To be quite honest, if it were up to me all of Pat Maroon, Michael Eyssimont, and Tanner Jeannot would be on the fourth line and I would go find some middle-six forwards to push them down. Alex Killorn would be first on my list of those priorities, too.
But based on the lineups last season, it looks like maybe two of those guys above will be on the third line or higher. Pushing those players up the lineup creates jobs down below. Usually, there’s a good young player worth calling up to the majors from the Syracuse Crunch, however the stable of options is quite bare up front.
Alex Barre-Boulet has tried and failed many times. Gabriel Fortier has tried a couple times. Cole Koepke was promising in theory but his low ceiling meant he could never keep up. Finley and Goncalves were also low ceiling picks despite being taken early and haven’t shown the pop necessary to stand out. The player I have the highest expectations for is waiver pickup Rudolfs Balcers now that he’s healthy.
Corey Perry was an excellent fourth liner for the Lightning during his tenure with the team and was among the best fourth liners in the league thanks to his PP2 scoring. He may come back as a free agent this summer, but it’s impossible to assume a 38-year-old is going to be able to sign another contract – this is exactly why he and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare this season were so impressive.
Looking beyond those players now, the choice is either promoting relatively untested players from within and pushing everyone up into tougher roles, or finding NHLers who have had success elsewhere and working them into the culture and style the Lightning play.
It goes without saying the years of losing good players have diluted the Lightning’s overall organizational strength a significant amount. There is a whole class of player between Killorn and Paul that filled the third line. The Lightning’s inability of late to find players who can play like Johnson, Gourde, Coleman, or Goodrow has left a big hole. This is also my thesis for wanting to keep Killorn’s talent on the roster despite the cost.
I’ve been reading our comments and there is sentiment to either blow up the team or significantly re-tool it in order to regain that talent deficit. I hear you, and two summers ago I was in the same boat. But two summers ago was when Julien BriseBois welded this team in its current direction and locked up the secondary core (I’m not referring to them being worse, but the 24-28 year old core behind Stamkos and Hedman) to big contracts.
That locked this team on the “win now, win with this group” path that we see. It’s too late to re-tool or blow it up because of those contract lengths. All that can be done now is try to be the best possible team every year while Vasilevskiy, Hedman, Kucherov, Stamkos, and Point (in that order) are still who they are. The looming re-tool or rebuild will need to happen when Hedman and Stamkos sail off into the sunset because the team won’t be the same without them.
And I just want to say I don’t blame JBB for making the choice he did. His team just won two Stanley Cups, they reached the summit of the mountain they’ve been climbing for almost 15 years. He needed to keep that team together after winning 11 of 12 playoff series in three years by rewarding the players that got him there after taking bridge deals. From a personal and professional relationship perspective he did the right thing.
The denouement of any successful team is guaranteed. San Jose, Anaheim, and St. Louis bit the bullet. Pittsburgh and Washington are finally there now with Crosby and Ovechkin within earshot of 40. It’s very hard to accept that the window is closed, and breaking I think it would’ve left a sour taste in the city had they blown up the core of the reigning champions.
For now, all the Lightning can do is package the future, find the right players in pro-scouting, and go all-in. They won the Hagel trade, and seem to have failed miserably with the Jeannot trade. I just can’t help but think what they could’ve had with those assets (Rasmus Sandin, Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli?). Maybe they can pull that off this year.
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Daily Faceoff
Jack Eichel confirmed Phil Kessel has in fact eaten hot dogs out of the Cup already 😂🌭 pic.twitter.com/QkjOz7f67m
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 18, 2023
Sundays are going to be pretty quiet on the hockey front for the most part, which is why I choose to tackle questions about the team to start the week. Hope you enjoyed reading!
