Latest / Backchecking the Bolts / Tampa Bay Lightning Offseason Update | Coyle Signing, Prospects + Habs-Sabres Game 7

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Tampa Bay Lightning Offseason Update | Coyle Signing, Prospects + Habs-Sabres Game 7 · Backchecking the Bolts

• Jason Linkes: 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 host Jason Linkus 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. We are back with another episode of back checking the bolts. Hi, I'm Jason. And as always, I am joined by the managing editor raw charge. is Justin Godfrey. can read him each and every day at www.rawcharge.com. Today we are going to talk a little bit about the Charlie coil signing in Columbus. What does that mean for the free agency pool? We're going to take a look at the lightning prospects is Connor geeky still the top prospect in the lightning organization. We're also going to just take a look at free agency. What is going to happen in this free agency market? There's not a whole lot of names out there. We're going to break down that a little bit. And finally, we're going to see how that affects the lightning defense. There's a lot of questions out there, especially with Aaron Radish being a unrestricted free agent. We're going to see how free agency will impact the lightning blue line. Finally, Justin and I are going to give quick predictions for game seven of the Montreal and Buffalo series. Now it's time to bring in Justin Godfrey. Justin, what do you think right now of that Charlie Coyle signing? He's a 34 year old guy, $6 million a year for six years. That's a steeper price tag, I think, than a lot of teams were hoping that he would sign for. Welcome to the new salary cap, right? Yeah. It's, it's nice to see another team set the market and not the lightning for a change. it seems like a lot of money, but I think. I think that's kind of what you're going to be looking at for, you know, middle six forwards going forward. Um, over the next couple of years as you know, the NHL bumps up their cap pretty significantly, um, between this summer and next summer. So I think some of these, see some of these deals are going to have a bit of a sticker shock to them. But in the end, like the 6 million for Charlie coil, I think it's a decent deal, at least for a 35 year old Charlie coil. Now when he's 40, what's the capital look like at that point? How much of a hit is it going to be? That's something that you don't really care about if you're the GM for the, for the blue jackets right now, because basically you're signing to win now and you don't care about year five or six. Cause if it doesn't work out, you're not going to be there anyways. So it is going to drive up the market. think it's not a very strong free agent market this year. Most of the big names that we're going to be in it signed with, resigned with their own teams. So a lot of these middle six kind of players, bottom role players are going to get some nice boosts in their salary. think. Now, if coil gets, you know, six million, what's Michael McCarran going to get on the free agent market? You know, is Minnesota going to even let him get the free agency? they going to side, re-sign him to a decent size deal? So players like that, you know, which kind of what the light near looking for, you know, they're looking for that bottom six or fourth line center guy who can play some role minutes, wins some face-offs, you know, so they're looking at that getting bumped up as far as what they got to pay to fill that hole if they don't want to do it internally. Columbus resigned coil to that big deal. had 58 points in 82 games 20 goals Do you think this deal is a little bit of Columbus saying hey? We can't let an offensive presence leave Columbus They've had that issue with others in the past our Temi Panarin being the big one that they just could not resign Panarin wanted out ever since then they've always struggled for that top-line score Not that coil is that kind of player? But they've seen a lot of people leave Columbus. Do you think this was their chance of saying, Hey, we want to have a guy stay? I think so. Um, it's not an easy market to bring free agents into it. think, um, so, know, if you lose coil, now you got to replace that offense somehow. Are you going to be able to do it on the free agent market? Are you going to be able to entice people to come in and maybe their thought is no, we can't. So we might as well take what we, what we have already overpay a little bit for it, you know, in the eyes of some people. And again, like I said, Like I said, I don't think that the salary's that big a deal. Uh, they have plenty of cash space. They're such a young team. Um, it's not something that's going to worry them right now. And he does bring that kind of better leadership to a young team. I think he fit in really well there. You know, he performed there. Can he do it again? Or is this one of those, Hey, I had a really good season in a contract year and now I got paid and maybe the focus isn't quite there like it used to be. Again, these are kind of questions you can't answer until it actually happens. I do think it's a valid point that you make as far as, know, letting people walk in their history and they don't want to repeat that. yeah, I can see that was probably a factor as to why you do it this early and for that length of time. Justin, let's talk a little bit about some of the lightning prospects out there. Sam O'Reilly has been making a lot of noise out there and some people are saying that he is the lightning's top prospect, not currently with the big club. But before we talk about O'Reilly, I want to talk about Connor Geeky. Connor Geeky always had that title with him the last couple of years. Has the opinion on Geeky soured a little bit? Now I'm going to say, I'm going to preface this by saying this. Geeky, think was viewed as a possible second line player at some point. Is it now that he's just going to be a third and fourth line player or is it still way too early to tell for a 22 year old? Honestly, I think it's a little too early to tell. ⁓ I think what we have a case here is it's almost like the backup quarterback situation. Who's the best quarterback on a losing team is the quarterback on the bench. He's not playing right. And we've seen a couple small sample sizes of Connor Gigi at the NHL level. He hasn't produced like some fans want, like he probably wants, whereas, you know, Sam O'Reilly hasn't played in the NHL yet. We don't know what he's like. He's a blank slate. So we can project, you know, a lot more success on him than, than what we see with Gigi. But like you mentioned, Giki's 22 years old. You know, if he makes the roster next year, he's still going to be the youngest, if one of the youngest, if not the youngest player on the Lightning roster next year. This kid's got potential. We've seen it in the Western Hockey League. know, his last, you know, everyone was like, hey, Samuel Raleigh, OHL player of the year. He had 71 points or something like that. Connor Giki in his last year with WHL put up 99 points. This guy scores. He scored at the AHL level. So I don't think you can turn the page on Connor Deke is a prospect just yet. Is he going to be a hall of Famer? Is he going to be a top line, you 40 goal guy? Probably not, but he has a really good blend of stuff that you need to succeed in the NHL. He's got size. He has the ability to score. Um, his passing is a little underrated. I think, I think he's a better passer than people give him credit for. Uh, his big thing right now is just his skating, which has gotten a lot better from year to year. ⁓ I think he's at that AHL level of skating right now. And that's why he's able to dominate down in Syracuse, but I he's still about a step behind, maybe a half step behind in the NHL, but at 22, that's still something you can prove on. And if he can get just the NHL average level, think he's going to be fantastic. He likes to play physical, which you, which you need in today's NHL, right? You know, that's how forwards play. He's in there throwing hits. ⁓ he could score goals when he's got the confidence. I think he defers a little bit too much now as a younger player. So kind of play with a little bit more, I don't want to say greediness, selfishness, selfishness. Yeah. A little bit more, you know, confidence in your game. It's kind of the same thing with gauge cones, always right. What his confidence is going. He's a different player than when he's kind of stuck in his own head. So I don't think it's time to give up on geeky yet. I, I think he's gonna be a really good player at the NHL. And if you trade him now, I think you're kind of trading him for pennies on the dollar. I just wonder if the perception a little bit has changed within the lightning about him. The other question I have about geeky is how hard is it for him to get consistent play in this lineup, not being a primary penalty killer. This lineup has a ton of talent. It's entrenched at the top two lines for a player like him. He almost needs to be on that second line for him to really show the skills that he has. He needs power play time. He's not going to get top line power play time, but he needs that second unit power play time. I just wonder how hard is it for him to be a regular in this lineup unless he can kill penalties and do it well. I think that was kind of the basis of the philosophy of how they handled him this year. You know, he made the team out of training camp struggled early. They set him down to Syracuse and then he wasn't even a thought for a call up, despite all the injuries until late in the season. And I think they wanted him to play in Syracuse in that top line role where he was put where he was killing penalties, where he was on the power play top unit, where he was getting first line minutes. And I, I'm pretty sure, you know, we have no insider knowledge here, but I'm pretty sure the conversation went something along the lines of look, we're going to leave you in Syracuse for the majority of the season. Don't worry about impressing us. Don't worry about getting called up. Just go out and play your game. Play as much as you can, get as much experience as you can. And I think it worked out for him. Like you said, when it, it's going to be different when he gets up to the NHL level. I think. for them, maybe next year, just tell them, Hey, you're to be our third line center or wing, right? I wouldn't be surprised if he starts off on the wing next year, take some of that face off responsibility, but say, Hey, you're going to play 10 minutes a game, 12 minutes a game. You're going to be on our second power play unit. ⁓ and just say, just go make mistakes, you know, go do what you got to do. Learn at the NHL level. ⁓ you know, something that the lightning really haven't had been able to afford over the last few years. But I think at some point, if you're going to develop your, your prospects, your higher end prospects, you got to let them fail at the NHL level. ⁓ that's the only way they're going to learn. So the way they're going to get better, honestly, you can't go out there and expect to succeed. The minute you step on the ice. So, ⁓ you know, that's the benefit that Kuturov had. That's the benefit that Alex Corleone had when they came up, you know, the lightning didn't have the pressure of being a Stanley cup contender, tender. So they could go out and, and fail and make mistakes and turn the puck over and learn from it. And then develop into the players that they are now. So I think the lady have to give him a little bit of that leash right there. You'll give him a little bit more room to go out there and make a mistake and then learn from it. So I wouldn't be surprised to see him do that next year. ⁓ at the NHL level, Justin, prospect that has been making a lot of noise has been Sam O'Reilly. Tell everyone a little bit about Sam O'Reilly. And there's some talk out there right now that he could actually be on the lightning opening day roster. That might be a little bit premature, but let us know what your thoughts are. I mean, he's, he's your typical Tampa Bay lightning prospect for those who were not paying attention. He's, he was traded for Isaac Howard last year when the light, they were having some issues signing Howard and it looked like he wasn't going to come in and play. They went out and made the trade with Edmonton brought Sam O'Reilly in O'Reilly. started the season with the London Knights, team that had gone to two straight Memorial Cups, had won one of them and won the OHL, I believe, two times in a row. ⁓ He starts the season with them. He's in a big blockbuster deal about underway through the season. It's traded to Kitchener. Guess who wins the OHL this year? The Kitchener Rangers. Guess who's leading the charge for the Kitchener Rangers? Sam O'Reilly. I mean, this guy is one of those built to win kind of guys, but he does everything really well. He's not super spectacular in his game. You know, he's not going to fly up and down the ice. He doesn't have a hundred mile an hour slap shot or anything like that, but he does everything right. ⁓ he's defensively aware. He plays really well in his own zone. He finds his teammates. He's a good distributor of the puck. ⁓ he has that knack for scoring big goals. So I think he is going to be an impact player at the NHL level. ⁓ but I do feel it's kind of a little bit of recency bias with a lot of lightning dance right now. ⁓ you know, thinking this guy's going to make it out of camp. Bruce Wall was asked about him in the exit interviews, you know, the postseason wrap up. And, uh, you know, he said he loves what he sees from him. But the, the big question is, he adjust to the speed and physicality of the NHL level? And I wonder if what's happened with Geeky, know, making the team right after they picked him up with, you know, he had two games of AHL playoff experience with Tucson before they got him into trade. And he makes the roster last year, struggles, you know, has some good moments, has some bad moments. And I wonder if that. kind of up and down progress for Kiki changes the way they would handle Riley. Maybe they say, look, you're not going to make the team this year. You're going to play in Syracuse all year long. Cause he is eligible to play in the AHL now he's 20 years old. Just do your thing in the AHL and then we'll look at, you know, a mid season call up. If, if you know, you wow us, you know, that's kind of what Kuturov did when he came, you know, came into the league. You know, they just couldn't keep Kuturov in the AHL. was just blowing everybody away. So if Riley has that kind of start in Syracuse. Yeah, maybe he makes a team next year. I don't think he makes it out of camp, um, no matter how well he plays. think some of that has to do with the way, you know, geekies kind of struggled to adapt to the NHL. The third prospect I want to talk about is Benjamin Rattiainen over in Finland, 2025 fourth round pick. He actually went through the draft twice without being drafted. final, the lightning finally drafted him last year in the fourth round. won the golden helmet. as the Finnish league MVP. But the one thing about him was he's disappeared in the playoffs this year. Tell us a little bit about Rati Ainen and where does he project and within the lightning organization. one of these kind of lottery ticket picks that they had their fourth round pick, 77 points in 59 games. I think he was what the first player to get 77 points in a long, long time in the Finland finished. Still a young guy, you know, he is 20 years old as well. He is signed for another year in, um, tapara, uh, which just won the championship. He had eight points or seven points in 18 games. Uh, like I said, he wasn't quite as big of an impact. You know, some of that is, you know, he is 20 years old and, you're playing against better competition and stuff like that. Um, but Hey, you know, he's tasted victory now. Uh, the question is, do you let him sit over there for another year? Do you buy out his contract, uh, in the Liga? And then bring him over next year. Lightning has always kind of been kind of, you know, passive with their prospect. wouldn't say, I don't know if passive is the right word, but cautious with their prospects. ⁓ I do think they want to see if he can do it again. I mean, they had another kid who played really well in the Finnish league and Nico Hutton a few years ago, he was putting up points as a 20 year old, 19 year old against these guys comes over and he struggles to find his place in Syracuse and now he's back in Europe. So again, you know, sometimes these past performances dictate what the lightning do in the future with their prospects I wouldn't be surprised to see them leave him in Finland for another year See if he could duplicate the success see if he could learn and even maybe get better and then bring him over Liga it I don't think it's quite what it used to be as far as talent wise I think if you look at the European leagues, it's probably third or fourth between behind If you if you were gonna take the League of League and compare it to a North American league. What's probably the best comparison? Is it the ECHL? I would say somewhere between ECHL and AHL. ⁓ You know, I think people really underrate how good the players are in the AHL. I think that's a really good league. think that's on par with like the SHL, you know, the Swedish league. Probably both of those are a little bit behind the KHL in Russia. But yeah, it seems like the league hasn't quite had the dominance it's had recently. That being said, I mean, again, It's a 1920 year old kid putting up points against grown men. So that's impressive in any league that you play in. don't care if it's the ECHL, the SPJHL, the California penal league. don't care. Whatever. You're you you're scoring goals, right? How'd you get there? Stole a car. But I do think lightning generally tend to be cautious with their prospects. And this ties back to O'Reilly too. You know, they're not going to put him in a situation where he's in over his head too much. I think he stays over there one more year. And again, know, Tapper is probably not going to want to lose this kid. Right. So it's going to take a, you know, an interesting deal at the light. want to break that contract. So, and who knows, maybe they're going to be like, Hey, we want to resign this kid and we're going to throw back up the truck to them. So we'll see how it goes. I don't, I don't think he's an immediate help to the team. Cause even when he comes over, I do think he gets a year in the HL as well. And know, can they're going to be slow to develop him, but. You know, he's a playmaker. He's got, he's not a huge guy. He's not a small guy. He's kind of in the middle, but it'll be interesting. He's one of those intriguing prospects. You don't see a lot of them, ⁓ just cause he does play in the league. So the highlights aren't quite as, as a prevalent. So, but, ⁓ yeah, he could be really enticing, you know, kind of like the, ⁓ finished version of Jason Chagabay up in, Minnesota Duluth, ⁓ for the Lightning in the College prospects. So we'll see how it all develops over the next couple of years. Well, let's talk about the lightning free agency is upon us. It'll be on July 1st when other teams can start signing free agents. big player in the lightning is Darren Radish. We all know that the big defenseman had a career year, really had a career 50 games. Once headman had his injury concerns, Radish really stepped up, had a season that he has not had before. Justin, we talked about the Contract demands that radish could see we just talked about Charlie coil signing for six years and six million dollars Considering what radish is a right-handed shot defenseman with a big shot those Players don't exist in the NHL. He's a little bit of a unicorn. There aren't many really good right-handed offensive defensemen Do you think this could push his asking price up to maybe that eight, eight and a half million dollar range? wouldn't be surprised. ⁓ you know, I think we've been pretty consistent thinking somewhere in the six and a half to $7 million range is where he falls. again, ⁓ like you said, you just never know what's going to happen, right? Nobody probably foresaw Charlie coil getting six, six by six. So, ⁓ a team needing that right shot. And he's blossomed into a pretty good defender as well. You know, he gets a lot of press, a lot of ink for the big shot. But like I said, he's probably the best Lightning defender when it comes to playing two on ones. ⁓ which unfortunately gave up quite a few too many. So we got to see that quite a bit this year, especially on the power play. I've ever seen anybody break up board, you know, short ended two on ones than Darren Radish did this year. He's a solid defenseman. He's not overly physical in his own zone, but he makes a lot of smart plays. He's decent at getting the puck out and up the ice. I could definitely see. A GM looking to make a splash, know, let's say somebody like Ottawa, it's probably some help on their blue line with the way they've been getting hurt over the last couple of years. You know, do they make a big splash for him? Do they, um, know, sign him for a million dollars? Do the Rangers look to, to kind of bring him back into the fold? You know, they, they're rebuilding a little bit. So there's a lot of options out there for him. And, you know, I've been, one thing I've been insisting on is I don't blame this guy if he goes to I won, like I will not hold it against him. This is his shot at. literally life-changing money, know, generational money. And to leave anything on the table would be kind of a mistake in my, in my end or in my opinion. Justin, how much cap space to the lightning right now project to have to go into free agency was about 12 million. Yeah, that's just took a look at, um, Puckpedia before this, and it was somewhere around 13 million. You know, that's always kind of. Not a hundred percent known, you know, there are some bonuses that have to be paid out, but they were projecting them about 13 million. So you figure if he signs for seven and he's up half the cap that they have available to them. They're not in a bad space this year, you know, financially, as far as capitalized, you know, it's, when you start looking into next year, projecting out what you have to sign at Couture all four to keep them around. Some of their RFAs that are going to be due next year, not necessarily this year, this year, I think there's only a handful. There's a couple of small art of phase that they have to sign. down in Syracuse, so it's not going to bankrupt them to sign max gross ship to a $1.2 million a year contract or something like that, or give Ethan Sampson $900,000 or something like that. So I think cap wise, they're going to be all right. Outside of the radish, which I think kind of determines everything going forward, they're going to want to bring in probably a veteran fourth line forward. But again, you're not looking at more than 3 million or so. You do have to kind of leave that space open for the Kuturov extension. Cause if they announce it, they do still have to kind of be within the cap confines that are established right now. So they can't sign him for something that's going to put them six, $7 billion over the cap. I also think they want to leave themselves a little bit of flexibility going into the season. Someone under performs, you have injuries. Now you can get some cap relief due to injuries. But if you want to make that move at the deadline to try to put you over the top, it doesn't hurt to have a few, a few million dollars in cap space available to you to go and get that bigger player. And I think that might've been one of the issues this year. When you looked at the trade deadline, they had to trade out salary in order to bring it in. Yeah. And that was the, you first of all, I had mentioned that, both at the mid season press conference. don't, I can't remember if you mentioned at the end of the year or not. especially with the way they were set up that Olympic break that kind of cut into the time they needed to evaluate ⁓ a free possible free agent and just the way they were in and out of the, the maximum cap with their injuries. did kind of hurt their, their flexibility. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves two, $3 million on the, on the table as far as caps face going into the season. If the lightning lose radish. John Carlson is a big right-handed shot defenseman. Now John Carlson is not young. He's 36 years old. Could he be a possible short-term replacement? on what he's looking for, how long he's looking to play one or two years. Um, you know, one of the things I was kind of looking at is, know, what's the defensive situation if the lightning do sign, you know, Darren radish, you sign radish, you, know, if headman's healthy in place, now you're looking at nine defensemen. that have NHL experience on your roster under contract for next year. ⁓ kind of getting kind of crowded and do you risk losing a player like Emil Lilleberg or Charles Edward to Stu on waivers? Or do you start kind of, you know, exploring some possibilities about trading those guys out? You know, again, you know, you have a team looking for defense out there. Emil Lilleberg, you know, solid younger player, plays physical, doesn't put up a lot of points, has a little bit of talent. ⁓ you know, Could you net a third round pick for him? Could you net a fourth round pick heading in? know, you, one thing about Bruce why is he's willing to take that risk, right? You saw it with Stancoast. You let Stancoast walk for nothing. Um, we've seen it, uh, on the waiver wire this year, you know, he wasn't able to pull off a deal for Jack Finley, you know, and Finley goes to St. Louis and is part of their, you know, probably part of their future now. So at some point you got to start getting some returned on these players. Uh, we can't just let them keep going for nothing. Even if it is a mid round pick, you never know what those third, fourth round picks are going to turn into. Sometimes on some of these deals where it doesn't seem like much, you know, at the time, ⁓ Emil Lilleberg went to Ottawa for third round pick, you know, at the draft. Well, who knows what that third round pick turns into or what he can use it for at the deadline. You know, is that the deal breaker you need to make to swing a bigger deal? If you bring those guys back, know, Declan Carlisle is a group six ⁓ free agent this year. So he's probably going to test free agency. think if he's looking at it, there's probably not much of a path to him. getting consistent playing time in Tampa and may want to try elsewhere. ⁓ kind of like, ⁓ you know, a couple forwards did with the lightning over the years. So yeah, that's, ⁓ it's gonna be an interesting fallout if they do sign radish, you know, but if they don't, now you got some openings, you know, within your own club that maybe you could promote from within. Maybe Crozier gets a full-time spot on the right side, you know, now you can keep this too. And I have a seventh defenseman. Cause you're always going to need extra defensemen. We learned that in bunches this year that ⁓ six defensemen aren't going to get you through an NHL season. So it's always good to have seven or eight, but at some point, like I said, you can't risk losing these guys for nothing on waivers. Let's take a look at the Justin Godfrey crystal ball, Victor Hedman, comeback player of the year, or does he look more like a 35 year old defenseman who's seen his better days? What are we going to be saying at this time next year? know, mattress nominee. wouldn't be surprised. Yeah. This past season, you know, he struggled on and off the ice as he let us know at the, ⁓ at the accident review. the year before that, you know, he had a really good season. He was a, you know, he was a Norris trophy finalist. So I don't think there's any reason to expect he's completely lost his game. ⁓ outside of the mental health issues that he was dealing with. You know, physically he wasn't probably ever a hundred percent last year. Um, you know, he had talked in his exit interview, he had talked about the fact that he had broken his foot in the playoffs last year. That set back his off season, you know, rehab, you know, you got to do rehab before you can start working out for the next season. Kind of put him off. He said he was dealing with a hip problem in preseason. Then he got the elbow injury early in the season. And I just don't think he ever, you know, got fully into his game. And then I think we saw that on it on the ice as well. So. I think with a full summer off, he's doing well, seems, you know, mentally seems to be in a really good place now and he seems excited to come back next year. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see some, you know, a vintage 2023, 24 kind of headman play out there and couple that with probably managing his minutes a bit. don't think he has to come back and be the number one defenseman on the left side. Right. Most, there's more than shown that he can do that. The lightning are pretty stacked on the left side of the defense. So you can run Moser out there as your number one, McDonough. I don't think that guy ages, you know, he's going to do what he does. He's going to block shots, be responsible on his own. You can probably play him until he's 45 years old and he's going to do that. Right. So he's going to be your, your solid second pairing guy. And then you got Headman, you know, you can ease the minutes of McDonough and Moser a little bit if Headman is playing well. So you can kind of split those three guys up evenly, especially at five on five. So. I think the light near in a good spot left on the left side of the defense, you know, and then what they do with radish kind of determines how it's going to go from there on the other side. let's talk about the game seven. That's going to be coming up tomorrow night. It is Montreal at Buffalo. Now, both of these teams have been road warriors in the playoffs, Montreal two and four at home, five and two on the road. Buffalo very similar numbers are two and four at home. are five and one on the road. In this series, there's only been two home wins. Justin. I like Montreal. I still think they are the better team. I think that Jakub Dobish looks like he's fighting the puck a little bit, but Buffalo's goaltending situation is a complete mess. think the one thing that helped them out in game six is they didn't allow any shots after the first period. Montreal offensively was terrible. think they come back. I think Montreal takes game seven and heads to Carolina. do you think? Yeah. ⁓ I'm kind of on the same page as you are. ⁓ you know, experience is a good thing, right? And you know, Montreal has been here before they lost game six and round one on home ice with a chance to clench a series came back and played a really good game seven, ⁓ against the lightning. So we are, you know, witnesses to what they can do in game seven. ⁓ I think this team has the utmost confidence. think their coach has confidence in Dobish. I don't think, you know, St. Louis is worried at all. And that's the message he can kind of preach to them. It's like, Hey guys, we've been through this before. We know what it's going to be like. ⁓ let's go out there. know, Buffalo hasn't felt this pressure in what 20 years, you know, what was the last time they were in a game seven playoff? Yeah. Tate Thompson was probably like two years old. Game seven. Now I think they were in one when they lost in 2011 and I might be wrong in that. I remember a game seven against Philadelphia, but It's been a long time. It's been a long time since they've won a game seven. I, I, I go back all the way. think it was the playoffs in 97 when Ted Nolan was the coach when they beat Ottawa in game seven and overtime. But other than that, it's, then of course the penguins, Darius Caspar, right is beating Dominic Hachek and 2001 in game seven in the second round. But other than that, it is, there's not been a lot of game sevens. that have gone well for Buffalo. I guess the other one I'm thinking is 2006 conference finals. They lost at Carolina in game seven and that's when half of their defensive core was injured. So, I mean, there you go. And meanwhile, know, more all Marty has to do is say look to two weeks ago. You know, we did this already. ⁓ that being said, you know, this, this year's playoffs is putting kind of all over the map. ⁓ that series has been all over the map. mean, if you look at it, was at 45 goals scored between the two teams. So he just don't know what's going to happen. ⁓ yeah, it's going to be, I mean, it's going to be a hell of an atmosphere in a Buffalo. You know, those guys are going to probably the heck they've probably started pre-gaming already for it. Justin, tell us what's going on over at raw charge. ⁓ you know, we're just going to keep kind of going through things. ⁓ Basically been posting daily, ⁓ got brought the good old lightning morning news back. So you got your daily links. That's about the, you know, check out what's going on in hockey world. And then, um, you know, if you guys want to chit chat in the comments about breaking events, games, know, game day threads, things like that, you can do that. Um, we'll probably be looking at, uh, kind of exploring the future of the defense a little bit more. You know, there's not a lot in the pipeline, you know, after this current generation of bolts. So we're going to see kind of maybe played out what the future looks like for the defense and then go from there. You know, keep you abreast of what's going on in the hockey world overall. If there is ever any lightning news, let you know about that as well. Well, you can read Justin each and every day at rawcharge.com www.rawcharge.com for Justin Godfrey. I'm Jason. We're going to be back this time next week with another podcast to keep you up to date on any lightning news. If there's some pressing lightning news, Hey, we might surprise you with an additional podcast. Please hit that like and subscribe button. Thanks for joining us today. And as always go bolts. Go Bolts. please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can follow Justin on bluesky at rawcharge.com. You can follow the show on X at Tampa underscore bolts underscore pod and on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube at back checking the bolts. 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.