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Quick Strikes: First day of Rookie Camp is underway

The Bolts

The Lightning Lounge talks about how big of an X-Factor Braydon Coburn’s presence will be on the Bolt’s D-core this season. “Filling the role of capable number-three, he is the buffer between good and bad.  If Coburn plays well, the Lightning will see less of a need to balance his minutes with Andrej Sustr and Dan Girardi.  If he doesn’t, though, the potential consequences are grave.” [Lightning Lounge]

Lightning Fan Fest has been moved to Saturday September 16th. Here is everything you need to know about the event. “The free festival serves as a kickoff for the 2017-18 season and gives fans a chance to meet their favorite players for autographs and photo opportunities.” [Raw Charge]

Watch a timelapse of the Amalie Arena ice being installed and painted to a song that has the Lightning (literally) written all over it.

Dan Girardi speaks very highly of GM Steve Yzerman as he talks about how excited he is for the 2017-18 season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. “I came here because ‘Stevie Y’ called me personally and said, ‘We want you here.’ I felt that meant a lot to me as a guy who pretty much played his heart out for 11 years in New York, got bought out. You don’t know what’s happening and you get a guy like Steve Yzerman call you personally. It’s like, ‘Okay, that’s where I know I need to be.’“ [Tampa Bay Times]

The Prospects

To our Lightning Insider subscribers, Erik Erlendsson writes about the rejuvenated defensive prospect pipeline the Lightning have been able to create and how it is no longer an area of worry. “A recent influx of defensive prospects has quickly turned an organizational area of perceived weakness in to a strength – perhaps for the first time in the Steve Yzerman era.” [Lightning Insider]

Twitter asked and Alex answered. @Allovimo attempts to piece together, what is arguably the most unpredictable pre-training camp roster in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization, the AHL Syracuse Crunch. “[Carter] Verhaeghe ended last season ranked third in goals on a rather weak Bridgeport Sound Tigers team, and is probably slated for the Crunch. His inclusion pushes some of the other more well-known centers – Lynch, Darcy – down to the ECHL.” [Raw Charge]

Following day one of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s rookie camp, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev spoke to reporters about what he expacts from himself this season in terms of where he wants to be playing.

The Game

Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis is expected to miss the first three months of the 2017-18 season after undergoing knee surgery. [On The Forecheck]

The NHL Department of Player Safety has a new boss, George Parros. “A very popular teammate during his 474-game NHL career, Parros won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2007. He’s known for his fists, accumulating 1,092 career penalty minutes and more than 150 fighting majors.” [Sportsnet]

Cody Franson, who was touted as one of the bigger free agent defensemen in this years UFA crop, has agreed to a PTO with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks only have five defensemen signed and zero cap space so getting Franson on a cheap NHL contract at some point during training camp would be great news for them. “[Franson]’s a fantastic fit as a third pairing defenseman. He brings size at 6’5, 224 pounds, has four seasons of 29-plus points, and puts up strong possession numbers every year.” [Second City Hockey]

The Ottawa Senators are removing 1,500 seats from their 18,500 seat arena in order to “help drive demand” for tickets. I guess now it’ll be easier to sell out games? “In 2016-17, the Sens sat at No. 21 overall in attendance, with an average of 16,744 per game. That was slightly down from their numbers a season before, ranking 17th at 18,084. The team also had close to 2,000 seats left empty for a second-round playoff game.” [TSN]

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