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Quick Strikes: Who is the greatest player in Lightning history?

Posted on by Alexandra Ackerman

The Lightning

-NHL on NBC threw out a bombshell of a question on Twitter yesterday:

So who ya got? Vinny? Marty? Stammer? Kuch? Let us know in the comments.

That tweet has quite the thread, as one might imagine, and former organizational goalie Mike McKenna was quick with his response:

-FYI: Andrei Vasilevskiy is the top goalie in the NHL according to…well…everyone, apparently.

Vasilevskiy got a new mask this summer, and, man, is it neat:

-Speaking of goalies, what exactly is going on with that position this season? In case you’ve forgotten, here’s the breakdown, courtesy of the Lightning’s media team:

-Which Lightning prospects are their top five? The answers to that question are certainly up for debate, but the NHL.com weighed in yesterday with their picks. Perhaps surprisingly, their #5 pick was Gabriel Fortier.

“We’re very excited with where he’s at,” Lightning assistant general manager and director of player personnel Stacy Roest said. “He works hard. Every one of the coaches and teammates we talk to … pick someone you would go to war with, and he’s one of the guys.”

-NBC Sports has been taking a look at the teams of the NHL this month. Yesterday was the Lightning’s day!

The Lightning are at the point where it doesn’t matter what they do during the regular season anymore. Everyone will judge them by what happens in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It happens to every great team that doesn’t win it all. Just ask the Washington Capitals. That’s how they were treated until they won the Cup in 2018.

-Want to work Lightning games? Amalie Arena is holding a job fair today for part-time positions.

The Pupper

-Yesterday was International Dog Day, so of course Bolt had to be celebrated! He’s growing so big.

The Crunch

-The Syracuse Crunch had a presence during an event at the New York State Fair on Monday. The event was in support of the Special Olympics, and Crunch broadcaster Lukas Favale got to hang out with some awesome athletes.

-The Crunch is gearing up it’s Crew!

The Solar Bears

-Orlando released their new jerseys last night!

The Game

-The 2020 NHL All-Star Game logo has been released!

-The New York Rangers released their roster for the 2019 Traverse City Tournament yesterday.

-The Carolina Hurricanes released the news yesterday that forward Stelio Mattheos will miss the team’s 2019 training camp as he completes treatments for testicular cancer. We wish him a speedy recovery!

“I’d like to thank everyone who reached out to offer support and well wishes since the diagnosis,” said Mattheos. “I’ve had amazing support from my friends, family, teammates, coaches and all of the hockey organizations I’ve been a part of, including the Hurricanes, Checkers and Brandon Wheat Kings.”

– Alex Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko and Ivan Barbashev of the St. Louis Blues brought the Stanley Cup to World Wide Technology Raceway for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, and Mike McKenna (yes, that one) was there to cover it for NHL.com.

Takuma Sato, driving the No. 30 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, won the IndyCar race over Ed Carpenter by .0399 seconds, but that was only a co-headline event Saturday for the 42,000 fans who showed up at the racing oval just east of downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch that has hosted this race in each of the past three years.

Several hours earlier, Pietrangelo, the Blues captain, emerged from the throng of attendees carrying the Cup, flanked by Parayko and Barbashev. They were greeted with a thunderous roar as the crossover between hockey and racing fans was on full display.

-Seattle’s incoming NHL franchise has an unaffiliated Facebook fan group that has gained quite a bit of attention lately.

-Claude and Ryanne Giroux welcomed their baby girl recently, and Uncle Gritty of the Philadelphia Flyers had to welcome her in his own way.

-Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy has saved his ticket stubs for all of the hundreds of shows he’s attended over the past 40 years. He went over his collection with The Athletic. (pay-walled)

-Fans of the American Hockey League should be watching this situation closely:

Hopefully it gets resolved this week.

-The Iowa Wild announced three AHL signings yesterday, including former Crunch forward Olivier Archambault.

Archambault, 26 (2/19/93) will begin his second stint with the Wild, previously playing for the team from 2014-2016. Last season, the 6-foot, 190-pound forward from Le Gardeur, Quebec, split time between the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL and the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL. Archambault has recorded 35 points (16g, 19a) in 78 AHL games with the Hamilton Bulldogs, Iowa Wild, San Jose Barracuda and Syracuse Crunch and 145 points (71g, 74a) in 147 games in the ECHL with the Alaska Aces, Quad City Mallards, South Carolina Stingrays, Allen Americans and Orlando Solar Bears.

-The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters saw their arena get a facelift this past summer, and it sure is pretty (to be fair, the Cleveland Cavaliers play there, too, and they’re probably the bigger deal).

-Andrew Poturalski brought the Calder Cup to Buffalo recently.

At the party, the Fromens served Ted’s hot dogs and chicken wings from Bar Bill Tavern in East Aurora, wings routinely ranked among the best on the Niagara Frontier. “Everyone has their traditions, and I wanted to do something that was special to Buffalo,” said Poturalski, whose plan involved eating wings from the cup.

-Bracken Kearns is retiring from professional hockey. He last played in the NHL  for the New York Islanders during the 2016-17 season.

-The Ontario Hockey League is introducing video review for major and match penalties this season.

Under the new rule, any major or match penalty must be reviewed by the officials to confirm the call and that the correct player is being penalized. Officials can also reduce a penalty after a review, to a double-minor, two-minute minor or to no penalty at all as they see fit. Referees cannot review penalties they didn’t first call on the ice, or increase the severity of the punishment after review.

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Talking Points