Is Defense a Weak Spot for the Tampa Bay Lightning? | Training Camp Observations

Is Defense a Weak Spot for the Tampa Bay Lightning? | Training Camp Observations

A lot of the pundits say that defense is a concern for the Tampa Bay Lightning this year. So, how concerned should we really be with the Tampa Bay Lightning blue line? We’ll talk about it today’s Locked on Lightning podcast. You’re Locked on Lightning, your daily podcast on the Tampa Bay Lightning, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Thank you for making Locked on Lightning your first listen of the day every single day. We are your free daily Tampa Bay Lightning podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. As always, want to start out by saying hello to our everydayers. Those of you who tune in to every single show every single day, we love you. We appreciate the support you give us week in week out. I’m Nick Morgan and I am joined by the Clayton Kershaw to my An Copitar. What a rough day for LA Sports fans yesterday. Greg Steven. Greg, welcome aboard, buddy. Good morning. Good morning. Happy Friday. This is a great Friday. We had a little camp yesterday, a little practice. We’ll talk about that. Got a little defense talk and then a little fun topic at the end. We do. So, uh, if you haven’t seen the NHL player poll that came out in the Athletic, uh, a couple of, uh, fun topics to talk about, the biggest one had to do with who was going to be the future face of the NHL. It was a little surprising. Uh, plus big topic of cons. I guess not concern depending on who you ask, but I would say a a topic that I think a lot of people around Lightning Nation have been talking about has been the state of the defense. A lot of people around the NHL think maybe that’s the Lightning’s weak point. How much of a concern actually is it? That’s a conversation that we will have on today’s show. But first, players on the ice at training camp. Yesterday was the first actual practice of the new season. God, it felt uh good just watching players out there on the ice getting ready. Um looked like they were having fun. I know a lot of them had been kind of skating off on their own for a while, but Greg, uh what stood out to you for the first day of Lightning Camp? Well, first thing that stood out to me was a The Lightning posted on their socials a big photo of Nikita Coutra with a gigantic smile. And that’s not that’s not a common photo. Unless there’s a Bud Light in his hand with him, right? So, love seeing that. You know, obviously he’s excited to get back out there and you love to see that because, you know, he’s been around a while now. So, you want to make sure these guys are still passionate about what they’re doing. And I don’t think Cooch is a guy who’s not passionate. So, uh, great to see him with a big smile on his face. I’m sure he’s excited to, uh, show the fans he’s ready to continue his domination. Yeah. Uh, I believe it was, uh, Gabby Shirley from from lightning.com who said that uh, Coutur was actually the first player to hit the ice of any of the practice sessions. Kind of like the first person to hit the ice. that’s symbolic. Um, you know, because because it kind of, you know, a lot of the season’s going to depend on him, but kind of just shows you how locked in he is and ready to go. And look, there’s questions following him after his playoff performance last year. Uh, you know, it’s been much talked about that it’s been 16 games, I think, without a goal for him. So, this is a guy that he appears to be locked in heading into the new year. Definitely. And I love the fact that he’s that guy that even when the practice isn’t happening like before this he you know he’s been skating for the last few months like he’s that guy who’s been practicing already and he’s got that big smile I think because everyone else is back you know. Yeah. I love that. Um trying to find I I saw this uh stat that I was I think I mentioned to you earlier off air. I was trying to find it so I didn’t get it wrong but I wanted to just throw it out there. He uses this Bower stick that they printed in like 2011 and they don’t even make the stick anymore, but they print it for Cooerov and he uses like two to three of them a game. So, he has like three or 4 hundred of them made only for him because he just loves that stick design. And I know that’s a hockey thing, but wow, he’s been using like the same exact model stick for 14 years pretty much straight. And I just love that he no change. And you know, at this point some of the guys changed. I think Ovetkin changed only a couple years ago actually. So, I like that he’s like a he’s really a ma what’s it called? A creature of habit. That’s the looking for. He’s like the old school uh player that just follows the same superstition every single time. Right. Right. I love that. It’s it’s one of my favorite parts of hockey actually. Yeah. If you’re making his sticks, what are you going to do? Say no to Nikita Cooer off. Right. Appears to be working for him just fine. Um, the other thing is we look, it looks like we got our early look at some of the early line combinations, which um, bigger deal because there’s no Nick Paul and we were talking yesterday about some of the ways that John Cooper might shuffle the lineup to address Paul’s absence. Um, yeah, and and not not really a big surprise here. the the top two lines are exactly what we’ve been talking about all offseason against the point CRO Hegel Celli Gonzalez uh Yanni Gourd is going to be it looks like bumped up to the third line between Oliver Bjorkstrand and Morgan Geeki and then it looks like they have Pontis Holberg moving over to play center. We’ll talk about Holberg in just a second. Uh alongside Zus Gergensson’s and Mitchell Chaffy on the wing. So yeah, Greg, I mean, it’s it’s kind of what we talked about. The simple answer was maybe like moving Yanni Gourd up. We thought maybe we would see depending on how some of the younger guys looked, um, you know, maybe somebody like Sam O’Reilly, Dylan Duke filling that hole, maybe Jack Finley. Uh, but but it looks like they kind of go with the veteran move here and just bump Yiani Gourd up a spot. Yeah, I I don’t have any issues with any of that. Um I do still think it’s, you know, it’s not like these are solidified. So, um I do think there’s an opportunity to see some of those younger guys come up. Um I don’t know why they don’t give up on Jaffy, but I won’t go there too hard. I just He’s a nice guy. That’s great. I I’m all for nice. I’m all for nice guys. My job is to criticize your hockey at IQ, right? So, yeah, I don’t know. I I I don’t think he’s bad, but they had him on the power play for like a quarter of the season last year. Yeah, I I’m sorry. I I just I can’t get behind it. Okay. I mean, I don’t think he’s like the worst player. Like, like who’s Okay. I I know what you’re gonna say, but who does what Mitchell Chaffy does right now like better than Mitchell Chaffy? Everyone. I don’t I think he’s got a skill set. Okay. What What do you think it is? He’s not like he’s not like a topline guy, but I mean I think he forche solid. Um you know, I think he he’s solid. He’s more physical. Two-way. Yeah, he’s more physical. I think you need players like that on the roster. I’m not saying like he’s going to earn his spot. I’m just saying he’s not trash. And that’s You know what? And I will and I will say this because because I want to get to this next point. I do think that as camp goes on and some of the younger players like Jack Finley, like Dylan Duke start getting more minutes and they start getting in front of the coaches more. That’s when I think maybe some of these roster battles open up a little bit because right now you’re going with just sort of, you know, the veteran group that’s been there. Yeah, you know, if some of these guys impress in camp, impress during preeason, impress some of the practices, I think you’ll start seeing maybe John Cooper willing to open things up a little bit more and experiment. Um, and maybe that’s when, you know, you look and say like, okay, has has somebody jumped ahead of Mitchell Schaffe and earned that spot to be on like a fourthline wing? And there is kind of a particular style for which you have to play there to keep in mind too. Um like you can’t like you’re not going to put, you know, you know, a a dynamic young Ford on there and expect to get the same out of your fourth line as you would, you know, a more physical guy. You kind of have to be mindful of that, too. But I I don’t know. Like I’m I’m thinking give this, you know, a couple practices, a couple of days, and see how we look then. Yeah. No, I’m with you. I don’t think it’s like, you know, cut him, but he had 18 points in 66 games last year. He was minus three. Um 20 minutes in the box. Uh shooting percentage was 17%, probably a little high. Um, I don’t know. You’re not saying anything that you would look at and be like, “Oh, that’s that’s bad for a fourthline guy.” No. And I’m not saying it’s bad, but I am saying that I would prefer to give a 22year-old developing player time with the Lightning than a 27year-old who should be in his prime right now. And that’s the numbers he’s producing. Sure, that’s fair. Yeah, that’s all. I I value like uh development right now, I think, more than just like slotting in a guy who’s average. That’s a that’s again that’s that’s a fair take. Yeah, we’ll see what happens. I’m very curious to see um once these younger players get some more practices in them, how things open up because I do think there’s the potential for some competition there on the bottom line. And of course, you’re also with you’re still going to need like some extra Fords and stuff. you’re gonna need a, you know, you’re gonna need your 21st, 22nd players on the roster. There’s going to be opportunities, I think, for a couple different people to jump up and take a spot. Um, but we’ll we’ll see how camp rolls out. The big question for a lot of people heading into this Lightning season is on the blue line. Is there enough depth there to really keep up with some of the contenders around the NHL, particularly the Florida Panthers? That’s a topic we will tackle in just one second. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel because it fits however I like to bet at any given moment. I can do player props. I can build a sync game parlay or my favorite thing to do, I can jump into the action live as it unfolds with some live bets. It makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup, it’s quick, easy, and the best way to add a little zest to your football watching experience. So, if you’re ready to play, download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. again. FanDuel.com to place your first $5 bet. We are back on Locked on Lightning. Nick Morgan here alongside Greg Steven. And Greg, big topic for the Lightning going into this year has been on the defensive side. Uh that is a lot of people that have, you know, I I guess a lot of people have that down as a question mark for the Tampa Bay Lightning. A lot of people questioning the depth uh behind Victor Hedman. A lot of people, you know, questioning maybe age with Ryan Mcdana. Uh and a lot of people just, you know, are saying quality. You know, you look at the Florida Panthers and how deep they are in the blue line. Um so I guess I I’ll keep this open-ended. How concerned are you about the blue line this year? I’ll just outright say I am much more optimistic about the defense this year than I was last season. Yeah, fair. First of all, going into last season knowing that Pervix was going to play a bunch of minutes just hurt me physically. Um and then they played him all 82 game or not all 82 games but close probably. I don’t even know actually. Um but look, he’s gone. That’s huge in my book. Um lot of lot of positional errors last season. um just painful fundamental you don’t know where you should be on the ice errors and that is a problem at the NHL level. Um obviously guys are going to make errors. It’s just part of all sports and life really. But just too many last season too too far too many. Um look that’s given. You got new guys. You got Lillmberg, right? It’s not like Radish has been around for 10 years with the Lightning, you know, you got JJ, new face, Andy was injured, you know, so I I didn’t have crazy high expectations anyway. Um, now that being said, going into this season, I expect a lot of that to be rectified. I do. I like like I’ve I’ve rambled about this many times. There’s no excuse for Liber to have a 100 penalty minutes, and that better be cut in half this season. And they better have they they I hope they beat that into his head this whole off seasonason summer because that’s a huge issue. It is like you cannot take a penalty every single game. That is more than a penalty a game. That’s Well, and to be fair, as somebody pointed out, he did have a decent number of fights. Sure, that’s still crazy high. Yeah, 100 penalty minutes is insane. I mean that’s that’s way too high especially for I don’t know if he was Mar and he’s putting up 100 minutes fine but it’s he’s not right like what do you have 11 points 20 points something somewhere in there I think it’s like I think it was more like 11 but anyway regardless I’ll move on from that and say I am very optimistic about Croer as I’ve mentioned um I think if they bring him up and he actually plays a significant amount of games that’s going to be a big plus actually for the Lightning Um, as far as age goes, I’m not concerned. I thought Hedmond looked good. We actually we we did our player preview. We thought he did fantastic. Actually, I thought he had one of his he had a good season. So, you know, you can you can say old man Headmond all you want. The dude’s got it. Like he’s I don’t know. Maybe you see slight regression this year because what’s he 37 now? Maybe. Uh he’s I don’t think he’s that old. I think he’s Hang on. He’s 34. Google knows. He is 34. He will be 35 in December. Okay. So, yeah, even more of a reason. It’s like he’s not even, you know, that is definitely the tail end of a guy’s career, but again, he’s not he’s not 38, 37. So, that’s great. So, again, I don’t I don’t think he’s going to regress significantly. So, that’s a huge plus for me. I think the thing that’s missing, and I know I’ve rambled, but the thing that’s missing is that angry is the wrong word, but the fired up, super physical defenseman. Um, and I think that’s going to be Lillberg. Mhm. In the coming years. And I know he is physical. He does fight like you mentioned. And he he does get feisty, and I love that. That’s my favorite part about him. Um, so it’s so you don’t think it’s Eric Chernack? Yeah, I was going to bring that up. I I do think he is that guy, but again, since that one injury, he just has not been a fighter. He’s not really been um same the same caliber uh toughness is the wrong word, but you can definitely tell he’s not going to be the guy that dives in head first into a brawl, right? He’s just taking less less risks as far as um physical damage to himself and I do not blame him at all and I’m not and I in no way am I blaming him for that because I would do the same thing, right? But no. Yeah. No, it’s definitely it’s definitely a thing. So, you know, I I do I do hope Lillberg takes a big step forward and I expect him to. So, um I don’t I am not concerned. Actually, I’m just gonna end my my ramble with the fact that I am not concerned about the defense. I think it’s going to be good. You know what? It was a good ramble. Thank you. Fantastic ramble, Greg. Had a lot to say. I’m with you there. I think I agree with everything you said. Um I’m not expecting a big drop off from Headman. Um you know, Ryan Mcdana is I think a question mark in terms of age, but the thing about Ryan Mcdana that we’ve seen the past couple of years is that he’s so smart. He’s got such a good hockey IQ that he can, you know, it it helps other area of his game when he has lost a step in terms of speed. And I think he has. His positioning is fantastic. He is somebody that I think is really good and is going to adjust with age. Um, and you know what, he he’s still looked pretty solid last year, so I’m good with that. Um, I I’ve said it many times. I think JJ Moser is a guy who I think is there’s more in the tank for him. I think last year was just kind of getting him used to the way the Lightning want to play, but we’ve seen him have 30 point seasons uh in Arizona. So, I think that we’re going to see him maybe take the next step. The question marks to me are what happens if somebody gets injured because I think that’s the biggest question mark. You look at the offense, Nick Paul’s out, you have enough guys that you can shuffle around and we looked at those offensive lines and we we still think like, yeah, that’s that’s a dangerous lineup. We’re still happy with that lineup. You take somebody important, whether it’s Victor Hedmond himself, which that’s a whole different concern, but you take out like Eric Chernack in the middle line, and all of a sudden there is a bigger hole that’s harder to fill than you would if somebody on offense is out like it is now. I think that to me is the biggest concern is if these guys don’t stay healthy. There’s the the quality of depth behind them. And I’m I’m including the AHL in this too. There’s not like a guy that you look at and say like, “Oh, this is this is a guy who’s ready to take the next step outside of maybe Max Croer.” Agreed. And that’s why I think there is no excuse for the deadline acquisition this season to not be a defenseman. I think they they need to go out and get Yeah. like someone and we’ll see where they’re at at that point. We got a long way before then. So, you never know what’s going to happen, right? You could have three forwards go down for all we know. But, you know, I think with a healthy current lightning roster, that is what you are targeting right now. I I don’t see what else you want other than another massive defenseman, not size uh impact. Yeah. Uh the other thing is you just hope the Lightning are good and don’t wind up being sellers, right? That would be the day. I don’t see there’s no way they’re going to be sellers, right? Like I no something absolutely horrendous would have to happen. Yes. Surely not, right? No. Yeah. Um I think the other one last quick note is just the bottom the bottom pair. I know we have Lilberg there. Darren Radish obviously had a great offensive year last year. Um I don’t think anybody was expecting that kind of offensive production from him going into last year. Um curious if that was a flash in the pan or if this is just something that Darren Radish can offer. Um you know we we talked about his defense and how he was used almost 70% in in offensive zone starts which is wild for you know anybody not named Nikita Cucharov. Um, but it’s it’s going to be interesting to see if he keeps up that level of offense he did last year and if not uh if there’s maybe a a battle there for for the everyday six and you know we talked about Croer. Um the other guy who is kind of skating with the first team right now is Declan Carile who played uh um Blue Leaf three games with the Lightning last year and actually uh had a had a goal. So uh there there could be opportunity for there if that if if we don’t see the same level of offense that Darren Radish put out last year. Yep. Yeah. And I think both those guys are are solid and they look like they’re improving every season. So, I’m I’m comfortable slotting them in. Yeah. Here’s a question for you, Greg. Who do you think is the next face of the NHL? What player do you think is going to be the the next generation’s Conor McDavid? You might be surprised who the NHL players picked for that answer. We’ll talk about that coming up in just one second. Welcome back to Locked on Lightning. Nick Morgan here with Greg Steven. Greg, we have a player poll from the Athletic. Uh they do these preseason every year. This is from Michael Russo at the Athletic. Um a lot of interesting ones. We have like the teams that players would most want to get traded for. Uh we have you know thoughts on the short-term deal and contracts shorts or you know uh some thoughts on the the Olympics coming up. Uh but the one that caught both of our eye was one about the future face of the NHL. Uh so the question was not including current stars. Who do you think is the next face of the NHL? overwhelming 24 votes out of 39 responses. It’s not Conor BDard, it’s Mlinchellini. Yes, this was this was kind of the upset. Connor Baddard, who two years ago a lot of people were saying is like the next Crosby. He’s like the next, you know, big face of the league. We’ve seen him thrown on ESPN for some terrible Blackhawks games. He wasn’t even second on the list. Gavin McKenna, uh, who’s supposed to be the number one pick in this year’s coming draft, uh, had four votes. Conor Bedard had three, Matthew Schaefer had two, and then, uh, one vote each for James Hagens, Zayn Perk, which that’s a that’s a wild take. Leo Carlson, Jack Hughes, Mate Mitchkov, and Lane Hudson. So your thoughts was on there. Do what? Mitchov was in that voting. Yeah, Mitch. Yeah, he had one vote. Um, interesting poll to say the least. Greg, what are your thoughts on it? Oh my god, I love Celibbrini. I think Celerini is better than Bard by a lot. I don’t even think it’s close. But there is some there is a caveat there. It’s that the fact that the Blackhawks are awful. Um, no part of the Blackhawks is good right now in my opinion. Not as like it’s just it’s awful. I think they’re going to be dead last. Um, Bedar can be as good as he wants. It does not matter. That being said, you put Celabbrini on the Blackhawks, I think he still does better than Baddard. Let’s see. I Here’s the thing. Conor Baddard has not had, I think, the dynamic start that everybody thought he’d had. Um, but it’s not like he’s been trash. No. Um, it is wild. Minus 80 for his career so far. Oh, I mean again, he’s got absolutely no help around him. I mean, yeah. I mean, here’s the thing, and I will say this about NHL players. We live in a very, I think, instant gratification world. Yes. And I think there is a tendency, not just for fans, but I think a handful of teams as well, and this is true across all sports, not across the NHL. If a player isn’t what you think he’s going to be within the first three years, you give up. You kind of give up on them or or you go, you know, a different direction. I mean, how many NFL quarterbacks have we’ve seen get labeled as busts two two three years, turn around five years down the road and become studs. Yeah. In in the NFL, as you mentioned, there’s one in Tampa Bay right now who fits that bill. Uh there’s one in Detroit who’s a perennial MVP candidate. I I think you see that sort of when it comes to prospects around sports and different prospects have different challenges to get to where they need to be. Um some are more of a slow burn, some are they’ll show you their ceiling right away. Um or you know come in and make an instant impact. One guy I always think of is Nathan McKinnon. You know, in Colorado, how many years were we talking about McKinnon being, you know, he’s he’s pretty good. I wouldn’t necessarily call him a superstar. He was just a really really solid player for the Colorado Avalanche. It’s what, four, five years into his career, Jed Jared Bedar comes in, something clicks and all of a sudden Nathan McKinnon is arguably one of the top five best players in the entire NHL. generational talent as Stanley Cup champion. We see that with a lot of players and I think it’s it’s way too early to not look at Conor Bard and be like or or look at him and be like, “Oh, no. This isn’t this isn’t what we thought it was going to be.” And and you know what, Greg, we we’ve seen Plenty go the other way, too. I mean, Trevor Zegris was supposed to be the next best scoring winger in the NHL. Brock Besser was supposed to be like the next dynamic player. You remember Josh Hosang and how much hype there was around his debut in his first year. So I just it’s it’s crazy to me that people are giving up on Connor Baddard this early. I’m with you. I love Mlin Celibbrini. He’s an awesome player. That San Jose Sharks team is going to be fun to watch. He’s going to be a legitimate star in the league. It just feels crazy to it it it it just feels crazy to discount Conor Madd. I’ll say that um Badard is a star and I think he will be a star. I don’t think there’s any doubt in my mind about that personally. Like you said, it’s so early. He’s so young and he’s so small. He has so much adjusting to do and he’s playing on such a bad team. It’s a terrible team. And let me throw in one more thing that I think a lot of people forget. Not only is he young, but all these people in the hockey world are saying, “This kid is supposed to be amazing. Why isn’t he?” And that takes a toll on any person. Okay, Celabbrini got to enter this season with that spotlight on Badard and he got to just walk in and be himself and I think that played a huge role in in why it it looks this way right now. Um so I definitely think there is some factor there of like pressure. Um so I give Baddard a lot of credit because I think he’s still a point per game player, right, already? So, or at least close, right? Yeah, he’s 128 points in 150 games. So, and he missed sometime with injury, too. So, let’s not call him a point per game, but he’s close. And to be that way at hit at what’s he is he 19 now? He’s 20 now. He’s not even 21. He can’t even drink. And he’s almost a point. So, all these pets came while he was 19 years old in his second NHL season, right? And he’s he’s a small kid. He’s only 5’10. I mean, that’s not tiny because I’m only 5’7, but look, like Mlin has a lot more help, too. Like Will Smith around him, great. Ecklund is looking great. Like they got Ascarov developing in goal. Like they got some really good vets like Tofoley over there. You could tell they have a great vibe in the room. They just have a good time. Bard looks miserable. Yeah. So, well, and the Blackhawks do have a good prospect bull. They just haven’t quite made it to the NHL yet outside of uh Nazar maybe. But I think yeah, I think you’re going to see maybe starting this year some of the some of the Blackhawks help coming through the system. And then I think once they get up to speed, then I think you’re going to see Betard really come up. Um you know, the veterans that they brought in over the years just haven’t helped. Um, you know, you look at you what what Tyler Tofoley has been able to do in San Jose and kind of be that veteran presence. Uh, Bard hasn’t had that kind of help yet. Tyler Batusi is not that guy. Right. Exactly. And and I like that both teams were trying to do the whole enforcer thing. Like the Sharks just brought in Ryan Reeves just just for that, right? To to be that guy to protect these young kids that are just having a good time. and and the Blackhawks brought in Maroon, right? Was that last season? Uh it might be Yeah, it was last season. Um so, you know, they’re trying. It’s not like these teams aren’t trying to make these guys look what they should be. Um but I just again the roster the it’s just so much so lopsided. And the last my last thing about this is the voting just seems so lopsided. Like I do think Celbrini is better right now. I do think in my opinion he will be better. for long term. I just think his game looks just great. Like he just looks so comfortable. He looks amazing. But but what was it? 24 to three between these two on the votes. Yeah, he had celebr had 24 of the 37 votes. That’s crazy. That’s insane. That’s I would not have guessed that from still, you know. Yeah. So, one more thing. Sorry before we go. Mitch looks awesome, too. And I’m shocked get more than one actually. That’s why I had mentioned it when you said his name. I was like, he only got one. That’s insane. So, I really thought he’d get like I don’t know more than that. I think if you if you do this poll two years from now, Gavin McKenna is going to be number one on that list. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I I back in with you in a couple of years, Nick. I I have that much belief in how good he looks. I mean, I say that now and he’s going to be trash at Penn State, but yeah, he’ll he’ll wind up being on Mitchell Chaffy’s line somewhere someday. Mitchell Ch. Yeah. Um, yeah, interesting player poll. Uh, if you want to to see the rest, go on the athletic. Um, there should be some interesting stuff for you on there. Uh, that’s going to do it on this week’s bunch of Locked on Lightning podcast. We have a lot more coming up next week. Thank you for making us your first listen of the day. Back with an all new episode on Monday. We’ll see you then, folks.

Tampa Bay Lightning’s defense takes center stage as training camp kicks off. Is the blue line ready for a deep playoff run?

Nick Morgan and Greg Stephen analyze the Lightning’s defensive corps, highlighting key players like Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonough. The duo breaks down training camp line combinations, Nikita Kucherov’s early enthusiasm, and potential roster moves. Plus, they tackle the surprising results of an NHL player poll on the league’s future face, debating the merits of top prospects Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard.

Tune in for insider perspectives on the Lightning’s defensive strategy, training camp standouts, and the next generation of NHL superstars. Will Tampa Bay’s blue line hold strong, or is a trade deadline move on the horizon?

Is Defense a Weak Spot for the Tampa Bay Lightning? | Training Camp Observations
0:00 Intro: Lightning defense concerns
5:03 Early line combinations at training camp
10:31 Analyzing Lightning’s defensive depth and concerns
17:16 Potential defensive acquisitions at trade deadline
21:45 NHL player poll on future face of league
27:51 Comparing Bedard and Celebrini’s potential impact

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FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)