We often joke about how the Tampa Bay Lightning rarely crack any of Elliotte Friedman’s 32 Thoughts on a weekly basis. (is it still weekly?) Yet, in his latest column the Lightning do pop up, and it’s in connection to a name we’ve been hearing a lot lately – Noah Hanifin:
“There’s been a lot of speculation about the Lightning [acquiring Hanifin] — which, on paper, makes a lot of sense — but look at the trade the Flames made for Elias Lindholm. Can the Lightning put together a similar package, knowing there will be competition? It’s hard to see.”
So, as you can see, not much new information about the situation, but it does qualify as another mainstream voice adding fuel to the Hanifin-to-Lightning movement. The main stumbling block remains the cost and if the Lightning are willing to pay it. If he is truly interested in staying long term with the Lightning, what kind of deal can they give him, and who has to get moved off the roster to make room for next year’s salary cap.
Personally, I found his discussion about the Penguins a little more germane to the Lightning than the Hanifin talk. The issues that Kyle Dubas is currently dealing with mirror a lot of what Julien BriseBois is going through. How do you rebuild on the fly with an aging core of highly-paid players? The Penguins are likely three or four years ahead of where the Lightning are considering the ages of their star players like Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, and Evgeni Malkin, but it’s a similar road that they’re on.
Dubas is quoted as saying,
“Everything that we do will be with the intention of delivering a championship contender for the team without them [Crosby, Malkin, et al.] having to go through years of pain to get there. That’s my commitment.”
Those words could have come directly out of Mr. BriseBois’ mouth and have applied. Dubas also talks about needing “new energy,” something we heard Coach Cooper talk about when the TampaCuse kids came up, and possibly trading some younger prospects for more NHL-ready young talent. That is a page right out of the BriseBois playbook (Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk for Brandon Hagel).
Building a team that wins a Stanley Cup is always easier than maintaining a team that has a shot at multiple championships and we’re seeing just how hard that is in a salary cap league with both franchises.
Other Hockey News
Distant Thunder: Callan Rickford [Lightning Twitter]
As someone who no longer lives in the Tampa area, I do love these clips of Lightning fans from far-flung locations.
Lightning Block Party – Ross Colton [You Tube]
Ross The Boss stopped by to chat with Greg Wolf and Braydon Coburn when he was in town last week. I believe he’s the first three-time guest on the show.
Top Wingers in the NHL [ESPN]
It’s not quite a Hart Trophy, but Nikita Kucherov is recognized as the top winger in the NHL by the panel of 10 players and 10 executives surveyed by ESPN. He appeared on every ballot and received 15 first place votes. Nine players had him first with the lone second place vote coming from an unnamed Western Conference player. It was a landslide!
Seven unwritten rules we don’t – and do – understand [Bleacher Report]
Sara Civian delves into the murky world of the unwritten rules of the NHL. Yes, stepping on the logo is bad, but why put it on the floor, eh?
Every team’s nightmare trade deadline scenario [Bleacher Report]
Lightning: Repeating last year’s mistake. Doesn’t “they need to be careful about how much they give up to address those [needs] and what they are acquiring” really apply to every team? For me the nightmare scenario would be to trade Alex Barré-Boulet to free up a roster spot and then have him come back to score the Eastern Conference Final-clinching goal against them. A move that shatters Julien BriseBois’ confidence and sends him into a spiral where he ends up dealing Nikita Kucherov to Boston for future considerations (that turn out to be a used Vespa and donuts). Fans stop showing up, Mr. Vinik sells the team to Stu Sternberg, who moves them to Hartford and we’re left with no hockey team at all. That’s a nightmare scenario.
Matthews fastest US-born player to 50 goals in a season [NHL.com]
Love him. Hate him. Filled with an unrelenting desire to shave his mustache. No matter how you feel about Auston Matthews, you have to acknowledge that he is having an incredible season. By scoring 50 goals in just 54 games, he’s the fastest to the mark in 28 years and the fastest US-born player to get there. That’s an impressive feat. I still think an American (Matthews) and a Swede (Willy Nylander) leading the Maple Leafs to their first Stanley Cup in ages would also be hilarious.
