Lightning has much to prove as training camp opens
Hockey is back. It seems such a long time ago since the boys of winter were last on the ice. The Tampa Bay lightning are coming off what I think is one of the most disappointing seasons in history missing the playoffs by one point.
The Lightning finished with 94 points, so close and yet so far away from a playoff berth. The horrendous start to the season. The Steven Stamkos Injury. The Ben Bishop injury. The January-February swoon. All were contributing factors to the Lightning missing the playoffs.
Everyone had jumped on the bandwagon until there was no more room for a single soul. Most pundits had the Lightning going to the Stanley Cup Final and winning it all.
So that is the stage that has been set as the lightning begin their quest for a 2017-18 playoff bid. Steven Stamkos is back and healthy. Hopefully the injury bug will stay away from Stamkos this season. Stamkos has missed a substantial amount of time due to injury in three of the last five seasons. Stamkos is overdue to have an injury free season and play like the Stamkos we have come to expect.
A lot of interesting storylines for this Lightning camp. We already dissected the Stamkos situation. Another Lightning forward Ryan Callahan is finally healthy and should be a solid contributor after missing most of last season with complications from hip surgery.
Callahan is projected to play on the third line with newcomer Chris Kunitz and Brayden Point. The Lightning need him to be healthy and be a contributor this season.
Will the 19 year old phenom defensemen Mikhail Sergachev make the team? Sergachev one of the best up and coming young defensemen in professional hockey was acquired from Montreal in the Jonathan Drouin trade. Sergachev will be given every opportunity to make the team. If he makes the team would the Lightning keep seven or even eight defensemen?
Right now Hedman and Stalman are the top defensive parings followed by Coburn and newcomer Dan Giradi, and then the third defensive line of Koekoek and Sustr.
As you can see, this group does not include Jake Dotchin who I thought played extremely well last season. So well that he was paired with Victor Hedman at certain times. If Sergachev makes the team, I think the Lightning will trade a defensemen to create some room. I could see Coburn or Sustr being sent out.
Sergachev will get a fair opportunity during the early part of the season. If Yzerman and HC Jon Cooper do not think he is ready for the NHL he will be sent back to Juniors as he is not old enough to play At Syracuse in the AHL.
There is not a lot of spots to be filled on this Lightning team . There may be some movement on the fourth line, but the top three lines are pretty well set.
--Palat, Kucherov, Stamkos
--Killorn, Johnson, Namenstikov
--Kunitz, Point and Callahan
The fourth line right I believe will be Gourde, Paquette, and Brown. Gabriel Dumont will get his share of playing time as well as Erik Condra.
The goalie situation is solid with Andrei Vasilevskiy as the No. 1, and Peter Budaj as the back-up. The Lightning have 20 year old Conner Ingram waiting in the wings at Syracuse for his opportunity.
The Lightning have 63 players in camp, and these players are chomping at the bit to get going this season. They know they missed a great opportunity last season, and let the organization down. My bet is the Lightning learned a hard lesson last year and learned that you cannot loose points in the early part of the season and expect to just turn it on down the stretch run and pile up the points when other teams are also fighting for their playoff lives.
It's shaping up to be another exciting season of hockey in Tampa Bay and I can't wait to see it unfold.
