Speculation: Now what do we do? - Part 3

TheDaysOf 04

[ 2 6 ] [ 4 ]
Jun 23, 2007
52,501
22,359
NJ
Slater Koekkoek turning up heat for Lightning

"I was just so excited to be out there on the ice for the playoffs, it was a dream come true," Koekkoek said. "And it's something I have worked hard for. It was tough to finish the way we did because we got so close and it was pretty hard to watch the [Stanley Cup] Final, because we almost made it. But I just wanted to have fun with it and play hard when I got the chance."
"I'm definitely looking forward to camp and having the opportunity to put myself in a position to be with the team," Koekkoek said. "It's nothing you want to take for granted, because nothing is guaranteed, so I just want to work hard in the offseason and be ready to go when camp starts."
Koekkoek was excited that Stamkos would remain with Tampa Bay.

"He's such a great leader and a great character guy," Koekkoek said. "He sets a great example for the players around him with his work ethic and the way he fought to get back on the ice [after surgery April 4 to remove a blood clot] during the playoffs. He's just a great teammate."

Koekkoek said Hedman has helped him with his game and he has become more comfortable playing in the NHL.

"[Hedman] is a great guy and he knows how to be a professional on and off the ice," Koekkoek said. "He's got great talent and he's a big, athletic guy that is one of the best skaters I've seen. But the way he conducts himself off the ice is also a big part of what makes him a great guy to be around."
"It's great to see, because these guys were drafted here and have been part of the organization for several years," Koekkoek said. "So it's nice to be a place where they want to develop their players and take care of them."
 

Volodya Krutov

Lost Cosmonaut
Jan 18, 2012
8,135
1,036
He's going to compete with Nesterov for the last spot on defense, Koek2 is at the moment a clear cut above but competition between young players, that's pretty sane emulation.

Carle is gone, life is good.
 

Byrddog

Lifer
Nov 23, 2007
7,471
823
First post here in a long time. I have been a Bolts follower for some time but this year I am going all in with the Bolts. When my old team signed Matt Carle that pushed me over the edge put me on suicide watch for days. So it was time to actually pull for a team headed in the right direction. Read this entire thread and while there will be issues next summer at least the team will still be highly competitive. The top 6 are as good as any team in the league and scoring depth is no issue. I understand it may be a little sacrilegious to discuss two way forwards in the eastern conference but IMO it would sure help out to have a couple forwards in the bottom 6 that are so inclined.

I saw a post from about a month ago babout Druions next contract and someone poopooed him getting close to what Forsberg got. Well I agree he will not for the simple reason he has not had the chance in the league yetto put up numbers. But I have seen every game Forsberg has played in the NHL and they are different players but Druion has a better shot. If Druion does in fact get top 6 minutes It will not suprise me if the guy pots 20 and gets 30 assts this year. He will demand 5 mil and get it. Next summer will be interesting.

There is only one player on this team I really dislike Filppula I have never liked this guy and he is grossly overpaid. The other player that was a boat anchor to the team was moved to my old team. So I plan to be arround here often and I have different opinions of this game it should be interesting.
 

Brie

bearer of bad news
Jul 5, 2014
22,504
2,348
Koekkoek better make the roster this year, and not as the 7th dman. Give him minutes. Put him with Coburn like in the PO.

This I agree with, I want to see him get a real chance, I think our team will be better for it.
 

These Are The Days

Oh no! We suck again!!
May 17, 2014
34,124
19,688
Tampa Bay
I'm curious of how the possible addition of Wiz could affect Nesterov and Kucherov's situations and if it doesn't mean we don't already have a plan lined up to clear cap space. You don't offer a guy like Wiz (who has had a year to recover) a tryout without any kind of plan to make room for his salary. You gotta line up your priorities and obviously getting Kucherov signed is much more important than a tryout. I'm faithful we are going to see a couple dominoes fall in the next week or so.

I have another idea of how Yzerman could possibly handle this Kucherov situation do and I really...... REALLY don't like it.

Given how Yzerman does things "his way" and does not easily make concessions for anyone, I'm not so sure he wouldn't just have Kucherov sit out the entire season because he would not budge from his contract offer. But at the same time it would be crazy to do that because he would have to match the offer sheet to retain Kucherov's services.

I'm not saying that's going to happen but considering the staring contest he had with Drouin and Stamkos, I would fully expect Yzerman to stand his ground and say, "My offer is final and I will not change from it" in the Kucherov negotiations. The lack of update and movement appears very indicative of a standstill. When it's nearly the middle of August and the sides have not reached an agreement it's not exactly because we haven't tried to get him signed by now.

I'm definitely not surprised by how long this has taken but I hope it gets resolved quickly
 

PaulGG

Registered User
May 15, 2011
1,872
313
We will sign Kuch for sure even if it takes us over the cap. We will deal with it
 

VoidCreature

Before you see the light, you must die.
Mar 6, 2015
6,833
4,108
New Jersey
So, Devils fan here. Not sure where else to ask this question.

I was looking at general fanager, and it looks like you guys are at the 50 contract limit, without counting any new deal for Kucherov. Is there a loophole around that in the offseason or does that mean you absolutely have to trade someone before you can sign Kucherov or anyone else?

Edit: looks like the Jackets and the Blues are actually over the limit right now. So maybe that answers my question.
 

Bandit Keith

Registered User
Apr 5, 2016
427
163
General Fanager includes players that are going back to Junior with contracts to the 50 contract limit. Realistically, Tampa has around 45 contracts currently.
 

TheDaysOf 04

[ 2 6 ] [ 4 ]
Jun 23, 2007
52,501
22,359
NJ
http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=891545
The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that it will open training camp on Thursday, September 22 at AMALIE Arena and host the team’s 2016 Fan Fest on Sunday, September 25, with doors to the general public opening at 11 a.m. (subject to change).
The Lightning will open the team’s 24th training camp with testing and annual media day on Thursday, September 22 at AMALIE Arena. The team will hit the ice the following day. Tampa Bay will have 12 players, as well as head coach Jon Cooper, representing their various countries at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and will be available to media at a later date.
 

DoobeeDoobeeDoo

The Doobster
Jul 3, 2013
1,509
9
Stay the course, you guys were the only team that had a chance to beat the Pens, but for Bryan Rust sneaking the puck under Andre Vasilevskiy, Lightning could've just as easily won game 7. If it were Lightning vs Sharks in the SCF, I'm confident that your speed game would've overwhelmed the Sharks just as the Pens' speed game did.
 

DFC

Registered User
Sep 26, 2013
46,844
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NB
Stay the course, you guys were the only team that had a chance to beat the Pens, but for Bryan Rust sneaking the puck under Andre Vasilevskiy, Lightning could've just as easily won game 7. If it were Lightning vs Sharks in the SCF, I'm confident that your speed game would've overwhelmed the Sharks just as the Pens' speed game did.

Agreed, and I'll always wonder what might have been if Bishop hadn't been injured. Vasy absolutely carried us in that series, and I'm not saying Bishop would have stopped the shots he didn't. If anything, I'm not sure Bishop could make the saves Vasy made. But Bishop is so good at getting us out of trouble that those long, sustained shifts in the defensive zone would have been cut down dramatically, which would have given us a lot more chance to impose our own speed, rather than being victimized by the Pens' speed.

Alas.

I think our management is hopeful that a full year of Drouin-Stamkos could put us over the top. We've still yet to really go with that combination. But:

X-Stamkos-Drouin
Palat-Johnson-Kucherov

is a pretty scary top-six. If they can stay healthy. Knock on wood.

One more note: Johnson and Palat in contract years? Will this be the first time in his career that Palat shows up to play in October rather than getting going somewhere around Christmas time?

If I'm not mistaken, it's now three years in a row that Palat has led our team in scoring after the all-star break.
 

DoobeeDoobeeDoo

The Doobster
Jul 3, 2013
1,509
9
Agreed, and I'll always wonder what might have been if Bishop hadn't been injured. Vasy absolutely carried us in that series, and I'm not saying Bishop would have stopped the shots he didn't. If anything, I'm not sure Bishop could make the saves Vasy made. But Bishop is so good at getting us out of trouble that those long, sustained shifts in the defensive zone would have been cut down dramatically, which would have given us a lot more chance to impose our own speed, rather than being victimized by the Pens' speed.

Alas.

I think our management is hopeful that a full year of Drouin-Stamkos could put us over the top. We've still yet to really go with that combination. But:

X-Stamkos-Drouin
Palat-Johnson-Kucherov

is a pretty scary top-six. If they can stay healthy. Knock on wood.

One more note: Johnson and Palat in contract years? Will this be the first time in his career that Palat shows up to play in October rather than getting going somewhere around Christmas time?

If I'm not mistaken, it's now three years in a row that Palat has led our team in scoring after the all-star break.
Missing Stamkos was big, who knows how the series would've turned out if he were healthy. As a Pens fan, you guys gained a ton of respect from me this year, and I already had a lot of respect for the Lightning after they made the SCF the previous year.
 

2020 Cup Champions

Formerly Sila v Kucherove
Nov 26, 2013
14,774
4,404
Missing Stamkos was big, who knows how the series would've turned out if he were healthy. As a Pens fan, you guys gained a ton of respect from me this year, and I already had a lot of respect for the Lightning after they made the SCF the previous year.

Appreciate it. I don't think many people think Stamkos would have righted the ice. Stralman being out of action for so long immediately prior was probably a bigger factor.
 

CupsOverCash

Registered User
Jun 16, 2009
16,353
7,092
Appreciate it. I don't think many people think Stamkos would have righted the ice. Stralman being out of action for so long immediately prior was probably a bigger factor.

You can't help but wonder what kind of impact he would have had in the playoffs. Drouin was clutch and it would have been interesting to see how they would have clicked. If Stamkos and Drouin don't click so well I wouldn't be surprised to see them put Drouin with Kucherov.
 

Brie

bearer of bad news
Jul 5, 2014
22,504
2,348
You can't help but wonder what kind of impact he would have had in the playoffs. Drouin was clutch and it would have been interesting to see how they would have clicked. If Stamkos and Drouin don't click so well I wouldn't be surprised to see them put Drouin with Kucherov.

That is the same that I've wondering, also just having Stammer always adds to the team by him either being another weapon or him being a good distraction which opens up space for others like in 2015 when focus on him opened up space for the TKO line and when the other team focused on them like MTL then Stammer's lime could step up.
 

DFC

Registered User
Sep 26, 2013
46,844
22,691
NB
While I wonder what Stamkos would have added with the way Drouin was playing, I think the thing that sunk us was how often we were stuck in our own end. I feel like Bishop would have at least helped with that, and allowed us to use our speed.
 

TampaJay

Registered User
Jan 16, 2016
779
151
While I wonder what Stamkos would have added with the way Drouin was playing, I think the thing that sunk us was how often we were stuck in our own end. I feel like Bishop would have at least helped with that, and allowed us to use our speed.

This. Exactly.
A few timely goals from Stamkos could have changed things but you can’t blame his absence for us not being able to get out of our own end. I blame: the loss of Bishop’s puck handling, Stralman running at 80%, bad first passes, PIT being harder on the puck and clogging up the neutral zone. I would also put a bit of blame on coaching. PIT seemed to have us figured out and we couldn’t adjust.
 

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