Speculation: 2020-2021 General Lightning Discussion - Defending Champions Edition: Part 2

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

How? If the player is playing like trash why not bench him to either send him a message or give him rest he might need? It shows a bad example when you can be garbage half the season and not get benched but when you have a few bad games you get sent to Syracuse, Foote and Barre-Boulet this year, Joseph, Stephens and Volkov in the past. Or even get scratched like all those guys have this year as well as the likes of Schenn.

It's how it works. You earn it and get some immunity. The examples you gave are rookies. It doesn't hold water

 

[HoseEmDown]

It's how it works. You earn it and get some immunity. The examples you gave are rookies. It doesn't hold water

Joseph wasn't a rookie last season when he got sent to Syracuse for a stretch not even as bad as this Cirelli one. Schenn has been sat many games the last two seasons. You don't get immunity in this league anymore, look across the league and plenty of players at or even above Cirelli level have been benched. Cooper is too loyal to his guys, once you become his guy it's hard to get into his doghouse.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

So no Maroon, no Goodrow tomorrow.

What are the odds we call up one of Katchouk/Raddysh? How many call-ups do we have left? I assume Smith will fill one of the holes.

 

[The Gongshow]

So no Maroon, no Goodrow tomorrow.

What are the odds we call up one of Katchouk/Raddysh? How many call-ups do we have left? I assume Smith will fill one of the holes.

I would just rest everyone, tbh. Not risk anymore injuries

Kuch (rusty)
Stamkos (not 100%)
Hedman (not 100% playing injured)
McDonagh
Palat
Rutta
Goodrow

We're so screwed its not even funny. **** thr hockey gods who never let us be healthy, ever

 

[The Gongshow]

Stamkos - Point - Kucherov
Killorn - Cirelli - Johnson
Joseph - Gourde - Coleman
Maroon - Colton - Stephens

McDonagh - Cernak
Sergachev - Savard
Hedman - Rutta/Schenn (this should be our 3rd pair with sheltered minutes due to their injuries)

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

Oh wow, I completely forgot about Stephens. I guess him and Smith line up tomorrow, but I wonder if we rest anyone else.

 

[Sky04]

Stephens has absolutely no chemistry with Maroon, play Smith there instead.

 

[OurlordAndSaviorKuch]

Anyone remember the last time we limped this badly into the playoffs? I am trying to remember but my lack of sleep due to a newborn is destroying my thought process of remembering.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

Anyone remember the last time we limped this badly into the playoffs? I am trying to remember but my lack of sleep due to a newborn is destroying my thought process of remembering.

We lost Stamkos and Stralman very shortly before the beginning of the playoffs in 2016, but we had a real lifeline in having a very manageable 1st and 2nd round schedule to work with, and we were able to manage long enough to get to the ECF. Stralman made it back in that series, but clearly wasn't up to speed. Stamkos, of course, only played Game 7.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Stamkos - Point - Kucherov
Killorn - Cirelli - Johnson
Joseph - Gourde - Coleman
Maroon - Colton - Stephens

McDonagh - Cernak
Sergachev - Savard
Hedman - Rutta/Schenn (this should be our 3rd pair with sheltered minutes due to their injuries)

Doubt Cooper would do it but Cirelli needs to be on the 3rd line.

Johnson - Point - Kucherov
Palat - Stamkos - Killorn
Gourde - Cirelli - Coleman
Maroon - Colton - Joseph

The top line has history fairly recently and Johnson had his best goal scoring season with them. Stamkos can ride the hot hand of Palat till he gets back on track and Killorn will be himself no matter where or who he plays with. The 3rd line can remain the shutdown line, Cirelli gets to try to get on track with less responsibility offensively and the 4th line doesn't change, you can play Stephens over Colton a few games if Colton struggles.

 

[Hoek]

We lost Stamkos and Stralman very shortly before the beginning of the playoffs in 2016, but we had a real lifeline in having a very manageable 1st and 2nd round schedule to work with, and we were able to manage long enough to get to the ECF. Stralman made it back in that series, but clearly wasn't up to speed. Stamkos, of course, only played Game 7.

The year of the "This is fine" avatars. Never forget.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Joseph wasn't a rookie last season when he got sent to Syracuse for a stretch not even as bad as this Cirelli one. Schenn has been sat many games the last two seasons. You don't get immunity in this league anymore, look across the league and plenty of players at or even above Cirelli level have been benched. Cooper is too loyal to his guys, once you become his guy it's hard to get into his doghouse.

Do you just like to complain? Cooper knows what he’s doing

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Doubt Cooper would do it but Cirelli needs to be on the 3rd line.

Johnson - Point - Kucherov
Palat - Stamkos - Killorn
Gourde - Cirelli - Coleman
Maroon - Colton - Joseph

The top line has history fairly recently and Johnson had his best goal scoring season with them. Stamkos can ride the hot hand of Palat till he gets back on track and Killorn will be himself no matter where or who he plays with. The 3rd line can remain the shutdown line, Cirelli gets to try to get on track with less responsibility offensively and the 4th line doesn't change, you can play Stephens over Colton a few games if Colton struggles.

That top line is way too soft. Is this the playoffs? Or the 62W regular season?

 

[HoseEmDown]

Do you just like to complain? Cooper knows what he’s doing

Does he? Why does he keep a guy on the 2nd line that's playing the way Cirelli is? He has 1 point in his last 22 games, we've gone 12 9 1 over that span, we were 24 7 2 prior. We were 1st in the division, 3 points up on Carolina but with a game in hand and 6 up on Florida. We are now 3rd in the division, 5 behind Carolina and 2 behind Florida. You can blame injuries or whatever else but Cirelli's shit play hasn't helped one bit.

 

[HoseEmDown]

That top line is way too soft. Is this the playoffs? Or the 62W regular season?

Is Palat really that physical that he makes the top line hard? He has a 5.12 hits p/60, Johnson is at 4.88. You could put Killorn up there since he's bigger than Johnson but then the hits per 60 drop to 3.53. His hits per 60 are more than Cirelli and Gourde as well. So unless you are putting Maroon, Goodrow, Coleman or Joseph up there the lines gonna be soft.

 

[The Gongshow]

Doubt Cooper would do it but Cirelli needs to be on the 3rd line.

Johnson - Point - Kucherov
Palat - Stamkos - Killorn
Gourde - Cirelli - Coleman
Maroon - Colton - Joseph

The top line has history fairly recently and Johnson had his best goal scoring season with them. Stamkos can ride the hot hand of Palat till he gets back on track and Killorn will be himself no matter where or who he plays with. The 3rd line can remain the shutdown line, Cirelli gets to try to get on track with less responsibility offensively and the 4th line doesn't change, you can play Stephens over Colton a few games if Colton struggles.

I actually think Cirelli should go back to being a shutdown centre, where he played his best hockey for us. Having him on that 3rd line might not be a bad idea

 

[These Are The Days]

The year of the "This is fine" avatars. Never forget.

It still is fine though. We have a ton of guys who are going to benefit from getting these last few games off. Unless half our team needs surgery from playing 56 games except Iron Man Alex Killorn, there's no reason to not be optimistic. And plus if we go back-to-back we have an excuse to trade everyone not nailed down for whatever prospects and draft capital we can get our hands on. Like if we didn't make the playoffs next year I'm not gonna run for the Skyway Bridge screaming "I'm gonna kill myself!!" Thankfully none of us ever have to do that now because we finally pulled it off last year

If anything taking advantage of good 2022 and 2023 drafts is gonna be a pretty damn good idea and I would strongly support the idea of reloading the core with as much young talent as we can get so we can better re-open our window for more Cup runs.

 

[BoltzManConstant]

It still is fine though. We have a ton of guys who are going to benefit from getting these last few games off. Unless half our team needs surgery from playing 56 games except Iron Man Alex Killorn, there's no reason to not be optimistic. And plus if we go back-to-back we have an excuse to trade everyone not nailed down for whatever prospects and draft capital we can get our hands on. Like if we didn't make the playoffs next year I'm not gonna run for the Skyway Bridge screaming "I'm gonna kill myself!!" Thankfully none of us ever have to do that now because we finally pulled it off last year

If anything taking advantage of good 2022 and 2023 drafts is gonna be a pretty damn good idea and I would strongly support the idea of reloading the core with as much young talent as we can get so we can better re-open our window for more Cup runs.

I can't make heads or tails of this comment. You're excited to blow up this team to get good picks in 22/23?

Have you been possessed by the spirit of a Sabres fan? Tampa has arguably the best collection of talent in the league.

 

[ultra63]

Unfortunately best collection of injuries this month

 

[Point21]

 

[These Are The Days]

I can't make heads or tails of this comment. You're excited to blow up this team to get good picks in 22/23?

Have you been possessed by the spirit of a Sabres fan? Tampa has arguably the best collection of talent in the league.

If we win back-to-back Stanley Cups then yeah. It's a collection we are having a hard time affording whether we do win it all again or not.

You continue with Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, (maybe) Cirelli, Sergachev, Hedman, Cernak and Vasy. That nucleus of players is already eating up 67.2% of our cap space. And if you wanna keep McDonagh too then fine. But it shoots your financial allocation of 75.5% of your cap space to 9 guys and this being with Point, Sergachev, Cirelli and Cernak all on bridge deals. It's not gonna be easy going forward.

But the great news is that is an amazing cast of players. You take it and run and that's what I'm proposing here. If we want to stay competitive long term we need to clear the books and we build around them with younger and less expensive players while the cap goes up and the rest of your allocation by percentage goes down.

Some new faces might come from Syracuse, some might get drafted. Some might be traded for. But we can't spend another 2-3 years paying dudes who have been here since Vinny was walking out the door $5 million a year to be lost as shit for months at a time.

The worst thing that is gonna happen is we take a temporary step back for a season or two and then bust open another legitimate title window for another 3-4 years. And then what? We land a stud or two picking like 14th overall in 2022 and 2023? I'll take that in a hurry.

 

[The Gongshow]

If we win back-to-back Stanley Cups then yeah. It's a collection we are having a hard time affording whether we do win it all again or not.

You continue with Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, (maybe) Cirelli, Sergachev, Hedman, Cernak and Vasy. That nucleus of players is already eating up 67.2% of our cap space. And if you wanna keep McDonagh too then fine. But it shoots your financial allocation of 75.5% of your cap space to 9 guys and this being with Point, Sergachev, Cirelli and Cernak all on bridge deals. It's not gonna be easy going forward.

But the great news is that is an amazing cast of players. You take it and run and that's what I'm proposing here. If we want to stay competitive long term we need to clear the books and we build around them with younger and less expensive players while the cap goes up and the rest of your allocation by percentage goes down.

Some new faces might come from Syracuse, some might get drafted. Some might be traded for. But we can't spend another 2-3 years paying dudes who have been here since Vinny was walking out the door $5 million a year to be lost as shit for months at a time.

The worst thing that is gonna happen is we take a temporary step back for a season or two and then bust open another legitimate title window for another 3-4 years. And then what? We land a stud or two picking like 14th overall in 2022 and 2023? I'll take that in a hurry.

With a healthy

? - Point - Kuch
? - Stamkos - Gourd

Hedman - ?
McDonagh - Cernak
Serg - ?

Vasi

We are still better off than most. We're just gonna have alot of kids come in and also go when they're rookie deals are up. We have Killorn and Palat coming off soon which should cover some raises for the core above. We're still in good shape but we won't be able to out ourselves over the top in free agency or TDL. We have to hold we'll get some ring chasers on cheap deals


I'm not giving up on this core yet, but this year was our best shot at another cup. Next year we'll be a different team but still top in East when healthy

 

[FinnLightning26]

Oh god, I just realized that if we're going to win our division we'll have to go through teams that have a lot of Finnish players. Finnish posters here are probably the cringiest bunch around and they'll be jumping on Florida/Carolina/Nashville bandwagons in droves.

The hockey media here isn't any better. Good times ahead.

 

[Felonious Python]

Unusual usage of a hashtag. #power

TB's trading up for Owen Power. Done deal. E5.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]