Lightning Round: In Vino Veritas

Hi guys. It seems my fellow Tampa Bay Lightning fans are nursing hangovers this morning, so I am here to get the conversation started.

There was mixed reaction to our Nikita Kucherov’s Miller Light-fueled moment of truth from his post-win presser, with some people clutching their pearls and pointing out how non-Canadian it all is to speak more than just bland hockey phrases, and others chuckling and taking it for what it was — Kucherov’s excellent heel turn.

• In the words of Jeff Marek from the 31 Thoughts podcast, “The game needs villains.” His point was clear, that even if you hated Kucherov’s words, you should embrace the hate — it inspires rivalry between fanbases. “Nobody ever goes to a hockey game to watch people be respectful to each other,” Marek said. The podcast’s breakdown of the game is worth a listen.
• The Athletic (paid): The NHL needs more of Nikita Kucherov’s shirtless, beer-soaked rants — not less
• And then there’s this fella, who I am inclined to like because he rescues animals. It’s a shame he’s never heard a chirp before.

• If you want another well-thought-out answer to the salary cap question, please go listen to Sean McIndoe (Down Goes Brown) rant for a good minute about it on The Athletic Hockey Show. It’s at around the 21 minute mark, and it’s a careful breakdown of what actually happened with the cap. I love the part of the rant where DGB says, “And what actually was the cap hit? Every time fans complain the number grows by a million. By the time the draft rolls around Tampa will be 50 million above cap.” And after a discussion he reveals that the actual cap hit that people are complaining about is — just Kucherov’s. Not Marian Gaborik’s (a non-playing contract added a while back to get Tampa above cap floor).
• Steve Dangle rehashed the game in his Cup Check video. I like all of it except for the stuff at the 10:45 mark where he is forced to relitigate the salary cap stuff. But Steve is Steve and and it’s always nice to hear him discuss Tampa.

Here’s more stuff to read:

• Steve Wyno, AP: The Tampa Bay Lightning pulled off arguably the hardest title defense in NHL history by winning the Stanley Cup back to back in a pandemic
• NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs top memories shared by NHL.com
• Yahoo Sports: Did Andrei Vasilevskiy wear oversized equipment? An investigation into a fake controversy

• New York Newsday: Hofstra alum Jon Cooper, coach of Lightning, could be Hall of Famer following second Stanley Cup
• Buy stuff!

That’s it for me!

What ya got?