Latest / Backchecking the Bolts / Lightning Prospect Tournament Preview + 3 Burning Questions Is Chris Kreider a Fit in Tampa
Transcript
- Jason Linkes: Justin, we're going to play everyone's favorite new game, Fringe, Rise, and Regression. I get to play Wink Martindale and give you six players. You're going to tell me within 30 seconds or less whether they are on the fringe of the roster. You expect their game to rise or you expect their game to fall. So this is Fringe Rise and Regression. Welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. Back Checking the Bolts is your cup of coffee to get you the latest on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Join hosts Jason Lincas and the managing editor of Raw Charge, Justin Godfrey, as they break down the Lightning's most recent games and go beyond the highlights, telling you what the box scores didn't. It's time to drop the puck. Hi, everybody. Welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. It is September the ninth, and we are going to talk about the Lightning Prospect Tournament. They're going to be heading up to Raleigh. They're going to be competing with Nashville and Carolina in the Prospect Tournament. Justin, no Florida this time. We're also going to ask Justin his three burning questions for the Lightning. I'm going to play Wink Martindale, and we're going to play the game fringe rise and regression. And finally, Chris Kreider was released by the Anaheim Ducks. Is that a fit for the Bolts? Before I bring in Justin to talk about the prospect tournament, I want to give everyone a quick synopsis of what the prospect tournament is and who's eligible. The players that are eligible are any skater or goaltender on an entry level contract or less, provided they are twenty four or younger and have less than twenty games of NHL experience and are eligible to participate in the tournament. Exceptions can be made and if they are approved by all the teams. Prospects enrolled in college are Are not able to attend due to the NHL restricting involvement while the academic year is ongoing. Now it's time to bring in Raw Charge's managing editor, Justin Godfrey. You can read him each and every day at www.rawcharge.com. Justin, tell us a little bit about this prospect tournament. I know it started back in Michigan, I want to say back in the late nineties, but tell us about the prospect tournament and what scouts are looking for from these prospects. It started up in Traverse City, Michigan. ⁓ a couple of those northern teams got together ⁓ with their prospects. ⁓ it's really a good chance for organizations to see what their younger players can do ⁓ in regards to actual competition on life on ice. It's it's a little bit more than a glorified scrimmage game. You're playing other teams, you're playing ⁓ pretty competitive hockey, honestly. You know, it's five on five, ⁓ for twenty minute periods and then you have the three on three overtimes. ⁓ and then they always do a shootout as well, you know. Regardless regardless of the score, there's always going to be a shootout. So that that can be kind of fun. And like real quick, real quick, Justin, you said that there's always a shootout. Why is that? Is it more for fan entertainment or do they want to give these guys a chance to show some of the skills? I think a little combination of both. You know, as these tournaments have kind of gotten more popular, you do see a lot of fans starting to attend them. I know the Lightning would do theirs over in their practice facility and they they draw a pretty good crowd. They're starting to be televised as well. ⁓ so I think it's a little entertainment. I think it's a little fun for the players as well. you know, it is a training camp esque environment. So let them r relax a little bit, let them show some creativity. And it's just really good for the organization. A lot of these players aren't necessarily your top, top, top end prospects ⁓ just because of some of the restrictions, like the NHL game limit. So someone like Macklin Salabrini, even though he's under the age limit of twenty four, you know, he's played way too many NHL games to to go. You may see the occasional top draft pick from the year before show up, but a lot of times you just you just don't have that top talent there either doing other things getting ready for the season. I looked at the three rosters, I think combined there's maybe three number one picks between the three teams. It's either three or four, it's not a lot. But it is a really good chance to showcase some talent. And then for players ⁓ on the roster for the Lightning, you know, Joel Bouch Bouchard usually coaches these things. It's usually the Syracuse staff that runs these tournaments. So it's a good chance for them to get their eyes on the coaching staff. A player like Milo Rollins or Dylan Gill, who spent a lot of time in Orlando last year, you know, it's kind of their first chance to crack that Syracuse roster. So they may not make their lightning, but give them a good chance to play in the AHL. So these are kind of fun. You're playing against your own age group as well, so you don't get phased out. A lot of times when these rookies go to training camps, you know, they start losing minutes to some of the veterans. So this is a kind of a good even level idea of where these guys go. The organization get a baseline on how they play. I think five of the six Lightning draft picks from this year are gonna be here. ⁓ the only one who's not the on the roster is Morgan Anderberg, who's ⁓ already playing over in Europe. ⁓ his team's in the Champions League, so he's already getting some competition that way. But it's a really good kind of first look for some of these draft picks. And ⁓ so yeah, they're fun. ⁓ I know they're gonna be streaming on the Lightnings app, probably on their website as well. So if you're not doing anything during the middle of the afternoon, then ⁓ go ahead and watch some lightning. Now there's some players that you had mentioned to me that you really want to look out for. First of all, that's Sam O'Reilly. Sam O'Reilly comes in. There's a lot of talk that he could be on the outside looking in to make the lightning, his first year in professional hockey. What are you looking for out of Sam? ⁓ I think you're looking at face offs, you're looking at how he forechecks, ⁓ how he plays defensively, and if you can ⁓ kind of drive the offense, I think he has to be the best player in this tournament. If he's gonna want to get off on that, you know, the right start, the get off on the right foot to making the roster kind of surprising people. I I think honestly it's like a fifteen percent chance he makes it. ⁓ but if he has a good prospect showcase and then follows it up with a good training camp, stranger things have happened. Many years ago, Braden Point forced his hand kind of along the similar path. So that's kind of what I'm looking for out of O'Reilly. It's just the the little details of the game that ⁓ provide success at it the NHL level. With Sam O'Reilly, I can't imagine the Lightning wanting to play him on the fourth line and play him eight to ten minutes a game. I would imagine if that's the case, they're gonna send him to Syracuse. Does he need an injury in your mind to have a chance of making the team out of training camp? Yeah, I would say most of the kids from ⁓ Syracuse probably need an injury. ⁓ the Lightning, you know, have their forward depth, ⁓ especially with you know signing Jeffrey Vale. It's gonna be tough to crack the roster no matter what. So there would be even for a player of O'Reilly status, ⁓ Ethan Gauthier, ⁓ those guys, if they're gonna make this team, even Dylan Duke, you know, who's kind of older, they're gonna need a little break here and there to to make the final roster. There's just not many spots open for the Lightning right now. When you have an established team and you've had the success the Lightning have had. roster spots are gonna be tough and the lightning have not reset. You had mentioned Dylan Duke. That's the next name I wanted to talk about. What does Dylan Duke need to show in this tournament? ⁓ he's got play with aggression, play in front of the net. Kinda similar along the lines of what O'Reilly has to do. ⁓ just strong defensive hot hockey. Don't make too many mistakes, don't take too many chances. I he's a little wrecking ball of a guy. He's not very tall, but he's very stout in front of the net. Had a really, really good year in Syracuse last year. And if he can kind of keep that going, he's kind of that perfect ideal fourth line, third line guy. ⁓ so you know, as you mentioned with O'Reilly, you probably don't want him playing ten minutes at the NHL level. I don't think that's as big of a concern for Dylan Duke. I think they wouldn't mind if he makes a team, like I think he's at the point in his ⁓ development where ten minutes, twelve minutes at the NHL level is gonna be worth it more than playing in the AHL. The third name we want to talk about is Tomas Kralovic. And Krolovic isn't an is not a name that we've talked about a whole lot here on the podcast. Justin, tell us every a little bit about Krollovic and again, he's a defenseman. Looking at one of those possible third pairing spots, what does he need to show in the camp? Yeah, he'd be really kind of a dark horse coming out. ⁓ he was a little bit of surprise at the rookie development camp just days after he was drafted by the Lightning, they signed him. To an entry level contract. ⁓ he's definitely gonna be playing against Syracuse this year. ⁓ he's a big defenseman. He's got some mobility, which is you know a little different than on the lightning blue line than than what you see. He's a right-handed shot. He stands about six foot three, 200 pounds. So he's a big, bigger guy. Doesn't play overly aggressive, but does have some of that physical nature to it. so he could be one of these guys, again, if there is an injury, and God knows there's a lot of age on that blue line, so something could open up. He could be one of these dark horse guys who who kind of just grabs the spot. and comes in and plays, you know, twelve minutes a night and I think the Lightning would be fine with that. He would be waivers exempt, so if he does start the season in the NHL and then kind of struggles, they can send him down without the fear of losing him, unlike someone like an Emile Lilleberg, who would have to go on waivers when you send him down. So it'll be interesting to see w what kind of camp he has, how he plays against competition. ⁓ he's one of the guys I'll definitely be looking at just to see how he reacts and plays. Now it's time for three burning lightning questions. I'm gonna ask Justin three questions that we're gonna be looking at going into the season, his thoughts and opinions. I'll give some of mine as well as we go along the way. First question, Justin. The second line left winger, who is it going to be coming out of training camp? Who would you like to see be the second line left winger? I mean, this is God, we could have been recording this last last summer and the same question would have ⁓ Would have emerged. I don't think it's something that they ever really solved during the season. ⁓ and that's why you saw Nikita Kuch Kutov kind of bouncing up and down, ⁓ playing with either Gensel on point on the top line or down with Sorelli and Brandon Hagel on that second line. Right now, you know, if I was Cooper, the guy I would lean on, and I know this will get a mixed reaction from the fan base would be Gage Cut and Salva's. I would give him the opening shot. He's a talented playmaker, you know, he's a really good forward checker. If Cooper just says, hey, look, I'm gonna let you go out there, first ten games, you're gonna play on the second line with with Hegel and Sorelli. Just play your game. Don't worry about making mistakes. Don't get in your own head. Just go out there and play. I think it'll do all right. ⁓ outside of that, you may be looking at ⁓ Ilya Bikaioff, you know, the the free agent signing. He's kind of more known for his defense, but he plays with a lot of speed, which would go well, which would pair well with Hegel and ⁓ Sorelli. So I think it's gonna kind of come down to those two. I think it'll be an open battle. You know, if Pontus Homburg has a good training camp, he could, you know, cling that cling into that spot. You have Sam O'Reilly, you know, we talked about O'Reilly a couple minutes ago. If he has a really good training camp, why not give him a shot up on that second line? When you were talking to the kids from Kitchener, ⁓ they praised his defensive skills. So imagine that checking line of, you know, Anthony Sarelli, Selkie finalist, Brandon Hagel plays like a dog after a bone, and then ⁓ Sam O'Reilly on there as well. I mean, that could be a a fairly decent line. If you do that, do you throw O'Reilly at center? No, I'd probably keep the Sorelli at center. ⁓ I don't w you I wouldn't want to put too much pressure on a young kid. ⁓ you could probably spot him here and there, ⁓ maybe some neutral zone draws, you know, middle of the game, something like that. But you know, Sorelli was one of the Lightning's top face off guys. He wasn't great. I think he finished just under fifty percent ⁓ after he tailed off a little towards the end of the year. But I think you kinda pick and choose your battles if if you do have O'Reilly out there. So that would be interesting to see. But yeah, I think I think it's kind of Gonsalvi's spot to lose. Or it's Kucharov. You know, you you put Gonsalvi's up on that top line with point and ⁓ Gensel. He played really well with them last year. It was actually his his best line mates. ⁓ when he's up on that line, he contributes. He's a really good player and he I think he got the bulk of his points last year, ⁓ playing with those two. So it could be something where Kutrov goes down, plays with ⁓ Sorelli and Hegel and you go from there. So One name I'm gonna mention to you at the end of the show is Chris Kreider. We're gonna talk a little bit more about him in detail as he was just released by Anaheim. If he would decide to sign in Tampa, now Tampa doesn't have a lot of cap space, he would be a nice fit for that winger spot as well on the second line. But Justin, let's talk about the third line defensive pairing. The Lightning have a lot of defensemen and they can only fit a few people on this roster. He only p can play six. Who are gonna be the last two defensemen to play ever each and every night? Well, you know, with with Cooper's love of the eleven seven rotation, every once in a while you may have seven defensemen actually playing out there. I I do think he wants to go twelve six. ⁓ you just don't want to sacrifice one of those offensive guys like like you have to when you roll out seven defensemen. ⁓ but I think there's a couple spots open. I mean, you your top four are set. It's gonna be some combination of Victor Headman, J.J. Moser. Eric Chernak, John Carlson and Ryan McDonough, right? So actually your top five are set. So that kind of just leaves the one spot. ⁓ and you're gonna battle out between Charles Edward Destou, Emile Lilleberg's gonna be in there, and Max Crozier's gonna throw his name out there. ⁓ those are probably your top three, but then you got, you know, a couple guys down in in Syracuse in Max Groshev or Simon Lundmark, who may wanna have a say about making the team as well. And you know, someone like Groshev does add a different element with his ⁓ ability to skate. And his offensive capabilities. So it is gonna be kind of an interesting way to see how they go about deciding who's there and then how they they line him up. I mean, we're not a hundred percent sure that they're gonna go back to Victor Hedman and then JJ Moser playing on his off wing. So if Moser ends up on the left hand side, you know, his natural position, now you got Moser, you got McDonough, and you got ⁓ R and Hedman as your top three left hand defensemen. I mean, nobody's cracking that three. So you know, leaves Cherneck, Carlson on the right hand side, and then somebody play on their off wing. So it's gonna be interesting to see how they go about it. My early thoughts are maybe Lilleberg's the man on the outside looking in. ⁓ they really like the way Crozier played. He is a right shot defenseman, so he kind of fits in. And I think they really like the w the way that ⁓ Destou played last year. He you know he kinda gave him that offensive element as well. So I think that's your biggest one of your biggest battles in camp. One of the biggest questions that they have to answer is how they're going to construct that defense and if they're going to break up some of the pairings we've seen in the past. Even, you know, McDonough and Chernak have almost been, you know, stapled into the lineup together just 'cause they've played so well. But with, you know, McDonough aging a little bit, maybe getting a little bit slower, do you want to mix it up and ⁓ put Chernak on somebody else's line? So we'll see how it all goes. Yeah. That's that's why you have training camp. You know, even if it is shorter this year. It wouldn't surprise me if one of those players, unless there's an injury, if one of those players gets traded or moved somehow because you have too many defensemen and you only have so many spots. You don't want to have certain guys buried when they're not able to play. I think a d a D'Stew, a Lilleberg might be very attractive to a team that either doesn't have a whole lot of defensive depth or runs into injuries at training camp. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the lightning. But Justin, I do want to talk about the lightning power play. It was disappointing last year. They're losing their top two power play producers, Darren Radish and Oliver Bjorkstrand. It's hard to believe Bjorkstrand was second on the team in power play goals, but he was with nine. Yeah. You now have a new look. You have John Carlson at the point. You hope to have Braden Point healthy all season. You expect him to improve from his eighteen goal performance last year back to his normal thirty-five to forty goals. What are you looking for on this power play? And do you think that they can solve it with the players they currently have in the clubhouse? I I think they're gonna have to. I know the Chris Kreider talk is always fun. Patrick Laney talk is always fun. I I just don't see Brees Watt going out and getting a couple of one dimensional players to, you know, solve a problem that kind of comes and goes. Yeah, they did finish 17th last year. I think it was twenty point seven percent, ⁓ which is their lowest total since, you know, the twenty nineteen twenty season. It's their lowest percentage. I think on a per goal per game basis, it's the lowest goal amount that they've scored. I they scored fifty-one goals, I want to say. ⁓ the only years that they scored less were or the only years they scored scored fewer were ⁓ the shortened seasons. So it was definitely an issue last year, but it was also streaky. I they had a couple Couple runs where they were putting in two, three goals ⁓ a week on the power play. So it wasn't like it completely disappeared. And as long as you have Nikita Kutrov on the team, you're gonna be fine. ⁓ you're still gonna score somehow. ⁓ it's just where you deploy him. He likes to be on that right hand side. ⁓ they've flipped him on an occasion in the past, putting him over on the opposite circle. It's worked. He doesn't like doing it. He's come out and said he doesn't like doing it. He likes playing off of the half wall on that right hand side. ⁓ but with Radish no longer at that point and it may be an option to see that. ⁓ the big thing that they've been missing ever since Stamp Kost left is that big booming shot opposite of ⁓ Kutrov that kind of stretches the defense out. ⁓ a lot of times when you're playing the lightning power play you can overload Kutrov's side and it's a struggle for him to get passes through. so that's gonna be something that maybe they tweak a system a little bit. Do they have him play out higher? Do they flip him? ⁓ who plays that opposite circle? You know, they've had Hegel out there towards the end of last year. He's good at crashing the net and all, but he's not gonna one time anything coming off that pass. I'm not What about John Carlson though? What about John Carlson over there? One thing I was kind of surprised at when I was looking at this, he did not have I think he only had two power play goals last year. ⁓ now his strength comes from putting the puck on net, passing from that point position. But if you already have Kucharov doing that for you. Yeah, do you swing him over? The Lightning tried that, you know, with Darren Radish before they moved him back to the point. Is he try he tried to play that circle. He just wasn't really good at at shooting from that angle. He kept missing the net. And you know, when you got a guy like Darren Radish firing and missing the net, it's almost an instant clear from the team. Yeah. And that was also a Stamcoast problem from time to time. When Stamcoast's ⁓ radar was a little off, he was a one man clearing machine. I mean, he'd rocketed past the goaltender's ear off the glass, and then, you know, next thing you know, Vasinelisky's playing the putt. ⁓ so I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe they they s they they showcase ⁓ Carlson over there. ⁓ you know, pull someone like Hegel back to the point, or maybe even go with two defensemen, maybe put Hedman back out there. ⁓ Hedman's really good at distributing the puck from the point. ⁓ it helps when he does have a right-handed shot that he can feature along with Kutrov. So I think Hedman moves into that point position to at least start the season. How long he stays there, I don't know. It's gonna be, you know. There's a lot of question marks with Victor Headman. I think he's going to be fine, to tell you the truth. I think he's going to bounce back. You know, he could be in the running for the comeback player of the year award, in my ⁓ opinion. So there's going to be a lot of practice, I think, on the power play in preseason and throughout the first couple weeks of this of of the year. Justin, we're going to play everyone's favorite new game Fringe, Rise, and Regression. I get to play Wank Martindale and give you six players. You're gonna tell me within thirty seconds or less whether they are on the fringe of the roster. You expect their game to rise or you expect their game to fall. So this is fringe, rise, and regression. The first win is what do I well what do I win, Wick? What do you win, Bob? That's when you need Johnny Olson. That's right. Those contestants are appearing on stage win a bissil sweeper. And Rice Aroni, the San Francisco treat. All right. Well, let's go. Let's go. Okay. Zegmus Gergenson's Fringe rise or regression. I think I'm gonna put him on my fringe list. ⁓ when you look at the roster, like I mentioned, among the fours, there's just not many openings. ⁓ so if one of these young kids does kind of break through a little bit, it could be the press box for the ⁓ Latvian locomotive. ⁓ I think he had a really good year last year. ⁓ he found a really good chemistry with Yanni Gordon, Pontus Holmberg on that third line. But you know, he is aging. He's not a spring chicken anymore. ⁓ he's kind of getting into that one dimensional stage of he was just really more of a defensive player. ⁓ he's not putting the puck in the net. So I could see him being kind of on a fringe. I don't think he gets cut or anything like that, but could definitely be taking up some press box time. You had mentioned Pontus Holmberg. What about Holmberg? Fringe rise or regression? I think he's on the rise. ⁓ you know, he's a little bit younger than than Zegnibus. ⁓ he came over as a free agent last year, he signed that short term deal. I think he's playing for a contract this year. So he could be one of these guys that you give him some more time on the ice and he could really blossom. You know, Yanni c called him the backpack just 'cause of his ability to to kind of put the puck on his stick, carry a defender out of the zone. He's really good at moving the puck out of his zone and into the neutral zone. I think if he gives it a little bit more of a chance he could, you know Get up into that fifteen, sixteen goal area. So I kind of have him on the rise a little bit. Let's go. The next one is Jake Gensel. Fringe rise or regression? I'm gonna give him a slight regression. Yeah. If Braden Point is back and Braden Point is doing Braden Point things, you know, someone's goal total is gonna gonna suffer. ⁓ and I think it's gonna be Gensel. ⁓ he had a What a career season last year, if I'm not mistaken. He had another great year. The guy has been doubted for years, including when he first came in the league. He just knows how to score. He does the little thing so well. And and I don't think it's going to be something where he goes down to sixty points or something like that. But you know, if he's in that seventy five to eighty point range, ⁓ you know, still a really good season, especially if point comes back and, you know, is back to his ninety point ways. You know, yeah, it was thirty eight points, fifty assists. ⁓ so I think you kind of see a little bit, tiny bit of r regression. Gensel was really the MVP the first half of the year until Kuturoff kind of got going into you know, you know, Kutrov I think he had six points in his first eight games and everybody's like, What's wrong with the you know, Nikita Kuchrov? ⁓ but you know, yeah, you end up with a thirty. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a calm, easy 130, you know, hard trophy winning season. But ⁓ you know, Gensel was kind of the steady provider of offense in those first couple months and that's just what he does. Like he comes in day in, day out, and somehow he puts up, you know, a point here, two points there, scores here and there. you know, I think kind of getting back to the power play, one thing that a lot of people haven't mentioned is his production really dropped off last year. his first year with the Lightning, he put up seventeen power play goals. Last year he only had eight. ⁓ so it's kind of a a little bit of a drop off there. he did pick up some more assists but yeah I want to ask you about that real quick. Do you think that you saw some players have a drop off in their power play goal production because so much of the power play ran through radish? Yeah. In the playoffs, it was hey, he he one timed everything, but it seemed as if before they worked the they made a concerted effort to work the puck down low. Last year, especially the back half of the year, it seemed like everything was revolving around the one timer. Well yeah, and and that was just I was just gonna kinda mention that, you know, he his goals may have gone down, but I believe he doubled his assists ⁓ in regards to the power play. Yeah, twenty two last year. And a lot of it is the fact that Darren Ridd Radish was just beating goaltenders clean. ⁓ Gets gets a lot of his goals from deflections or rebounds in front, you know, even though he's not the biggest guy in the world, he's one of those playmakers that knows how to get open in front of the net. So he's really good on deflections. And I think it was just a case of It wasn't there because Darren Rash was blown it by everybody. ⁓ so with you know, if John Carlson does play that pick up that point position, it wouldn't be a surprise to see maybe Gensel score a few more on the power play just because Carlson can get that puck on that. He's not gonna necessarily beat the goaltender, but the puck's gonna get through the first line of defense. It's gonna be there for deflections. ⁓ so that may go against a little bit ⁓ about my regression theory for Gensel, but I think you may see a few more power play goals from him as well on that top unit. But yeah, I think overall I'm into that 75 80 point ⁓ kind of season for him, so a slight regression. Justin, name number four on the list is Emile Lilleberg. Fringe, rise, or regression? God, he is such a fan favorite. ⁓ I hate saying it, but I think a little bit of ⁓ regression. ⁓ you were talking about trades earlier with some of these bottom pairing defensemen, and and Lilleberg I think would be an attractive pickup for for another team. He plays very physical, he has a little bit more offense than he's let on. I just think maybe Destou passed him on the depth chart a little bit. ⁓ so with, you know, the roster crunch being there, he's, you know, he would have to go on waivers if the Lightning don't think he's one of their top seven defensemen and and rather than lose him on waivers, you know, they may try and trade him. But if even if he does get into the lineup, I don't think he's gonna be an eighty four game player. I think he's gonna kind of be in and out of the lineup. Down on that third pair, kind of playing defensive minutes. So I think a little bit of regression, probably not as much of an impact on the game as he's had in the past. Gage Gonzalves, fringe rise or regression? I'm I'm I'm all aboard the gauge training this year. like I said, I think he's gonna get ⁓ a little more playing time. ⁓ you know, he had a decent season last year. there's there is a lot of criticism of his game because he does tend to disappear from time to time. ⁓ and his production hasn't been quite as good when he's not on like the Nikita Kutra offline. But you know, he had thirty-three points, seventy-four games. Not bad for somebody who's basically playing in his first ⁓ full NHL season. And I think that was kind of There was a lot to like about his game. There was a lot to like about it. Now again, I think you made a good point. It's his first full NHL season. You're gonna go through those ebbs and flows throughout that first season. I could see him being a fifty point scorer. I really could. If he's playing if he's playing with the right guys. Yeah. And not to not to kind of step on the toes of the Chris Kreider conversation later, but I would rather give Gonsabies a chance at getting fifty points on my second or third line ⁓ than I would going out signing a soon-to-be thirty five year old Chris Kreider, ⁓ to try and get that same fifty points. ⁓ but we know we know Julian Breeswall loves his veterans, so ⁓ I I definitely see Gonçaves if he gets the playing time, if he can get out of his own head, because I think a lot of when he struggles, it's a confidence thing. I think he kind of gets in his own head if he struggles from time to time and he plays a lot more passive than he needs to. ⁓ he's a he's kind of got a bit of a ordery side to him. ⁓ when he goes down low, he goes into the ⁓ the boards with a little bit of ⁓ not trepidation, but the o ⁓ God, what was the truculence? That's the word I was looking for. You know The old Brian Burke word, a little bit of truculence. and he can play in front of the net. And he is a really gifted playmaker, too. ⁓ he's not quite on the Kutrov level, but he's pulled off some some some stick work, some passing. That's that's pretty impressive. So I'm putting him on the rise. Final name. The Vesna trophy winner himself, Andre Vasileschi. Fringe, rise, or regression. ⁓ man. Probably gonna get flamed for this one, but I'm putting him on my regression list as well. ⁓ Kind of a similar argument as far as Jake Gensel. ⁓ he just had a really good year last year. ⁓ how much longer can he keep doing it? You know, it's he he is aging. He's now on the that ⁓ kind of wrong side of 30. And I don't think the Lightning are going to play him as much as they have in the past. ⁓ the last two seasons, he's basically had an in season vacation, ⁓ with Russia not being able to participate in either the Four Nations Cup. Or the Olympics, you he's kinda had that two week break in February to rest and relax and and gear up. He's not gonna have that this year. ⁓ you know, he gets the all star break, you know, whatever that's gonna end up looking like. ⁓ and then whatever the winter break is as well, you know, where they get three or four days off. But other than that, it's gonna be a full season for him. It's gonna be eighty four games. I think they probably try and keep him You know, if they can keep him around fifty-five starts as opposed to sixty, ⁓ you know, fifty-five to fifty-eight starts, ⁓ his numbers are just gonna be a little bit lower. ⁓ so he had a really good season last year, and if he steps back just a little bit, ⁓ he can still have a great season, still be a Vesna finalist and and s regress a little bit, but I'm kinda keeping my eye on him just to see what they do in terms of usage. The one thing they won't have is the compressed schedule that they had after the Olympics when they came back, ⁓ that schedule was hellacious. Some teams are playing seventeen games in a month. They won't have that, but you do have an eighty four game slate this year. Getting Dennis Hildeby and hopefully he can play thirty games. That would be a big relief if he can go in there and not just play thirty games, but play thirty games and give you a chance to win, 'cause I think that was the whole thing with Johansson last year. The back half of the season you didn't feel like he was gonna give you much of a chance to win unless you played Columbus. Yeah. Well, even then, you know, you would struggle against them. You just knew you had to score three or four goals if you're gonna have a chance to win. ⁓ you know, I I I did a brief kind of look through the schedule just to kind of try to map out some hill to be games, you know, and you're right, ⁓ you know, I think they have eleven or twelve back to back, so you he's gonna start at least one of But a lot of those don't come until ⁓ later in the season. So, you know, getting off, I think you're gonna see Vasileski play most of October. ⁓ then we'll see how it goes once the schedule does pick up. They still have a pretty it's it's not quite as crazy as it's been the last two years, but I think their March is still fairly busy. ⁓ so you'll probably see some Hill to be games that ⁓ month. But it's gonna be really interesting to see how they use them. Vasileski wants to play every game. I mean, if Cooper said go play all eighty four, he would try to find a way to do it. but yeah, I think as you you know, he's gonna be in his age thirty two season, so it's kinda time to s use him a little bit smarter. And ⁓ see how we can go. And then it's part of the reason you picked up a Dennis Lderby is like you said, you know, you can have a little more confidence in the young netminder. And those back to backs don't become such a such a big deal when you could throw either one of them out, either on the first half or the back half. So it'll be fun. Fun to watch. But yes. Justin final topic is Chris Kreider. He was just released by the Anaheim Ducks. He this was supposed to be the seventh year of a seven year deal for him. He was making about six point five million, I believe, thirty-five years old. He's a left winger. He's coming off a fifty point season. He's still a good hockey player. The Lightning, according to Puck Pedia, have a little bit over three million in cap space. Is it even worthwhile to kick the tires unless if he's it worthwhile to kick the tires on him if he's willing to play for anything more than the veteran minimum? So with that six point five million dollar contract, two and a half million was a signing bonus, which Anaheim's already paid him out. So even if he's just kind of looking to stay about what he was going to make this year, you could sign him for a four million dollar contract. You what you could also do is sign him for say a three million dollar contract and throw a bunch of bonuses on it because he it would be a thirty five and over contract. And it's one of the few contracts that the NHL allows you to put bonuses on. And then they wouldn't if he does achieve ⁓ it wouldn't count until next year's cap hit. So, you know, there are ways the Lightning can make this work. it seems like he's expressed an interest. He wants to come back east. ⁓ he wants to be closer to family. I think he wants to go to a winner. ⁓ the Lightning are still, you know, Even our most negative fans can admit that they're they're they're still a cup contender. So he would be a good fit. It would be interesting ⁓ to see him on that second line. It would be even better if he was a right handed shot. Unfortunately he he would be another left handed shot, but you're also talking about you're talking about a guy who's scored twenty goals a year, one two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight years in a row. ⁓ you know, he's a fifty point guy probably, so It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world depending on what they sign him for. You know, am I gonna go out and throw eight million dollars at him and then, you know, trade three people to make it work? No. But if he's willing to come in on a one or two year deal, like I said, kind of you know, like a John Carlson deal with the lower cap it though. ⁓ to say like two years and, you know, three and a half million dollars, you can f you can find a way to make it work. ⁓ or even better, one year and like two million dollars. If he if he's willing to come down to Tampa for that, you know, I would give him a shot. I got no problems with him. He's not he's not the fascist kind of league, but he's a he know he's a top of the end skater, so I'm I'm gonna have you play general manager here. The only problem is if you do sign him, and let's just say you have a deal that's two and a half million against the cap, we'll just throw a hypothetical number out there. You only have a million dollars left. Are you doing the same thing you did last year and you're f causing yourself to be hamstrung at the deadline where you can't make a move if a player Is just not producing. It's one thing if they're hurt and you get the injury part of the cap relief. But if you just get guys that aren't producing, like in Oliver Bjorkstrand last year, then you're forced to ship out salary to bring in salary. Are you better off just keeping that three and a half million and saying, you know what? I like the roster that we have. This gives us some flexibility. Come deadline time. Let's just roll with it and see how we do. Yeah. ⁓ personally That's the way I would go. You know, like I mentioned earlier, I would rather see Gage Gonsalves get a shot at at putting up those fifty points that than Kreider. I would too. and it's just, you know, kind of a thought experiment. You know, since his name's out there, it's gonna you know, the lightning are always gonna be one of these teams where people are gonna try and, you know, put a player free agent on their roster somehow. I do think Brice Bois is gonna be a little bit more aware of Cap, you know, the cap hits this year. He doesn't have a lot of flexibility as far as players he can move up and down in the lineup. ⁓ without exposing him to waivers. And I don't think there's a lot of players that he wants to lose off of this roster. So trading somebody out to bring in a Chris Kreider or a Patrick Alane, I I don't see that happening at this stage. If this had been earlier in the in the the preseason before they signed, ⁓ you know, everybody's favorite ⁓ long term deal, Jeffrey Vale, maybe. ⁓ you know Would I would take yeah. If if we're gonna sign, you know, Anaheim Ducks, would I have taken Krider over VL? Yeah, definitely, probably. But ⁓ you never know how these co these chemistry things work. We don't know what the conversations are going on, we don't know what Kreider's looking for. So we'll we'll see how it goes. ⁓ would I be horribly upset if they they signed him to a team friendly deal? No, but if he goes and, you know I think I mentioned to somebody Pittsburgh seems like the ideal location for him. You know Islanders. Islanders is a good one. ⁓ I think I think I mean he played in New York. Yeah. The Islanders I think are a team that's on the rise and I think they could use a guy who knows how to score dirty goals, a little veteran leadership for a young team. I think New York is a perfect destination for him. He's just gonna have to move on the island instead of Manhattan. Exactly. He could commute, you never know. So have you ever done that? I used to live in New York. That's the last thing you want to do. He's rich. He can fly in a helicopter. They can just helicopter him in, literally. someone better sign him to a pretty big deal. Yeah. So yeah, I I I think there's a couple teams he's a fit for. ⁓ you know, Buffalo would be another interesting one. ⁓ I know. Buffalo would be a city. ⁓ but you know, we talked last week about you know, they didn't really sign anybody to to replace, you know, Alex Took ⁓ going out. So is he a guy that can fit into that atmosphere and give him twenty goals? ⁓ they they would definitely take it. So I think he's gonna have his pick of teams. ⁓ Montreal was one another one that I saw. ⁓ some rumors flying about. So we'll see how it it ends. I don't think he's a free agent for very long. ⁓ that means I don't either. So yeah. Hi he'll he'll be in someone's camp before it starts. But Justin, there's a lot going on. What do you got going on over at Raw Charge? ⁓ so we're we're down into the top ten for the ⁓ you know, top twenty under twenty five. ⁓ well we just posted out A couple today, so we'll we'll keep that rolling. These are the we're starting to get to the really intriguing prospects now. The the guys who aren't gonna be, hey, maybe he'll play the third or fourth lines. We're gonna start getting to some guys that that have some some top six abilities. So these are always a fun one. We're gonna find out ⁓ within a week or so if Connor Geeky stays on top of the prospect rankings. starting to put together some of our ⁓ Atlantic division ⁓ previews, which we'll run a little bit later in the month. So yeah, just All that preseason stuff that we're kind of working on as ⁓ as things get nearer, you know. We're what a week away from the prospect camp and then we're seven days away from the start of training camp usually. That's probably gonna be on the sixteenth, I would think. And three weeks away from the start of the season. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. So it'll be fun. Okay. A couple real quick rapid fire questions. Is he on the lightning opening day roster, Connor Geeky? Yes or no? No. Tonight's game for those of you who are watching, it is Wednesday. The New England Patriots travel to Seattle. Seattle three and a half point favorites. I have bet a little bit of money on New England on the money line. I've also taken the hook plus three and a half. I think not having Kenneth Walker is going to be big for Seattle. He was a huge part of that Super Bowl win. I'm going with New England tonight. Justin, who do you like? I like Seattle to cover. ⁓ I think they're gonna be the first ⁓ defending Super Bowl champion that's gonna play with a chip on ⁓ on their shoulder that nobody respects them. ⁓ I think some of their win totals out there are are kind of low. ⁓ Yes, they are. So, you know, I think they're one of the best teams in the NFC still. So I think they're gonna come out and make a little bit of a statement. ⁓ I think New England is gonna be fine, but it may take their new offense a little bit of time to get ready. The The AJ Brown ⁓ signing. Probably gonna pay off for him, but you know, there could be a little a little trouble early on. So I'm going ⁓ I'm actually ⁓ going with Seattle to cover the three and a half. ⁓ I think they win by six or seven, yeah. We might have to have a friendly wager on this one. ⁓ Actually actually what, Jay? Jay. Speaking of the NFL, speaking of the NFL, if I can just have twenty seconds here real quick. Yep. Go ahead. To address somebody to address somebody personally. Baker Mayfield, how you doing, man? We know you're a Lightning fan. We've seen you at the games. Don't know if you're listening or watching, but if you are, you've recently come into a little bit of money. How would you like to sponsor a podcast? How would you like to sponsor Back Checking the Bolts presented by Baker Mayfield? We got a little extra coin. If that's something that is, you know, that you're looking forward to, reach out to Jason. He'll give you all the information. And we'll say nice things about you. We'll even put you on our fantasy teams. That's all I got. Well, everybody, that is today's show. Justin and I are gonna tell you who won our friendly wager on our next podcast. Please hit that like and subscribe button. You can read Justin each and every day at Raw Charge at www.racharge.com. I'm Jason Lincas. Thanks for joining us. Please again hit that like and subscribe and go bolts. Go bolts. Thank you for listening to Back Checking the Bolts. We are free and available on all platforms, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon, YouTube, and Deezer. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can follow Justin on Blue Sky at Rawcharge.com. You can follow the show on X at Tampa underscore bolts underscore pod and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at BackcheckingTheBolts. If you're interested in advertising on the show or partnering with us, You can find more information in the show notes or email Jason at backcheckingthebolts at yahoo.com.