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Can the Lightning Reload? Stanley Cup Final Talk, Sam O’Reilly, Benjamin Rautiainen & Free Agency · Backchecking the Bolts

• Jason Linkes: Coming up, I'm back checking the bolts. One thing I want to talk about real quick is the NHL salary cap. It's going up this year. It's gonna be up approximately ten million dollars. But with as many regional sports networks that are going out of business, that are going bankrupt, it's starting to affect more hockey teams. Could that have a negative impact on the salary cap? We've seen in baseball how many, it's countless teams now. That have lost their local television deals they've had to go through Major League Baseball. The NHL's not far away from having to find certain options for some teams, especially teams in the Midwest where Bally's just has gone belly up. 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. Welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. It's May 31st, 2026. The Stanley Cup Finals is upon us. It starts on Tuesday. Hi everybody, I'm your host, Jason Lincas, and as always, I'm joined by Rod Charge's managing editor. He's Justin Godfrey. You can read him each and every day at www.rawcharge.com. Today we're going to talk a little bit about the Stan Cup Finals. We're going to talk about the lightning prospects that are making some noise. One overseas for the country of Norway. Also, Benjamin Ratuinen. He signed with the Bolts. Justin's gonna break that down and we're gonna talk about free agency. But Justin, let's talk a little bit about the Stanley Cup Finals. It's Carolina who's only lost one game in three rounds. They're facing the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas there for the second time in four years. What are your initial thoughts on the Stanley Cup finals? I mean I know a lot of folks are kind of poo-pooing this as far as not being an interesting, but I think you got a really nice contrast of styles here. ⁓ you have Carolina, which is basically full press, full court press all game long. They're gonna try to overwhelm you with shots against a a Carolina or a Vegas team that's that has the offensive capabilities, but it's a John Tortorella team now. You know, it's gonna be defense first, it's gonna be clog up the zone, make it tough for you to get through, make it tough for you to get high quality chances. So I think it's gonna be a really good, you know, matchup contrasting styles. And we're gonna see, you know, they've been the two best teams in the playoffs and they've made it to the Stanley Cup final. So it's gonna be to me, it's gonna be kind of fun to watch, to tell you the truth. When I think back for the for Carolina's path, everyone thought that Ottawa was going to give them a real hard time. Now Ottawa played them tough, but they got swept. Philadelphia, you and I talked about it. We both thought Carolina would roll over them. The one thing I found interesting about the Montreal series, when Montreal played Tampa, as the series went along, you saw Montreal get fewer and fewer scoring opportunities. Game six and game seven, they had very few. The same thing happened in Buffalo. Now I know Montreal had two tough series. They had to go in and play Carolina, but by game two, We saw Carolina take away those offensive opportunities. Were you a little bit surprised just how easy of a series it was for Carolina? I I think it's one of these game series where it looks when you look at the final totals of the series, it looks easy, but I think each game was kind of a little more difficult than, you know, the final score dictated. ⁓ but I think it is very interesting. I think Carolina did a lot of things in Montreal that the the Lightning did as far as limiting those chances. The difference between the two series is that Carolina was able to get the goal when they needed it. And I think that was Tampa's big problem is they they shut down Montreal, but they could never get that kind of game swinging goal when they needed it, the overtime goals, the late period goals or anything like that. Whereas Carolina was able to do that and turn this into a sweep. I mean, you know, you look at some of these games and especially early on, you know, Montreal gets a break here or there, and maybe this goes six, seven games. But I do think part of the factor is those two series that Montreal played beforehand. I do think they were kind of worn out a little bit. ⁓ I think it took some of the speed out of their game, some of their counterattack b abilities. And then Carolina, it's just they're just an exhausting team to play. Anytime you have the puck, there's gonna be two or three guys coming at you. They don't give you any breaks. They don't let you kind of reset and work your way up the ice. They're gonna be on you the entire time. And I think by the time Montreal got to them, ⁓ they just didn't have the legs to kind of compete with them. So and then Dobish just Yeah, he had a good series, but he just couldn't pull the magic out. That was a great it was a good series. I think Montreal, if you're a fan of Montreal, you can't be super disappointed. Losing in the conference final is never great because you never know when you're gonna get back there again. But overall, I think it was a good good playoff run for him and they just just ran out of gas at the end. Young teams need to go through the process and learn to win. I think this is part of the process for the Montreal Canadiens. I think the one Point that I would like to make about Montreal's struggles. Against Tampa and Buffalo, Buffalo is a little bit more of a speed team than Tampa, but I thought Carolina's speed, especially in the third and fourth lines, really gave Montreal a lot of trouble. They could not match the speed. And when you play a little bit more run and gun like the Canadians can at some points, that's where I think it really came back to bite them. They couldn't throw Lane Hudson out there for twenty five minutes, not with that constant fore check that Carolina has. And you're right, Carolina is tenacious, but Justin, they're probably going against one of the deeper teams in the top four lines that Vegas rolls out there. Do you think Vegas can stand with Carolina? I think so. I think they have the scoring talent. I mean, one of the nice things about Vegas is they haven't been relying on just the top line to score, right? You know, it's But Jack Eichel, think we were looking at this, has two goals. ⁓ yeah, he's got a ton of assists, but you know, when you're getting goals from Brett Howden and and, you know, Pavel Dorfioff, that's your third and fourth lines, your second, third, fourth and lines that are that are getting goals for you. And so I think they can withstand what Carolina's gonna throw at him. I think it's gonna be a lot tougher for Carolina to ⁓ kind of counterattack and and run Vegas out of the building because I don't think Vegas is gonna try and match him at that game. I mean, one of the things with Montreal is once you get behind in series, you gotta kinda start taking chances. And the Carolina counterattack i is just primed for that. You know, if you're pushing your defenseman up, ⁓ trying to get some offense and you make a mistake or get a shot blocked, Carolina's just gonna roll down the ice and and make you pay for it. I don't think Vegas is gonna push that kind of style of game. I think they're gonna set back. I honestly think they're gonna let Carolina come at them and try and do their own kind of counterattacks on You know what you're gonna get with a John Tortarella team, right? They're gonna pack the middle of the zone. They're gonna block shots. ⁓ they're gonna make your life hell, trying to get, you know, passes to your shooters, and then they're gonna counterattack. And if they can get, you know, decent goaltending out of Carter Hart, then they're gonna be able to withstand what Carolina throws at them. And now you kind of put the pressure on, you know, Freddie Anderson in net, you know, he hasn't been here before. He's had a really good run so far, but can he keep it up, you know, if Vegas is throwing shots at him and getting traffic in front of him and making his life difficult? I think both goaltenders come into this series a little bit of a question mark. As you mentioned, can Anderson play at in the highest level at the Stanley Cup finals? Carter Hart, we weren't even sure if he was going to be the number one heading into the playoffs. Tortorella gave him the nod and he's run with it. Now let's talk real quickly though about the Conn Smythe trophy. It's the MVP for those of you who don't know for the NHL playoffs. This is completely wide open. Mitch Marner right now is the betting favorite on Fanduel at plus one eighty-five. You have Freddie Anderson at plus two forty. Then it's a hodgepodge of people. Taylor Hall plus seven hundred. Logan Stancoven plus eight fifty. Jackson Blake Carter Hart plus fifteen hundred. You mentioned Jack Eichel, who's second in the NHL in scoring during the playoff season. I think it could be anybody and I think it could be anybody who just happens to get hot in the cup finals. Yeah, I mean I think if you get Mitch Marner scores three or four goals or something like that, he's he's put out the the resumes throughout the playoffs to to win it. ⁓ but I do think if you get somebody who gets hot, maybe second or third liner that gets hot, like let's say Brett Howden picks up a couple of game winning goals and maybe five points and three assists or something like that. ⁓ would I be surprised if he gets y the nomination? No. It's it's kind of wide open. Sometimes you have these type of tournaments where no one's standing out 'cause it's such a strong team effort. And then on the Carolina side, they've just played so few games, you know, they don't have the counting stats really that you see from somebody who normally wins a con Smith. So I think, you know, Freddie Anderson's probably your betting your clubhouse betting leader right now for them. If Taylor Hall goes off or, you know, Logan Stankoven goes off in in this final round, they can definitely come from behind and nab it. So It's gonna really interesting to see how the voting trends go ⁓ throughout the series with ⁓ with regards to the consmythe. Justin, who do you like in the finals? I think it's Carolina's year, man. I think they got over this conference finals hump. ⁓ you know, you talked with Montreal, but you're a young team that's kind of has to face heartbreak to learn how to win. Carolina's been in that boat for the last few years. They've had really good teams that just haven't seemed to get over the the hump. They did it, they they've rolled through their competition. ⁓ so far, you know, we did kind of talk about this back in the first round that and it was really setting up with them once they got out of that first round against Ottawa. ⁓ they got Philly, which was, you know, a team that they just overwhelmed. And then, you know, we kinda talked about the Atlantic teams beating each other up. So even if it had been Buffalo that had advanced against them, I think you would have seen a similar outcome. So I think Carolina's kinda rolling. They got the confidence right now. ⁓ they're getting really good defensive play in front of Anderson. I think Keadre Miller's been really, really good ⁓ in these playoffs and I I think he could be gotten a dark court con Smyth candidate as well. ⁓ he was a great pickup in the off season for him, made that defense so much better. And I think they just kinda got the magic rolling and could have some barbecue out of the Stanley Cup this summer. Some vinegar based barbecue if you're going for Carolina style. Not my style. I'm I'd much rather I'd much rather have the K C the K C style. I know you're yeah you're a K C fan, but ⁓ yeah so a hundred percent So what about you? Shout out to my friends at Q thirty nine. Hey just just as so you everybody knows, I actually buy the barbecue sauce at the location in Overland Park, stuff it in my steel toed boots, and I fly back home with it. That's why I have about six jars at all times. Yes, if if if the power ever ends in the Lincoln's household, then you can always feast on barbecue. ⁓ so yeah. Damn right. What about you? Who who are your thoughts on ⁓ this series? Who are you going with, sir? I actually like Vegas. The numbers say Carolina. If it's a short series, I think Carolina's winning this. The longer the series goes, I do think Vegas' depth and the Vegas' fore check will give Carolina some problems. I'm not sold on Freddie Anderson as a big time goalie. He's played extremely well. But I just think that Vegas knows how to win. I just for whatever reason. This team just slept walk through a third of the season. They hired Tortorella as coach. It woke them up a little bit. They're playing good defense. They're coming off of a tremendous sweep of the Colorado Avalanche. Now, the Avalanche were a little bit shorthanded. Cale McCarr, even though he came back in games three and four, I don't think he was anywhere near one hundred percent. Hey, if I'm gonna throw some money on them, and I probably will, I'm gonna put it on the golden nights. I think Golden Knights and Seven, it's gonna be a great series. But I said before, if it's a short series, it's Carolina. I think Carolina's speed will overwhelm them. The longer the series goes, I think the depth of Vegas will give Carolina trouble. Yeah. I I think one thing Vegas has going for him is, you know, Tortorella has coached in the the Metropolitan for the majority of the last few years. So he's familiar with this team and the way they play it I think he you know that gives him a little bit of an advantage that you know, a West Coast team maybe wouldn't have against Carolina that it hasn't seen them much, you know, other than the token two games they play each year ⁓ during the regular season. So I think, you know, he can kind of speak to them and you go he and he can coach to them as as far as this is what you know Brenda Moore wants to do, this is what they're gonna do to you. And yes, y you you really can't handle it until you see it live in action. So I think maybe Carolina has the edge in game one, but I think they'll adjust pretty quickly. Like you said, you know, Vegas has been through these wars before ⁓ they still have quite a few folks from, you know, their Stanley Cup runs in the past. So it'll be interesting to see what experience does against a Carolina team that doesn't have a lot of Stanley Cup, you know, experience. You know, this is ⁓ for a lot of their players, it's the first time going this far and you know, finding that next gear, you know. You always gotta find that next gear as you advance in these playoffs. And it's kind of hard to do. So we'll see how it goes. But I think it's gonna be a fun, just really contrast the styles. Again, like I said, a lot of folks didn't want to see this matchup. It just doesn't have honestly two sexy names. You know, it doesn't have the Montreal history coming at you or a team like Boston or somebody like that. So, but that being said, I think it's gonna be fun to watch. So we'll I'll be tuning in, you know, probably more so than I did in the conference finals. So it'll be it'll be fun. I think one of the bigger storylines that haven't heard a ton about it, this is Vegas' third Stanley Cup finals in their nine years of existence. That's that is remarkable considering this franchise ten years ago did not exist. You have to give them a ton of credit. And they've gone through a lot of head coaches for a franchise that's had that much success and has only been around for nine years. Yeah, I think they're kind of the you know the model of the modern team where you just don't have loyalty to your coaches or your players. I don't want that to sound like a bad thing. I was like I think you have to replenish your roster consistently and you can't get stuck up in nostalgia and keeping players around just because they helped you win a Stanley Cup here or there. I mean, Vegas is almost ruthless when it comes to, you know, bringing people in, you know, the lightning get a lot of flack for the way they've managed the stand the you know, the salary cap. And you look like a at a player like Mark Stone, who seems to always get hurt at an opportune time for them to add some salary here or there. Which has kind of been negated a little bit with the with the playoff salary cap rules. But still, they just find a way to win. You talked about them sleepwalking kind of through the the regular season. It reminds me of Florida last year, you know, that just kind of made their way into the playoffs. Now, granted, Vegas did win their division, but it was almost a wildcard like division. You know, it was the was it the ⁓ pillow fight division in Connor McDavid's words. But they turned it on, and I think, you know, Torts has a lot of credit for that because I think it's kind of hard to switch gears from time to time, but you bring in somebody like Twitterello who is not gonna let you slack for a second out on the ice and it it like you said, you need to use your words to lit a fire under them. And you kind of need that motivation to to kick it into gear. And they've kind of struggled in their first round, you know. It it wasn't a clean series for them. Since they got out of that first round against Utah, they've been pretty much, you know, rolling almost as as well as Carolina has. I think it was Utah's speed. That gave them some issues. And I think that's one of the things that Carolina possesses that will give them some trouble. And I had mentioned it before, Justin. I think the goaltending question marks are going to have to be answered in this series. I think w either it's going to be Carter Hart or Freddie Anderson disappoints and one raises their game. I'm just not sure which one that is. I think Hart is the more talented goalie. So that's why I'm going to go with Vegas. Can we bet on the number of goalies used in the series and take the over three and a half? I mean, I wouldn't be surprised either one of them three and a half. I'm not taking the under on that one because I I wouldn't be surprised to see either one of them, you know, benched for a game to tell you the truth. And maybe you get Busey, you know, in a game and ⁓ who's Aiden Hill now backing up ⁓ Hardam. I I don't even know who their backup is to tell you the truth, but I think it's Aiden Hill. So I wouldn't be surprised to see either one of them, you know, have a game where they give up five or six goals and then questionable to start the next one. So And we know, you know, Lightning fans know Tortorella's not scared to yank a goaltender, you know, John Graham. And neither is Brendamore. Brendamore is another coach who's not afraid to pull a goaltender when he looks when he sees a goalie and says, Hey, he just doesn't have it tonight. Right. There's so many coaches that'll let that guy give up six or seven. Brendamore and Tortorella are both two coaches that'll say, Hey, you're you don't have it tonight. I'm putting option B in. You gave up three in the first period or you're not seeing the second period. But then how how does a goaltender bounce back from that? Like if you're Freddie Anderson, you know, if you have a bad game, can you come back? Say if you have a horrible game three, can you come back in game four and refocus? You know, that's it's kind of tough sometimes if you haven't been at this level with the pressure that's gonna be on you. So you know, I think there's a lot of little subplots that that are gonna play out over the next two weeks to see, you know, who is eventually crowned the Stanley Cup champion. Justin, let's talk about some of the Boltz prospects. Benjamin Ratuinen signed a three year deal with the Bolts. Tell us about that contract and a possible stipulation in there that could send him back to Finland. Yeah, we're trying to get some clarification on what his status would be for next year. So, yes, he signed his entry level contract. Kind of surprising since he does have another year or did have another year under contract with Tapora over in the Finnish league in the Liga. Now, doing some research, you know, saw some conflicting reports. One said that the Lightning bought the bought him out of that contract, which is a possibility. They can go to Tappera and say, hey, you know, we we want him to come over, you know, what's the price point to buy out the remainder of his contract? But there was another source, and I think the Tampa Bay Times talked about it, is that if he doesn't make the ⁓ Lightning out of training camp, and he will be at training camp ⁓ to to kick in this year. ⁓ that he can go back to Tapra instead of going down to Syracuse ⁓ to play next year. ⁓ he is gonna be twenty years old, ⁓ but as an international draft, you know, he would be eligible even if he was still 19 to go down to the AHL if he didn't have that contract with Tapra. So there we're trying to figure out we're gonna be digging into that to see if we can get some clarification on what his status actually is. ⁓ but it is interesting that they did cho choose to sign him this summer, the fact that he did have another year. left. ⁓ the Lightning are really cautious with their prospects, especially their European ones. And with him being just twenty years old, you know, I know there's a lot of thought, especially, you know, on my side, that they would give him another year to see if he could duplicate that success that he had this year, where he was the first ⁓ seventy point guy, seven first player to break seventy points since I think Saku Koivu like in ⁓ seven or ⁓ eight. It's been it's been a long time since somebody broke seventy points. So we'll see what happens. You know, he's gonna get a shot to make the team out of camp. ⁓ He's gonna have to have a really, really strong training camp to to make this team, I think. ⁓ just with the Lightnings general regard for their prospects. And we spoke a couple of weeks ago ago ago about it, you know, with what happened with Connor Geeky. ⁓ you know, we were talking about Sam Riley at the time. Are they more cautious with their prospects now because they don't want him to struggle at the NHL level? So we'll see. Now that being said, if he does end up in Syracuse, the Crutch are gonna have a hell of a team next year with some of the prospects coming through. ⁓ You know, we talked about Sam O'Reilly last, you know, two weeks ago. He's gonna be on that team. Ethan Cesta, who was their draft pick, their second round draft pick last year, he's gonna be eligible to play in the AHL. Connor Geeky could still be down there. You know, Jacob Pelletier could still be down there. So you're having some of these young players come through. Noah Steen, who we'll talk about in a minute or two, ⁓ is gonna be on that Syracuse team on all likelihoods. They're they're putting together a nice little group of prospects that We probably haven't seen with the Lightning in Syracuse since that original Tampa Cuse invasion with Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn and Andre Pilat back in, you know, the 2010 to 2013 era. So it's gonna be really interesting to see some of these prospects come through. And that's not mentioning the guys that have already been there like Dylan Duke, ⁓ who's gonna be fighting for an NHL spot. So I think if you're a Crunch fan or if you're a Lightning fan who likes their prospects, next year's gonna be really fun in Syracuse. You had mentioned Sam O'Reilly. He's going to be playing for the Memorial Cup. I believe they're playing tonight. But you also had mentioned Noah Stein, who scored a pivotal goal for Norway in their bronze medal clinching victory over Canada. Tell us a little bit about Noah Stein and where he projects within the Lightning organization. Yeah. So he signed his entry level deal this year. ⁓ he had been playing over in the Swedish ⁓ hockey league, the SHL. ⁓ and he was kind of one these guys who was on the radar a little bit. He was a s you know, a seventh round pick in 2024 for the Lightning. Anytime you're drafting somebody a hundred and ninety-ninth overall, he's not gonna be ⁓ an immediate prospect for you, but he's played over there in the SHL. He's done all right last year. ⁓ you know, twenty twenty-five, twenty six. He had twelve goals and ten assists in fifty-two games, which isn't bad for ⁓ you know, a twenty, twenty-one year old, which is what he is. But he really made his ⁓ His statement ⁓ in this world championships this year. and after the SHL season ended for him, he did come over and play with Syracuse for a handful of games. ⁓ he got into five regular season games, scored a goal, ⁓ a couple playoff games ⁓ without recording a point. But ⁓ since he went over there to play with Norway, he's got seven goals for them, which ties him ⁓ for the tournament lead. ⁓ so he's got seven goals in ten games, and like we said, ⁓ he scored that overtime goal against Canada earlier today. To give them that bronze medal, which honestly, Norway hasn't won a medal at all in any IIHF major event, you know, in their history. So that's a pretty big goal. And the Lightning kind of farming some of these European leagues to to get prospects like Stein out of the way or Stein into the system. ⁓ Emil Emil Lilleberg is another one. He's Norwegian as well. So, you know, they're kind of getting to some of these second-tier European countries that haven't been huge hockey. hotbeds lately and they're finding some talented players. So it's going to fun to watch him see how his skills develop in the AHL next year. You know, he's probably going to be a second third liner for the crunch, but he's got some offensive skill. He plays a solid defensive game as well. So he's kind of that protocol prototypical Lightning prospect that that plays a 200 foot game. Justin free agency starts July the first. Everybody knows who's a Lightning fan that Darren Radish is the big name Are they going to be able to resign him? And if they do, at what number? There are some reports out there that Radish is looking for a deal in the eight million dollar range. Again, these are all rumors. We don't know exactly where that number is going to lie. But the longer this goes, the more likely Radish is going to take this to free agency. The fact that he hasn't been re signed is. There's a month left. There's still plenty of time. But the fact that he hasn't re signed, do you think that's a pretty good indication that he's going to free agency? And I'm gonna ask a two-parter, do they trade his rights to try to get something for him? ⁓ I I think they're gonna negotiate right down to the wire. I'm pretty sure they're both aware of what's on the table. You know, Julian Breeswell have mentioned, you know, they've they've come up with a couple different so they've laid out a couple different scenarios for him to re sign. He's asking for what he's asking, which we don't know what it is. ⁓ will he take less to stay in Tampa? There's a long theory that people just don't like to move. If they can get within a couple million dollars, saves them the hassle of hiring a, you know, a moving company and upending his family. That being said, I still I'm still in the camp of the he's gotta take it to f to July first, or at least, you know, as close as he can. You know, I know there's no more negotiating period, but ⁓ we all know that there's some. Some undisclosed hampering that goes on ⁓ with these states. These guys know what's happening. Yeah. You know, the back channel negotiations that they they pull off, you know, to see what the interest is out there. So I don't think they trade his rights ⁓ just because I think they want to go as far as possible and give him the option of that eighth year. Again, they're the only team that can offer him that that extra year. And yes, it's kind of funny to say that with a 30 year old player, but if you can shave off two million dollars off of the cap hit, you know, by the time he's thirty eight, now you're in a a place where you're probably not gonna buy out, you know, or you can buy out that contract without such a, know, a huge hit. And if giving him that eight year or that seventh year ⁓ helps lower your, you know, annual cap hit, then, you know, that's an offense they still have on the table. You know, that being said, you know, Radish has got to kind of test it out there. You know, he's gotta see what a team like Toronto or a team like San Jose maybe can throw at him. And if they can wow him with nine, ten million dollars, then yep, good luck. Have fun. Enjoy California or enjoy Toronto and wherever he ends up. I think they they this goes to the the end. That being said, Brees Wiles always managed to kind of find ways to do this stuff. So I wouldn't be surprised if we have an announcement, you know, before this post that hey, the lightning came don't agree Darren Radish. You know, it's like ⁓ but I think it goes to the I think it goes to July first and I think he signs himself a very handsome deal. And I'm probably 6040 right now that he goes somewhere else. So I think that's where our my percentages sit right now. Justin, when you and I were talking before the podcast, you threw out a couple names that you thought the lightning could have some interest in. One is Colton Sissens. Colton's been around for quite some time. I believe he's 32 years old, not making a lot of money, but he fills that depth center position quite well. What do you think would it would take to get Sissens? Do you think a couple of million? ⁓ yeah, I'd be seeing yeah, like a two year two year deal, two, two and a half million dollar per something like that. ⁓ you know, we wrote about it last week. He was one of those players that I popped out. ⁓ he just kind of fits what the Lightning are looking for in in that fourth line role. I mean, he can kill penalties, he could win face offs. I think at one point in the playoffs he was at like seventy percent. ⁓ in the in the circle. And I think he was well over fifty percent for the regular season this year. So he's not gonna be super expensive. You know, a lot of people are talking about Michael McCarron up in ⁓ Minnesota. You know, he's on the free agent market as well. But I think he's gonna get a pretty decent deal. I think he's gonna get a four year, fairly healthy deal. So the Lightning maybe don't don't want to allocate that much money to a guy who's gonna, you know, kill penalties, play fourth line minutes, whereas someone like Sisons ⁓ is experienced in that role and can fit that for you know a couple million less a year. So he's kind of one of those players that I would keep an eye on. If you're watching with interest the the the finals here, he'd be a guy to to kind of keep an eye on, see if he'd fit in. What about Jack Roslovich? I I think that he would be a third line type of player the Lightning could go for He's making a million and a half right now, but he's probably gonna command about four or four and a half in the open market with the rise in the cap. Knowing in a couple years you're gonna have to re sign Kucharov and possibly Vasileski if you decide you want an older goaltender, which I'm imagining they probably will unless there is a decline in his game. That sort of allows you to sort of bridge that gap a little bit with a guy like Roslovich. Yeah, I if you can get ⁓ you know Rosselichel on like a three year deal or something like that. He's twenty nine now, I believe. He signed really, really late last year, and he was one of those guys I was wondering if the Lightning maybe reached out to ⁓ to fill kind of that second third line winger role that they still you know, they were hoping Bjork Stran would kind of step into that role. He's a right handed shot, ⁓ something that they kind of lack on the team right now. He's a guy who can score some goals. He had around twenty this year or something like that, playing in Edmonton. ⁓ So I think he could kind of fill a similar role that Bjorkstrand did while he was here at a fraction of the cap hit. ⁓ I know I right before we went on air, we kind of took a look on evolving hockey at their contract projection tool. And I think they had him at five years around five point six or something million dollars, which I think is more indicative of the new salary cap than anything else. Like I said, Roslovich signed a cheap deal, a one year deal with Edmonton. I wanna say it was either late August or early September by the time he signed it ⁓ in camp Type of signing right as training camp was starting. That means every team in the league had a chance to sign him last year and and choose chose to pass him over. And I think he kind of made some people look bad. So I would love to see. I think he's got a skill that would fit in with the Lightning. I think he would get a shot ⁓ at some top power play unit time. I think he was on the second unit with Edmonton, which still isn't a bad unit to be on. You know, it's kind of like the Lightning. They got a lot of top end talent on that team. So ⁓ it'd be interesting to see him. In a lightning uniform. I've I've talked about him in the past. I know it's some trade deadlines I've looked at him, but I I think if you can get him this like three years, I don't know if I'd pay more than four or five million dollars for him. ⁓ just because I don't know if that's the best use of their money right now. If he's interested in coming down here, you know, you always got that good old state of Florida tax state tax advantage, but ⁓ we'll see how it goes. Justin, you're Julian Breesbois. You could fill one position. I'm not saying a player, but a position to address on this roster. What position is it? I think it's second line winger. I think that's a something that's been plagued ⁓ plagued them for a couple of years now. Like I said, I think Bjorkstrand was brought in to be that replacement and it just, you know, for whatever reason didn't pan out. So I think you can find that center depth within your organization. I don't know if you have any face-off specialists or anything, but I think you need that kind of That guy that can get you twenty to twenty-five goals on the second line that doesn't have to play with a Kutrov or Braden Point, ⁓ to to put the numbers up. ⁓ I think they're kind of hoping like Gage Gonzavez can do it, but I don't know if that's a reliable answer. And it'll be interesting to see what kind of deals Breeswalk pays off plays off this this summer. You know, he's he's been adamant that it's gonna be pretty much the roster you saw last year. But If your general manager isn't lying to you, then he's not doing his job. ⁓ so there's been some talk. I was listening to one of Elliot Friedman's podcasts, and he's under the assumption that you're gonna see some some names on the move. He he thinks there's gonna be some trades this summer ⁓ of some some pretty decent named players just with the new salary cap. ⁓ out there we, you know, teams have like an extra ten million dollars. A lot of teams have an extra ten million dollars to play with this year, and that can give you some, you know, some some delusions of grandeur maybe and and we can see some big names on the move. So maybe the lightning get in and that's how they find their winger. There isn't a lot on the free agent market really, but you know, once you get past Alex Alex Toot, ⁓ so I think it would be through a trade. But that that's what I would go after. I know face-offs were a thing in the playoffs and not being able to win those key faceoffs hurt them, but I I think if you can negate that by just basically scoring more goals and having a little bit more depth on your wings. The one thing I want to talk about real quick before we ask you what's going on at Rod Charge is the NHL salary cap. It's going up this year. It's going to be up approximately $10 million. But with as many regional sports networks that are going out of business, that are going bankrupt, it's starting to affect more hockey teams. Could that have a negative impact on the salary cap? We've seen in baseball how many, it's countless teams now. That have lost their local television deals. They've had to go through Major League Baseball. The NHL's not far away from having to find certain options for some teams, especially teams in the Midwest where Bally's just has gone belly up. Do you think in the coming years that could have a negative impact on the cap? It is something, you know, I've kind of thought about offhand, ⁓ not getting that those big TV deals. And then like even the national deals when they come up again. I like, I don't know if the NHL is going to be able to pull in, you know. NFL like money or even close to it, to tell you the truth. It's just such a a ⁓ a niche sport still that, you know, I think teams can still make enough money that they can spend to the cap, ⁓ especially if you're competitive. I think there's still enough revenue coming in. You know, Bettman talks about how the revenue's been growing every year and I think they're getting a lot more ticket sales. And it is an in person experience, you know, as as good as the T Vs have gotten, as high as high definition as it is, it's still a a live sport. ⁓ You can have somebody watch a hundred games, but if you take them to a game like, you know, for instance, I took my uncle to ⁓ my uncle in law, I should say, to a couple of the playoff games. And even though we're sitting up in the 300 level, like he's even remarked, it's a different game to watch than than what you see on TV. So I don't know if it'll be as big a effect. I I think these teams are getting really creative in re in regards to their regional deals and going over traditional broadcast airwaves like the Lightning have done with their, you know, channel sixty six. So I think you see more of that and then rely on streaming ⁓ as far as, you know, additional revenues. I just think that right now, when you look at the business aspect of this, there's a lot of uncertainty when it comes to what's going to happen for all of these franchises and when the NHL they split the revenue. It's not like baseball where each team keeps all of their local TV money. In hockey, they split the revenue. And that's the only reason I would caution against certain teams going right up against the cap because I could see that cap. in a year or two coming back a little bit. I'm not saying a lot, because the NHL ratings have been tremendous compared to past ratings this past hockey season. And it did help when you had Philadelphia make a resurgence, even though in Montreal doesn't reflect well on the American T V r ratings. You still had the Penguins and Flyers. You've had Vegas who does very well T V wise. There's been a lot of draws, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota I would just caution the Lightning, you have to keep some kind of a buffer because if the regional networks continue to fall apart, not every franchise is going to have an answer. And it may take a little bit of time for that answer to be found. You just don't want to give yours put yourself in a position where in a year or two you're forced to trade guys just to stay under the cap. Yeah, and I and I think the NHL more so than some other leagues is there's a lot of outside influence on ⁓ the revenues like for the owners. I mean, think about what Blue Al Capital went through this year when their, you know, their their stock market absolutely crashed, right? You know, for a little while. I think it's built back up. If that's something that happens long term, and those are the guys who own the lightning. You know, if they get into a cash flow problem, ⁓ you know, how does that affect the lightning? We've seen it in the past back when God knows who owned the the lightning, you know, the Japanese ownership when they had some cash flow problems, when Art Williams had some cash flow problems. There was a time the lightning were struggling to to just pay, you know, paychecks, random paychecks. You they had to take a loan from the league ⁓ to make payroll at at one point. So, you know, I I don't know if the league would itself will let it get that bad again, but it is always something that's gonna, you know, be in the back of the mind for folks. That being said, you know, the projections that they put out ⁓ a couple of years ago. have the cap going up again next year with the estimate of being about 114 million. They're still pulling in a lot of revenue. And I I think a lot of it's come from like these the the World Cup that they you know, or sorry, not the World Cup, but the four nations ⁓ that they put on, you know, events like that. They s they still make a lot of money on the stadium series games. So that's kind of how the league's been able to kind of weather this storm a little bit and keep those revenues flowing in. But again, to your point, how long does that last, right? ⁓ how How long before you exhaust all those revenue streams and you start getting diminishing returns, you know, on these international tournaments? It's I honestly think it's gonna be a nice breath of fresh air that they don't have anything next year ⁓ in regards to international play and and you're gonna have kind of a more of a streamlined schedule with the two extra regular season games still, but you know, you're not gonna have these long breaks that force compressed, you know, schedules at at portions of the year. Justin, you had mentioned that some teams might be looking to make some trades. I'm gonna throw this out there. The Canadian dollar is about a buck forty to the US dollar. These Canadian teams have to pay contracts in US dollars. Cities like Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, the smaller markets in Canada, how much of a struggle is it going to be to have to pay in US dollars? I think that is going to possibly open up some trade options for some US teams. You hear Connor Hellibuck's name out there. Do I think Winnipeg wants to trade him? No. Finding a number one goaltender is tough. But they are exploring options. And I think part of that has to be, hey, we gotta pay you know we owe this guy eight million bucks, but once we actually pay him in our currency, that eight million dollars is really 10. And you have to do that with every single player. And I think because of that you might see the Ottawa's Winnipegs trade some guys you wouldn't necessarily think. Yeah, and I and I think it kind of takes a couple of markets maybe away from free agency. Maybe they're like, hey, we can't afford to to pay like you said, $12 million with a bunch of the money and signing bonuses and things like that that come up front. So I could see it kind of affect the teams like that. ⁓ another thing is another reason I think you may see some more trades this offseason is the lack of double retention ⁓ that's now in in effect. ⁓ so maybe a team like San Jose or a team like Chicago makes a splash on on a big player, has the team retained a little bit of money and now Chicago, if it falls through, they can s they can still retain money money as long as it's, you know, I think it's 75 days or something like that between the deals. So I I wonder if if you see that happen. I think that kind of had a chilling effect on the trade deadline last year is teams not being able to to pull off the double retention. ⁓ on the deadline day itself. So it's gonna be an interesting summer as as these teams adjust to both the financial, you know, chaos that is the world today, ⁓ the NHL's own, you know, unique financial situation. Like you said, having to pay players in US dollars when you have eight franchises in Canada. Is it eight? I believe it's eight. Something like that. Seven. Seven. All right. You know, Quebec City, here we come, maybe. So it's gonna be interesting to see what happens, what a team like Ottawa does, l a team like ⁓ Edm Edmonton to a to a point. I think Montreal will be fine. I think Toronto will be fine, honestly. You know, they ⁓ they print money when it comes to hockey. Edmonton, you know, kind of iffy there, but Calgary, Winnipeg are the two that you keep an eye on, you know. And the same goes for maybe a team like Columbus or a team like Nashville that, you know, it's not a traditional market. Yes, you do all right, but you know, what happens when you when you're not good and and fans stop showing up? I I think more so out of any other league. NHL relies on that box office, you know, and if if fans stop showing up because your team's not good, ⁓ how does it affect the rest of the league when you're sharing all these ticket sales? So it's it's always fun in a way to to see how these outs outside influences play on teams that you don't think about when it comes down to just, you know, stat on stat kind of deals. You know, this guy scores thirty goals, he makes this much money. Justin, tell us what's going on at Raw Church. ⁓ I think we're gonna start tackling some more ⁓ free agents, some potential free agents ⁓ for the Lightning this week. ⁓ we'll be keeping an eye on the the Stanley Cup as well. But I think it's kinda start turning towards free agency, maybe even some draft talk. I mean the Lightning do have a a halfway decent pick in the second round. I think they're drafting fifty ninth overall, ⁓ which is right around the same area they were last year, ⁓ when they took Ethan Sesta. ⁓ so we'll be looking at some po t potential prospects there and ⁓ Yeah, just kinda keep everybody up to date on the good old hockey world. Hi, it's Jason. I'm jumping on here at the tail end. We are having some technical difficulties, so I just wanted to come out and say one, we appreciate all the support for the podcast. Please like and subscribe to each and every episode. You can catch Justin each and every day at www.rawcharge.com. I'm Jason Lincas. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching and go bolts.