst team in the league and lose 4-2 I don't really care because I would rather not see Hedman break his hand blocking a shot against a bottom feeder. I don't need Kucherov to win MVP, Vasy the Vezina and Hedman the Norris to be happy here, just get the 100 points you need to make the playoffs and get in. I'm not gonna freak if we finish 3rd place and 8 points behind 1st.

This is also my last hurrah with Cooper but that won't start til April. I've been patient enough and defended him 2 years ago through a "Cup or bust" year because of so much bad luck, injuries and inconsistent chemistry and I did it again last year because I had no idea what to expect. Plus the Caps were really good. But for now it's our turn. I'm not gonna be happy anymore if we can't win it this year. I also advocate his firing if we stumble out the gate. Something like 7-15-2 is completely unacceptable for a team of this caliber and I don't care what the team's reasons are. We better be icing an AHL team by that point.

Needless to say Sunny's in a zombie kind of mood and fully expects the Lightning to do the same.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I think it's safe to say that we're not going to be seeing any more moves and we're probably not gonna know the final roster until training camp is over. But based on what we know, what is the bare minimum expectation for the Lightning in the regular season for everyone here?

For me I truly do not care anymore. I've made my peace with the fact that our team is gonna coast along during certain stretches of the year and against certain opponents. Like for example, if it's Feburary and we're playing the worst team in the league and lose 4-2 I don't really care because I would rather not see Hedman break his hand blocking a shot against a bottom feeder. I don't need Kucherov to win MVP, Vasy the Vezina and Hedman the Norris to be happy here, just get the 100 points you need to make the playoffs and get in. I'm not gonna freak if we finish 3rd place and 8 points behind 1st.

This is also my last hurrah with Cooper but that won't start til April. I've been patient enough and defended him 2 years ago through a "Cup or bust" year because of so much bad luck, injuries and inconsistent chemistry and I did it again last year because I had no idea what to expect. Plus the Caps were really good. But for now it's our turn. I'm not gonna be happy anymore if we can't win it this year. I also advocate his firing if we stumble out the gate. Something like 7-15-2 is completely unacceptable for a team of this caliber and I don't care what the team's reasons are. We better be icing an AHL team by that point.

Needless to say Sunny's in a zombie kind of mood and fully expects the Lightning to do the same.

I think we need to start and finish strong. If we can do that then Im good with a off/on mid feb or march. Its unrealistic that a team stay on all season. Guys get tired and also want to save some energy for the playoffs. They dont want to sacrifice blocked shots as much. I understand it. All the more reason why the beginning of the season is so important. Makes the midseason grind not as bad. With that said, Im curious how our guys come out after the upset vs Wash. Last year the team was pissed that they missed the playoffs. I dont know how we react this year. Hopefully the same way. Also goes without saying the team needs to learn to be tougher late in the playoffs. We just havent been that marathon team and is the next step for this team to capture a cup. Which is the expectation for this team going forward. They have a great core, expectation is to win one with them. If they dont this year, Coop could be gone.

 

[Steazy Doo]

I think it's safe to say that we're not going to be seeing any more moves and we're probably not gonna know the final roster until training camp is over. But based on what we know, what is the bare minimum expectation for the Lightning in the regular season for everyone here?

For me I truly do not care anymore. I've made my peace with the fact that our team is gonna coast along during certain stretches of the year and against certain opponents. Like for example, if it's Feburary and we're playing the worst team in the league and lose 4-2 I don't really care because I would rather not see Hedman break his hand blocking a shot against a bottom feeder. I don't need Kucherov to win MVP, Vasy the Vezina and Hedman the Norris to be happy here, just get the 100 points you need to make the playoffs and get in. I'm not gonna freak if we finish 3rd place and 8 points behind 1st.

This is also my last hurrah with Cooper but that won't start til April. I've been patient enough and defended him 2 years ago through a "Cup or bust" year because of so much bad luck, injuries and inconsistent chemistry and I did it again last year because I had no idea what to expect. Plus the Caps were really good. But for now it's our turn. I'm not gonna be happy anymore if we can't win it this year. I also advocate his firing if we stumble out the gate. Something like 7-15-2 is completely unacceptable for a team of this caliber and I don't care what the team's reasons are. We better be icing an AHL team by that point.

Needless to say Sunny's in a zombie kind of mood and fully expects the Lightning to do the same.

If you get to that point, maybe you should just take a break from the league lel.

 

[These Are The Days]

If you get to that point, maybe you should just take a break from the league lel.

An break? This is madness even for you Steazy. Your game is getting weak bruh

 

[Steazy Doo]

An break? This is madness even for you Steazy. Your game is getting weak bruh

ploxlord, please. my game is thicc it just the offseason bruh.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

They likely will keep Kucherov and Stamkos together, but I'd like to see what we'd look like with those two and Point separated. We have enough talent to do it and it would be hard to defend.

Hmmm

Killorn Gourde Kucherov
Palat Point Johnson
Miller Stamkos Cirelli

Hmmm

 

[These Are The Days]

ploxlord, please. my game is thicc it just the offseason bruh.

An baw$ is posed to be gettin' lean not thicc in teh offseasons. Steazy's gonna be sawft come training camp

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Hmmm

Killorn Gourde Kucherov
Palat Point Johnson
Miller Stamkos Cirelli

Hmmm

I just threw up in my mouth.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Hmmm

Killorn Gourde Kucherov
Palat Point Johnson
Miller Stamkos Cirelli

Hmmm

Crazy as that looks I would give it a go lol.

 

[Stormbreaker]

The Hockey Guy put up his TB season preview.