The Bolts
Tampa Bay Lightning forward JT Brown and Lexi LaFleur Brown welcomed a beautiful, healthy baby girl into their lives yesterday. Congratulations! We are so happy for you!
2016-17 Season Breakdown: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. San Jose Sharks. “The Lightning were unable to gain a single point from the two meetings with the Sharks.” [Raw Charge]
Former #tblightning all-star Brian Bradley signing autographs for the FishHawk Youth Hockey Team today. pic.twitter.com/Ec6Bxb3UHl
— TBL Alumni (@boltsalumni) June 24, 2017
General Manager Steve Yzerman worked hard to offload salary over the past year (Ben Bishop, Valtteri Filppula, and Jason Garrison). He is wary of falling back into salary cap trouble. “We’ve done a lot here to give ourselves a little bit of flexibility. We don’t want to put ourselves right back in the same position if we’re not confident that it’s really going to make a difference.” [Tampa Bay Times]
The Draft
The NHL Entry Draft finished up yesterday. Six players were added to the Bolts pipeline.
Our newest #Bolts:
🇨🇦/🇺🇸 Cal Foote
🇷🇺 Alexander Volkov
🇷🇺 Alexey Lipanov
🇺🇸 Nick Perbix
🇺🇸 Cole Guttman
🇺🇸 Sammy Walker#NHLDraft— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) June 24, 2017
Callan Foote is the type of defenseman the Lightning need. “He has all of the skills and ability to anchor the Lightning’s second pairing in three or four years after Anton Stralman’s contract ends. Especially when you think about the possibility of combining his physical defense and break out ability with Sergachev’s all around play, that could be a very good second pair.” [Raw Charge]
Don’t take our word for it, just ask Jason Smith, head coach of the Kelowna Rockets who has seen Foote’s play firsthand. “His hockey IQ is at a real high level for a junior player. He sees the ice well, can read plays, and is not just puck focused. He has vision into the play where he can see the next play coming, which allows him, a lot of the time, to cut the play off and rely on his positioning and his footwork and his stick to be a shutdown defender.” [Raw Charge]
Raw Table: How did the Tampa Bay Lightning do in the 2017 NHL Draft? We weigh in on high school sports, Russians, and Foote. “Alexei Lipanov is my favorite pick of the draft. He’s everything that we’ve come to expect from a Bolts draft pick. Skilled, high upside, legitimate top six potential.” [Raw Charge]
I am honored to be drafted by the @TBLightning. Thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way! #Bolts⚡️
— Nick Perbix (@perbix15) June 24, 2017
Honored to be drafted by the @TBLightning. Excited to be apart of such a great organization⚡️
— Cole Guttman (@ColeGuttman) June 24, 2017
Excited to be apart of the @TBLightning organization! Can’t wait to get to camp and get started!
— Sammy Walker (@walker_sammy10) June 24, 2017
The Game
NHL draft partially upstaged by torrent of trades: “Why would Bowman trade key players in Panarin (61 goals in his first two seasons) and a dependable defender like Hjalmarsson? Was the GM that upset that his three-time Stanley Cup champions have been first-round losers in the past two playoffs?” [CBC]
Uni Watch — Five takeaways about the NHL’s new Adidas-designed uniforms for all 31 teams: “Fans often mistakenly believe that uniform outfitters control a team’s uni design, but it rarely works that way. Adidas and NHL executives at the unveiling event all confirmed that any design changes were made at the initiative of the individual teams, not Adidas.” [ESPN]
Los Angeles Kings prospect raised by 2 moms: “Moments after Jaret Anderson-Dolan was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings, he hugged his mothers Fran and Nancy. They cried a few tears as Anderson-Dolan made his way to the floor of the United Center for handshakes and congratulations from his new team.” [AP]
Honor Dan Girardi, But the New York Rangers Would Have Been Better Off With Anton Stralman: “Sometimes, though, the truth isn’t easy. This is one of those situations. And the truth is that the Rangers chose the wrong defenseman to re-sign back in 2014.” [Elite Sports NY]
