Quick Strikes: WE GOT A PUPPY!

The Lightning

-We got a puppy, y’all, and he’s flipping adorable! Meet Bolt, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s new team ambassador.

Bolt, born March 31, 2019, weighing 28.5 pounds, will serve as a team ambassador while also training to be a service dog when his Lightning career is over. He spent the first 12 weeks of his life in the Grant and Shirley Herron Puppy Academy at Southeastern Guide Dogs. After 12 weeks, Bolt left for boarding school with a designated “Puppy Raiser” from the Lightning organization. In a year Bolt will return to Southeastern Guide Dogs to continue his education and eventually begin his career as a service dog with a courageous person who needs him.

The pupper is so cute that members of the Syracuse Crunch’s media squad are already calling for a conditioning stint:

-Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk has come to the Lightning to kick butt and chew bubblegum, and he is all out of bubble gum.

“I think I have a huge chip on my shoulder right now,” Shattenkirk said, per the AP. “It didn’t work out with injuries and performance and with the way the direction of the team, the way that kind of deteriorated from when I signed on July 1 to now.”

-What does the Shattenkirk signing have to do with Brayden Point? Well, very little, really.

Julien BriseBois made clear from well before the offseason began that re-signing Point was the Lightning’s priority. So why has he been able to sign so many others before Point?

Because this contract is more complicated than the others. That could be money or length or a combination there in. Agreeing to a one-year, $1.75 million deal with Kevin Shattenkirk, looking for a chance to prove himself, is easier than coming to an agreement with a young star with years of promise and potential for a major payday in unrestricted free agency.

-Tampa will be on NBCSN 11 times this upcoming season!

-Here’s a funny moment from the Lightning’s development camp from prospect Hugo Alnefelt.

The Solar Bears

The Orlando Solar Bears nabbed another returning player: forward Tayler Thompson.

“Tayler has been a reliable presence for us on the ice and inside our locker room,” Solar Bears head coach and general manager Drake Berehowsky said. “Last season he showed he could be an impact player for us in a number of situations, and we expect him to bring that same compete level to our team for the coming season.”

The Others

-Warm congratulations and lots of love to former organizational forward Jonathan Marchessault, his wife, and their new family member!

-Joel Edmundson of the St. Louis Blues was awarded 3.1 million during his arbitration case.

-Arbitration finished up yesterday with Rocco Grimaldi’s case.

-Dallas Stars Stars prospect Jason Robertson has an important story to share about his journey.

Robertson, 20, a left wing who was the No. 39 pick in the 2017 draft, could become the first Filipino-American to play in the NHL, but only if he beats brother Nick (Toronto’s second-round pick this year) to the world’s best hockey league. Over pork adobo and pancit, garlic fried rice and bistek, Robertson talked about family histories, Filipino food and the changing face of Asians in hockey.

-The Carolina Hurricanes acquired Kyle Wood from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Trevor Carrick.

“Kyle is a big, puck-moving defenseman,” said Waddell. “He’s a couple years younger than Trevor, and will have time to continue to develop on Charlotte’s blueline. We thank Trevor for his contributions to our organization and wish him the best in San Jose.”

-There are fans, and then there are fans, like this little Alex Ovechkin fan.

-What female sportscasters are capable of is apparently still surprising.

With little notice, she (Caroline Cameron) is told by a producer they are going to record a pre-taped segment about the Toronto Maple Leafs’ upcoming game against the Nashville Predators.

She looks up from her notes with a smile and jumps into a 45-second spiel about the game. It is unscripted and she only needs one take.

“Boom!” yells her producer Garrett Hansford from the control room. “What a professional.”

Cameron’s co-host Colby Armstrong, who played nine seasons in the NHL before becoming an analyst, stares in amazement.

“That is insane that you just did that,” he says. “How did you just do that?”

-The new episode of Six Degrees of Mike McKenna is out, and this week it features Marty Turco!