This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on my personal blog (here) and my collectibles blog, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.
Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a couple of days, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.
Key Exits: Corey Perry (RW), Darren Raddysh (D), Nick Paul (C), Oliver Bjorkstrand (RW), Mitchell Chaffee (RW), Declan Carlile (D)
Key Arrivals: John Carlson (D), Dennis Hildeby (G), Mads Sogaard (G), Ilya Mikheyev (RW), Jeffrey Viel (LW), Jansen Harkins (C), Michael Callahan (D)
Top prospects: Sam O'Reilly (C, 19), Connor Geekie (C, 22), Oleg Kulebiakin (RW, 18), Ethan Gauthier (RW, 21), Benjamin Rautiainen (C, 21), Dylan Duke (LW, 23), Ethan Czata (C, 19)
The Tampa Bay Lightning will do as the Tampa Bay Lightning will do, which is to sign their core (mostly) veteran players long-term and rotate the support group in and out to bring in new energy, all while developping a seemingly endless supply of NHL-ready players via the AHL's Syracuse Crunch. Oh - and let players who have earned massive pay increases leave town to make their money elsewhere, like Raddysh here leaving in free agency for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
What makes their odds look good:
Oh, just two-time Art Ross and (reigning) Hart winner Nikita Kucherov, Norris winner (and six-time finalist) Victor Hedman, two-time (and reigning) Vezina winner Andrei Vasilevskiy, with a supporting cast of elite players like Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point, with two-time Stanley Cup-winning (and Team Canada) head coach Jon Cooper.
Question marks:
Can the defense hold up their part of the deal? Will age catch up with the veteran players? Isn't Kucherov on an expiringcontract - and is that a problem?
Outlook:
The playoffs are a whole other beast, as can be attested by the Bolts' five-straight first-round eliminations after two straight Stanley Cups, but in terms of their roster beating other rosters more often than not during an 84-game regular season, I feel that part's taken care of. One of the top three spots in their division is within reach, and factoring in perhaps a few rest days and injuries here and there, they probably end up second to their State rival Florida Panthers.
Prediction:
2nd in the Atlantic Division.
I have a lot of time for Ryan McDonagh, a former Montréal Canadiens first-round draft pick (12th overall in 2007). You might recall (and still be angry/befuddled about the fact that) he was infamously traded to the New York Rangers, with Doug Janik, three-time 20-goal scorer Chris Higgins and fellow prized prospect Pavel Valentenko for Scott Gomez, Michael Busto and Tom Pyatt. It was, of course, a complete fleece, with McDonagh eventually captaining the Rangers (2014-2018) to some level of success, including two especially long playoff runs, while Gomez went an entire calendar year with the Habs without scoring a goal. In the Canadiens' defense, they had drafted David Fischer, a fellow Minnesotan defenseman with similar College stats as McDonagh, in the first round of the previous season, and he was looking like a bust and the team chose to cut ties with him for a compensatory second-round pick; they didn't want a repeat situation, and were convinced Gomez would replace Saku Koivu as their first-line centre.
In 2018, McDonagh was part of another fleecing, but this time it was the Rangers who got the worst of the deal, sending their captain along with (their current captain!) J.T. Miller to Tampa Bay for Vladislav Namestnikov, Brett Howden, Libor Hajek, a first round pick in the 2018 draft (which turned out to be Nils Lundkvist) and a conditional second-round pick in the 2019 draft (Karl Henriksson). Miller would be traded again (to the Vancouver Canucks) after just two seasons, missing out on the consecutive Cups and subsequent Final that McDonagh had a huge part in.
A salary cap crunch forced the Lightning to let important depth pieces of their lineup go, such as McDonagh (traded to the Nashville Predators), Blake Coleman (free agency), Alex Killorn (free agency), Patrick Maroon (free agency), Ondrej Palat (free agency), and Yanni Gourde (expansion draft, Seattle Kraken), with GM Julien BriseBois eventually bringing McDonagh and Gourde back into the fold. Which makes this card relevant again:
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