Lightning Power Lunch – September 26, 2025

Lightning Power Lunch – September 26, 2025

This is Lightning Power Lunch on the Lightning Audio Network with Dave Michigan and Greg Lenelli. Yeah, a lot of familiar faces, a lot of guys back. So, I think that’s uh huge for us just to, you know, be familiar with everyone and and have that team feel right off the bat. So, um like I said, I think, you know, we’re battling hard. We’re skiing up and down the ice. So, I think it’s uh it’s been a uh first, uh week of camp. H. Come on. We’re battling hard. I love it. I love these things. Big game for us tonight. Are you excited to be back in the arena? Benchmark International. I’m excited to see everybody. Yeah. You know, in terms of the game, yeah, you know, you and I have been through these enough where I think particularly a team that is pretty accomplished coming back. I mean, other years are more interesting when it comes to preseason than others. You know, I think probably like a lot of fans, you want to see some guys you haven’t heard of. You want to see some prospects. Yeah. But you know what Celli can do, you know what Cucharov can do. Maybe we’ve got a little more news on the power play partner and we can talk about that. Vassie update. We can talk about that. I mean, we have some stuff to fill an hour. Yeah. I mean, this is interesting. This is interesting. But like in terms of the game, preseason number game number three against Carolina again, like okay, you know, I’m it is what it is. So, on the scale of like totally chill at one end and full-on panic attack at the other, where were the majority of Lightning fans on his Vaselki situation prior to John Cooper’s update yesterday? And where are they post John Cooper update where Coupe gave an update and said Vaselki will be back at practice on Monday. So they’re basically giving him the first week plus off of training camp and the expectation is that he’s going to get into certainly one of the final three preseason games. So did John Cooper take the Florida Panther approach with Andre Vasileleski and basically just say come back that last week of preseason? You’ve played a lot of hockey. If you’ve got some aches and pains, I mean honestly just come back the last game maybe even in preseason and and you’ll be fine. I don’t mean to make light of it because I think what happened two years ago was still very much in the minds of Lightning fans that were concerned that we’re farther along on that sliding scale toward the the panic end. And look, it’s it’s possible that whatever was bothering him, if that’s the right way of of putting it, you know, who knows if if a week plus is enough. All we can do is go by what the team is saying. And two years ago, the team came out and said Andre Vasilask has to have a surgery. Like there was never any indication that this was anything more than a week or a week plus. And that’s exactly, you know, what it was. Now, let’s see how he looks when he gets back into practice and let’s see how he looks in in the one, I’m presuming one preseason game that he gets into. But hopefully for Lightning fans, if they were worried about this or losing sleep over this, hopefully this takes some of the pressure out of the balloon. I think it’s they can just kind of settle back in. And also, you know, we mentioned Point and Homeberg yesterday and Coupe kind of shrugged that off. In fact, Braden Point’s playing tonight. So there there you go. So there you go. Listen, I just to put a bow on the Vasy stuff, I understand it. Vassie is shaky. Vassie is injured. Vassie isn’t ready to go that re you re-evaluate things based off of the information that’s provided to you. And if something’s happening to one of your best players and look, Vassie is who he is. Whether some people think his play is declined or other people think he’s still the best goalender in the league, he’s still a top five goalender in the league. And if there’s anything there that jeopardizes that stature to a degree, it’s going to affect the team. Might not be in the in the regular season, but it could be in the pre in the in the postseason. So, you want to make sure a guy like that is okay and ready to go. So, another reason why you have to be tempered in your emotions when it comes to the information that’s provided to you, but also, you know, how are you responding um to the team handling that situation? Is it early in the season? We’ve often said this before. If you’re going to deal with an injury to a player of great prominence, you want it to happen early on if you can. Yeah. And who knows if honestly Greg who knows if this was even an injury it might not maybe it just player maintenance and that’s fine and that’s that’s why I think sometimes you have to give things in today’s news cycle almost like 48 hours before you can really digest news that’s given to you because it can change and I think that’s all the I I think that’s normal for fans to react that way and I think you’re right because we’re so we’re not that far removed move from when he had a surgery. Yeah. And so, but it’s not that. No. And so, you dodge a bull. The beginning part was similar and in that he came out for the start of training camp and then was gone and left the ice and wasn’t seen on the ice. But anyway, as far as as far as tonight’s game goes, Carolina is bringing a team without many what we would call they’re not bringing their top end NHL guys. Now, they’re bringing some NHL guys. Yep. Sperry Cook and Y is in the lineup tonight. Um, you know, Alexander Nikeshan, who played in the first game between the teams, he’s going to be in the NHL this year. he is he is on the trip. But I’m looking at the rest of their lineup and it’s really a lot of bubble guys or AHL guys, which I mean the the opposite was kind of the case for the Lightning when they played Nashville. In fact, the Lightning are not using as NHL heavy a lineup as Nashville did. So, I’m just telling you if you’re going to the game tonight, you’re watching the game, it’s going to be on the spot 66. Good luck to to Dave Randorf and Brian Englom and the crew Paul Kennedy for a smooth sendoff with their new television partner. The final five preseason games will be televised, but you’re going to probably be hearing some names like, well, where’s Aaho? Where’s there is a Slavven in, but it’s Josiah Slavven. It’s not Jacob Slavven. So, that’s the sort of lineup we’re seeing from Carolina. For the Lightning, we are seeing Point Cut and Gensel. We’re seeing Hedman and Moser. Moser played in the first game, but I’m putting Moser in there because I think my expectation would be that Heedman and Moser will be paired together and that the top line will be a unit. Borkstrand is playing tonight. Other guys that that have been in games but are getting another game. Dylan Duke is in the lineup tonight. Voytech Dohoviaak is in the lineup tonight. Actually, I have the full list here. Nick Abberisi, who played in the Nashville game, is in. We’re going to get our first look at Max Croer. Jack Finley is back in the lineup tonight, as is Ethan Goautier. Gurgensson’s played in the Nashville game. He’s in. Grochev’s back on defense. The goalies are Johansson and Menigan. They were the goalie tandem when the Lightning played at Carolina, but Johansson got the whole game. It sounds like Medigan may get a period tonight, so that’ll be exciting for him. Yeah. Gabriel Stutz is in. So I mean a lot of these guys played in an earlier game unless they’re in the point coutel headman category. One other guy I’m going to mention. I was kind of surprised to see this because the news broke during training camp but Lightning signed a forward named Dominic James. Did you see that press release, Greg? Came out came out maybe a week ago. I do remember it. Yeah. So, usually like the training camp roster is set and you know the Lightning signed him. So, I was kind of curious like what was this? So, he was a college player. He’s no longer playing college hockey. He’s turned pro. He was drafted by Chicago in 2022. So, as we’ve talked about a lot as it related to the Isaac Howard situation, usually if a player is drafting going to college, there’s four years before that player can reach UFA status. This happened after three years for Dominic James, but I noted that Dominic James was drafted by Chicago basically the year that he turned 20. So he was drafted later. So I actually talked to him today after the skate because he’s in the lineup tonight. And he played in Minnesota Duth. So I said like three years. He said, “Yeah, because basically because I was drafted as a 20-year-old, I had three years of Chicago holding my rights.” And he said, “I decided to run out the clock and wait for a better option.” So, as much as I was kind of on the other side of the coin last year, like the team that drafted the player, they spent all this time like that happened in Chicago, right? But Dominic James is like, I I don’t want to be in Chicago. So what I said was, you know, Jason Shogabay is a guy to Lightning of Drafted and we’ve seen him at the the development camp in July in Brandon. In fact, this last summer he was there. He plays a Minnesota Duth. In fact, he just finished his first year. And I I asked Dominic James like, “Did you get the sense that because the Lightning were following a guy they had drafted, Shogabay, and they saw you, you know, like how did this come about?” and he said, “Well, actually, my drafty or the Lightning were one of the teams that were talking to me.” Now, he was a sixth round pick, so it’s not like the Lightning like missed out on this guy. You know, they could have taken him in the first five rounds, you know, if they had a pick. They chose not to, but they were interested in him. Yeah. And he became available, but he was not available until August. So, he basically didn’t do anything in terms of like structured camp stuff over the summer. He just worked out on his own. He’s from Michigan. So, he admitted like, you know, I’m probably a little bit behind the eightball because I didn’t have a development camp this particular year. I didn’t have a prospect tournament. Chicago was fine letting me run out the clock, but I wasn’t going to go to their like structured organizational events. So, probably the fact that they had to wait so long and then they had to maybe work out a deal, who knows? He signed a two-year he signed a two-year contract, but, you know, he is slated to be in Syracuse, I would guess, and he is going to be in the lineup tonight. So, that’s something that the fans might not know about this new Lightning player within the organization who is going to be in the lineup tonight. So, I just wanted to to get that out there. So, at the skate today, usually the Lightning run lines. They did not run lines at all. So, I I’m guessing that’s why I said I’m speculating that Pedman and Moser are together and the top line is together. Instead, they basically spent the entire morning skate working on power play. Now, they had two units. The second unit was a little bit of a a you know, put together based on who’s in the lineup. Like Duke was on the second unit, Stooviac was on the second. Moser, they had Abraisi and Goier. So, those are the five guys on the second unit. The first unit was the unit though. The first unit was gonna is the Lightning’s top unit because these five guys are in the lineup tonight. So you had Cutrov, you had Gensel, you had Point, you had Bjorkstrren, and you had Headman. And by the way, that makes sense. Yes. If you want to try and work on things, have that unit play together. Yeah. It’s not often that in a preseason game, you get your top power play unit. Yeah. Right. Like as a unit to to work on. So they spent a lot of time first five on zero. like they had no penalty killers out on the ice and they were just kind of working their positioning and then they they rotated two separate groups of four penalty killers. So they actually had to execute with with a penalty kill unit out there trying to stop them. So this is what I saw. What we had talked about was kind of their base setup, which is Cutro at the right circle, headman at the point, Gensel, Anthony, our dedicated van, goal line extended and front of the net, but mostly goal line extended. Borkst strand in the bumper, point at the left circle. That’s what we’ve been talking about, right? But there was a reason why they were working on this. So what I saw was I wouldn’t say that it was like movement like when we talk about Edmonton has a very like mobile power play and there are pieces moving all over the place. I wouldn’t classified as that. I would say more shifting. It was almost like think about a wide receiver running a route. And and I’m bringing this up because Cutrav and Headedman basically stayed put, but the other three guys, depending on what they wanted to do, shifted. So while Borkstrand was in the bumper and point was at the left circle, they had one sequence where Borkstrand shifted to the left, Point slotted to the middle, and Borkstrand actually went a little farther down to the lower part of the circle and became open for a seam pass, just lower. There was a and point was in the bumper where he has scored the majority of his power play goals in his NHL career. They had another sequence where Bjorkstrand and Point both shifted to the left. Bjorkstrand almost like almost ran a route like he looped from the the bumper to the top of the left circle and then to the bottom of the circle. Point stayed in the left side and Gensel went into the bumper and they basically worked the left side of the ice to set up Gensel for a one-time from the bumper. So, what this says to me is what Cutroof talked about on media day, which is I want to be on the right. We need a weapon at the left circle who is a righty to to set that up as an option and I don’t really like power plays that move. That’s basically what he said. you brought up and Braden Coburn also brought up when he was joining us earlier in the week that you know if you can have some pieces moving though it becomes less static. So I think that it’s almost like they’re trying a little bit of both. So Crop is at the right circle is at the center point but the other three guys depending on what they want to do may rotate and shift. Now, when the four penalty killers were out there, they mostly stayed with that, I’ll call it the set formation with Borkstrren in the middle and point at the left and Gensel at the goal line extended sometimes moving to the front. And this is something we talked about with Anthony. It’s not like Gensel doesn’t go to the front of the net. He probably goes to the front of the net a little bit less than Color did who was kind of sort of that guy before he left, right, which is going back a couple of years. I think Gensel goes less to the front of the net than Kornne, but he does go to the front of the net. Usually though, he is open for that coov pass to the goal line extended. So, I think they’re trying Greg. I think that they understand that, you know, you can’t replace Stampos. So, if you’re going to have the two righties, Borkstrand and Point, you need to get creative in a way to set up guys to be in a position to score. I think that’s what they’re trying. How will it work? I mean, this is early days, right? They have to kind of work through their reps. Bjorkstrand is new. I know he was with the team last year, but this is a new situation for him and it’s a new unit. So, they may go out there tonight against, let’s be honest, like the B team for Carolina on the penalty kill and they may struggle. That’s okay. Like the let’s get them reps. That’s the point. And you know, if they start the regular season and it’s just not clicking, then they have to go back to the drawing board. But early days, and this is the first time I’ve watched them actually work the power play because it’s usually been like the other sheet or, you know, I’m I’m focused on who’s playing in the game that night for my purposes. Um, but this is the first time I really watch them work the power play and that’s what I saw. And it’s pretty So I wanted to share that with you and the fans. That’s a great that’s a great analysis and it’s pretty clear they don’t want to tinker and make Cutroof uncomfortable moving him around. I didn’t see him on the left at all. Yeah. And so for me that that makes the most sense. I’m also curious to see out of that power play how often do they go back to a Headman or a Cutro for shot generation. Well, that was part of it. Yeah, because I think that can be just as effective and those guys all can crash the net. I mean, I know Kobe was talking about, you know, that shot from the point, it’s so hard to get through. Your job basically is to get it through and then you hope for the rebound, not necessarily scoring. And that’s a fair point. I think they have a lot of guys on that power play unit that can crash the net. They’re not your typical power forwards, but Jake Gensel is a great tipper. Yeah. And um he has the ability to crash the net. I mean, he’s just not the biggest guy. And I think point for sure does that. I mean, he’ll go hard. So, I think there’s going to be some opportunities there. And maybe that’s part of the movement with two or three of those players if they go that route on the left side is to not only create uh some momentum, some some shots and some angles where you have a free lane to the the net, but it might also open up opportunities when that shot does go through. You have guys in a position to crash the net. you know, because guys are moving around and maybe they’re closer and they’re able to get a cheap poke and they’re just they’re kind of gnats around the goalender because you can be distracting that way as well. So, I like the fact that their first power play unit is together tonight. And it’ll be curious to see partner how many games they get because I don’t think you want to do that at the expense of having Cutro play four preseason games. No, I don’t think that might be too many. So, but maybe it’s two. And and if you want the fiveman unit to be a fiveman unit, it’s not just Gudro. They all have to be playing. So that is the case tonight. I mean, I’m guessing that they will probably be a unit for one of the Florida games. That would be my expectation. Maybe more than one. We’ll see. It’s a priority. So, I mean, this goes to kind of this point of discussion where Cuchov when he met with the media before training camp started was like, we didn’t get it done in the power play. Yeah, they didn’t. Two for 18 against Florida. And they were also two for 18 against Florida in the regular season series against the Panthers. So, they struggled against the Panthers on the power play. Do you feel like, because I think we touched on this, but I’m curious seeing that that stat and hearing that stat, do you think that was more about Florida than it was Tampa Bay’s deficiencies? Or do you feel like they do need to change things up regardless? Because then Cro went a step further and said, “Look, we scored some of these goals on teams that weren’t great on the PK.” Yeah. I’m wondering how much of like it’s probably both, but what percentage do you say it was a reaction to what they did or didn’t do against Florida more so than Yeah, collectively we just felt like we took advantage of some bad PK teams or units rather than anything else. Well, as I said, you know, Ed and Cena did an article and and kind of looked at their power play percentage against playoffbbound teams and non-playoffbound teams, and there was a difference, but it wasn’t a huge difference. And I think I mentioned they had a great power play percentage against the Leafs and went a playoff team and went 0 and4 against the Leafs. So, you know, doing well in the power play didn’t necessarily equate to success in winning games, but we’re not really talking about that. We’re just talking about like how did the power play do? I think the power play was searching. The top unit was searching last year to figure out a way to get something solid in place in the absence of stampos. That is still ongoing. And that is why this is a priority in camp. I would call it a priority if they’re spending they’ve spent a lot of time in the power play already but if they spend a whole morning skate right working on the power play with this fiveman unit like they want they’re not going to have the same unit as they had when they had stamp ghost but I think they’d like a unit barring some injury where they can send the same five guys out there. We didn’t see that last year. We saw different guys, different spots. You know, Hegel was out there, Chaffy was out there, Radish was out there. Do would you say outside of health, partner, that that is the biggest question mark for the Lightning heading into the season is the power play. And I say that because they were great last year. Most important question. Yeah, I don’t know if it’s the most important question. A good power play is important, but you can be a good team with an okay power play. I have a hard time believing that this power play will be worse than okay. And it’s probably going to be quite good because even when they were kind of searching last year, you know, they they were the fifth best in the league in terms of their percentage. So, I guess I wouldn’t say it’s the biggest question because I still go back to like success in the standings is more tied to success defensively. I think if you defend well with or without a top power play, you are it is more predictive of success in the standings. That’s why I have a hard time saying it’s the biggest question. I think it’s a work I think it’s a work in progress and I think it’s a priority. Well, the question becomes too did the did the power play was that the the biggest reason they fell to the Panthers or did we just feel like the Panthers were the better team? And the reason why I say that I think two for 18 hurt and let’s say they had gone six for 18 that would have helped a lot. Yeah. But I mean the Panthers were just they were just moving. They were they played at a championship level and that includes their penalty kill. But it wasn’t only their penalty kill. That’s a fair point. It is a fair point. I am curious though because of who spoke about it, meaning Cutro, if it is something that is at least for him, not that he takes it personal, but like, hey, I want us to be consistently good against everybody this year on the power play. If we do that, it gives ourselves a better chance to win in the postseason. Let’s put it that way. Well, the C for Cooch, the power play is his baby. Like, it is his baby. I mean it is he still led the league in scoring last year you know but like for Kov and I’m not saying he’s a meme me like he wants the team to do well but the power play is way more on Kov’s radar than the penalty kill I mean he’s not playing on penalty kill penalty kill is very important though so I mean the coaching staff has to weigh all of this right it’s all important to to the coaching staff cur Here’s what our audience says radio. Yeah. They’re not going to be doing it in practice tonight. They’re going to be they’re going to be taking on, you know, an opposing penalty kill trying to stop them and let’s see how they look. But there is no question, Greg, they have weapons. They have excellent weapons on this five. I agree with you. I agree. So the question is, can they get in sync to the point that they are getting the puck to these weapons in a spot where they can do damage? If you get the puck to Oliver Bjorkstrand in the slot where he has a chance to get a shot off, that is a weapon. The same for Braden Point. If Braden Point is in the middle, if you give Coov an opportunity to deliver a seam pass to somebody who’s waiting on the other side of the ice and that pass gets through, there’s enough talent there that the puck probably is going in the net. So they’re already way ahead of the game as compared to most other teams based on the talent that they can throw out there. Now it’s just a matter of kind of finding a a setup formation. And I don’t mean formation like, you know, this is it cuz clearly they’re looking at having some some different looks, but settling into kind of reps depending on what the penalty kill team is doing that can allow them to have success. And keep in mind, you know, the best power plays are failing seven out of 10 times, if not more. You’re a Hall of Famer in baseball. You do that, right? So interesting. Um, from DO, I am saying that correctly. Dio, not Bo, from Dio on YouTube. E, everyone talking about Vassie makes me uneasy. It’s like talking about your offensive line in football. Well, look, in in a lot of instances, I mean, you could say quarterback’s the most important position uh in the NFL. To a degree, to a large degree, that is true. However, if you do not have an offensive line that can protect and run block, usually those go hand inand. And oftentimes a great offensive line can overcome even an over an average quarterback. I mean, we kind of seen that. Um, if you do not have a great goalender for the most part, it is hard to go all the way. Now, exceptions to every rule partner, we’ve seen it over the last probably 5 to 10 years, maybe even more so, but I still maintain that. And so when people are holding their breath because there could be some injury issues with Andre Vasilleski, I’m okay with that because he’s he’s that darn good. Yeah. And he means that much to the team. I mean that part of what makes the Lightning who they are and why we think every year they are a contender for the cup, at least to get into the playoffs for sure, is because of the guy they have in net. Let’s let’s not be misguided about this. Do you think this team with a full year of Jonas Johansson gets into the playoffs? Maybe. Maybe. I I don’t know. But I feel a full year of Andre Vasilki and that you’re darn right and you know a cup contender. There were people who were picking the Lightning to beat the Panthers last year before that series started. Now, obviously the Panthers proved them wrong, but a big reason was because of who you have in net. That’s why every year he gives you an opportunity to sit at the table and have those conversations, not feel out of place about the Tampa Bay Lightning being a team that you have to be aware of. So, yeah, it is like talking about the offensive line, might even be more so. So, keep that all uh keep that all in mind here. Bailey on YouTube says, “So glad that hockeyy’s back and you don’t know how good it feels to hear Dave on the call again.” Go Bolts. Well, thank you. Was it Bailey? Is that who it was? Yes. Thank you, Bailey. Never know how many people are actually listening when we like roll into Carolina. It’s like people know there’s a game tonight. they know how to find us on on the radio or on the stream, but they do. The social media aspect also helps. We’re promoting it and we’re putting the highlights on there. So, thank you, Bailey. Steve just sent me a text, partner, and we we got this um from FKA 322 on YouTube. He said, “Sorry if you already mentioned it, but what happened between Hegel and Schmidt in practice?” And then Steve just sent from They got into a dust up. That was after I had left. Yeah, it happens sometimes. Yeah, sometimes you get fights in practice. You do. Now look, I don’t want training camp and in the regular season. Well, I don’t want Hegel’s a fiery guy. That’s what one of the reason one of the many reasons we love watching him compete. I get that. And a lot of people will say we like that and and you know, we like Schmidt. I mean, you know, and I didn’t see the fight, so I’m sure we’ll maybe maybe somebody will have footage of it and we’ll take Yeah. And then it sounds like it was over and done with once it was over and done. But I mean, it’s always too one of those things you hold your breath a little bit. I mean, you just do. You just do because um guys are feisty. We know we know Hegel and some of the offseason comments he had, you know, regarding the Panthers and things like that. And, you know, at some point maybe that’s going to happen this year, but in in a meaningless situation, you do not want anybody to be injured in something like that. For sure. So, it does happen though. And it probably happened a lot more 20 years ago. Yeah. Right. I mean, let’s be pretty clear on that. Uh, Brandon on YouTube, um, let’s see here. Let me open up my text here. Uh, says, “Watching the power play all season long last year, it seemed like the set plays were too predictable. They just need to break out of their comfort zone to mix up the opposition.” Well, look, I don’t think the power play was as automatic in terms of like what we saw as when they had Stamp Ghost, but look, this is just stating the obvious. We’re saying it again and again and again. Like, if you pull a huge weapon off that unit, you have to go back to the drawing board. And I think they were like the the top power play was a work in progress for most of last year. I say all of last year because you know they were integrating Borkstrand before he got you know compartment syndrome. They were integrating him into the bumper like they were still mixing things up. I think my hope is and your hope is and the hope for the fans is and certainly it’s Jeff Halpern’s hope that they can find a fiveman unit that kind of settles in and that’s the unit that’s ideal. Yeah. But if it’s not working to your satisfaction, you’re going to tinker. And I think that’s what they did last year. They didn’t rehaul it, but they definitely tinkered. They were trying to find another way to get to where they wanted to get. And the fact that they finished fifth is quite remarkable, you know, given the fact that they were tinkering with it for much of the year. It’s a good point. Um, I mean, here’s another here’s another example for this upcoming year for another team. What are the Toronto Maple Leafs going to do without Mitch Mner? Mitch Martner is such a like even more than Stampos because Martner played penalty kill too. So and played a lot like I mean yes there was one point I think two years ago where he had he missed some time with injury but he has been very durable for them and in some ways if not the centerpiece a key key piece in everything they did. Now you’re removing that guy. How do you go forward? You do go forward, but you have to do things a different way. And what’s that going to look like for Toronto? I think Craig Bruy is an excellent coach. Like they’ll figure out something. But yeah, you can’t just say goodbye to somebody who’s a huge huge integral piece, particularly on the special teams, and at a skill level that you just can’t replace, you know, like you have to find another way to to accomplish the same thing. It’s a challenge. So there was nothing. Few things in sports are automatic. Getting back to the set plays. Few things are automatic in sports. Kareem’s skyhook, Jordan’s fadeaway, you know. Um, Ovetchkin’s one-time. I mean, those things Stampos is a one-timer. That’s what I was getting at, though. Yeah, you had it was a very rare thing to have on your team. Something that was wasn’t a slam dunk because you don’t score how many times Samur missed the the net or the goalender got him, but you don’t score how many goals he scored on the power play without it being somewhat of a threat. I mean, Dave, is it is it is it okay for me to say, look, Stamos is, you know, on average, what’s his goal total? 45 goal score per year, you know, maybe a little less than that depending on, you know, where he is. I mean, is it safe to say 15 of those maybe are coming from the power play? Yeah, he scored 14 power play goals last year for Nashville. Was, you know, not a good for Nashville, but yes, he still he still reached double digit and into the teens. So, for at least Stamco, you could sit there and say a third of my goals are going to come on the power play. So, I mean, again, it’s not a slam dunk, but it’s in in in the confines of talking about hockey. That’s a that’s a pretty good that’s a pretty good stat to look at and say, yeah, that that’s, you know, every couple of games you you might make a case that the Lightning are on the power play, Stamos may get one. That’s hard to say. You take that out of the lineup. Yeah. I mean, they’re they’re still an extremely talented team, but you’re going to have to find some ways to to manufacture some goals. And to your point, we’re going to see some of that hopefully tonight, that process because there’s no question, they still have tons of skill on that unit. I mean, you have every one of those forwards, Dave, is at least a 20 goal scorer. Every one of them. And you can make the case 30 goal scorers. I mean, Burkston, I don’t think has gotten there yet, but I think on this team he may have the opportunity to. And I guess I would I would differ a little bit from what the fan said when when the fan mentioned set plays. So going back to the Stampos days, yes, the players were set, but Cutrav had lots of options. So it wasn’t like Kudra was saying, you know, I’m going across the stamp goes come hell or high water. He’s like, what’s open, right? I mean, I guess it’s a little bit like a quarterback in the pocket, you know, has three, four options to to go down field, right? And maybe that is a set play, but to me, it’s not quite a set play because it’s reading and reacting to what’s what’s available, right? And most teams do use a power play that has some kind of structure to it. Even the ones that are mobile, I mean the players tend to go to where they are going to have success, right? So, I don’t think what the Lightning are are doing is I mean, maybe there’s with Cooch because he’s such a special player. They prefer to have the players be less mobile, but I don’t think it’s that much different from how a lot of teams like to set up on the power play. They have their players at certain spots. Part of that is, you know, your righties and your lefties. You want your righties to be in a position to shoot quickly. You want your lefties to be in a position to shoot quickly. Therefore, where they are on the ice matters. So, anyway, I’m glad we’re having such a long discussion about the power play, though, because it’s interesting. It’s interesting to to talk about and think about, and people want to know. Yeah, people want to know. Uh David on YouTube says, “Could Mcdana get a long-term contract? Considering Marian signed until he’s 43, it seems like a way to get the AAV down and the player will likely not play out the full duration of the contract. That’s a Julian Breezebot question. I don’t know if the Lightning have an appetite for for a long-term deal for a player, let’s say, in his mid to late 30s, but they’ll work with Mcdana and Mcdana’s agent to to come up with something that makes sense. I mean, what helps them is that, you know, Mcdana really wants to be here and the Lightning want Mcdana here. So maybe this is pie in the sky after what happened with Stampos because I really felt Stamp Ghost would resign with the Lightning. It didn’t happen. But I I feel that they’re going to get a deal done. Whether it’s going to be like a Marshian deal, I have no idea. The Lightning haven’t really done a lot of those though, honestly. I mean, I’m trying to think, you know, like Callahan’s deal was maybe a five or sixyear deal, think, right? He might have been in his early 30s when he got that deal. We’ll see, but we’re not going to see until next off season. Julian made that clear. Julian seems like from what we’ve seen, he sticks to his guns on what he thinks is a fair offer and what’s not. He also seems he also seems to be somebody who’s pretty analytical when it comes to after a certain threshold, the amount of games you’ve played, and maybe the age, not being handicapped when it comes to contracts that might not be beneficial. There’s nothing nothing worse in sports than being tied to a bad contract, particularly what we’ve seen over the last few years when the cap really didn’t go up. But I think I would be surprised if they did something like that. Yeah, we had a fan just remind us. Thank you, Steve. David remind us. Gourd just signed an extension till he’s 39. I will point out though that you know Yanni is what 33 turning 34. Mcdana is 36. Like a Marshand deal is well into your 40s. To me that is different than 39. But we’ll see. I think for me once you get to a certain point whether it’s games played what type of style you’ve played and your age and obviously the cap I think once you start to get into that 34 35 36 and it might even be a little younger than that especially if you’re not considered a star player I would be very hardressed to give you term and I understand it’s a way like if you really want somebody and you know Barkley Good Row might be a good example. You look at Barkley Good Row and say, you know, look, I really like that guy. I think he can help us win a championship, particularly right now, but I know his age. I know what he brings and what he doesn’t bring. Does a five-year deal at 15 million, does that help us? because maybe you’re going to get one or two good years and those last three you’re trying to figure out, okay, what do I do to to handle this or or do it differently. So, I think when you get to a certain age, you almost have to look at it like that because you just you can’t be in a position to have a couple of really bad contracts. I I just especially in a capair, I don’t I don’t think that’s wise. Julian’s Julian strikes me as a guy who also understands that. I actually don’t know enough of these contracts that are out there to to say this without some doubt. So, the fans out there are like, “You’re wrong.” You know, there are contracts out there like this. But, I mean, it is hard to have the AAV be a lot lower than the dollar amount. Yeah, they kind of tried to tweak that after the original new CVA coming out of the ‘0405 lockout. And that was one reason why we had a work stop engine 1213 is that teams were giving out like 15-year contracts and the money was dropping down precipitously toward the end. So the AAV would be lower, which is really what affects your your cap number than the dollar amount. So what we got out of the 1213 work stoppage was shorter contracts and you can only have the money drop by a percentage. And I don’t remember exactly what that percentage was. And now with this new CBA, it’s even shorter. So you can only sign a player and that’s if you hold the rights of that player is seven years. If it’s a player from another organization, it’s it’s maximum six. So how much is the money going to drop? Because that’s how you get the AAV lower than the salary. At the end of the contract, you’re dropping the salary. So your AAV is lower. I’m not sure that we really see that as much anymore. I mean, maybe a little bit, but I think the league has kind of put in place some guard rails to prevent teams from doing what the fan suggested the lighting might look to do with with Mcdana and and kind of the ideas with with Marian too. The thing too is like let’s say I’m not going to use Marshian as an example, but let’s just say a player has signed a contract and the expectation is the player is not going to finish out the contract. Well, the players to choose to retire. If the player chooses to retire, then yeah, they don’t get the money. But most players are going to be like, I want the money. So, you know, they are going to go on the injured list. I mean, the Brent Sebrook contract is a great example. Sebrook couldn’t play the last three years of that contract. Lenny agreed to take it on, you know, in exchange for what that think was the Tyler Johnson trade maybe because they, if I’m remembering right, the Hawks took, you know, Johnson’s contract or I may not be remembering that right, but they they got the Sebrook contract, which, you know, they had to pay him for three years. He was on long-term injury, so it didn’t affect their cap number, but, you know, that’s what players do. So, I’m not sure that there is a huge benefit unless you just really want the player. Like, the Panthers really wanted Marian back. So, they’re like, “We’re going to give you a contract till you’re 43 or whatever. If you don’t finish it, fine, but we want you back and this will ensure that you’re going to come back.” So, I don’t think the Lightning are really in that boat with Mcdana. I I just think it’s a different situation. Look, the other thing he’s going to be 37 when the contract is up and and so you have to be cognizant of term and you have to be cognizant of can he still play because again it gets back to once a player hits whatever age that is partner 34 or 35 you know the Ryan Mcdana’s the Cindy Crosby’s guys who are in their late 30s who are still performing at a very high level I feel like that’s not the norm. You’re going to see a drop off in play. I mean, heck, they’re having those conversations in Pit Pittsburgh with Malcolin and Latag. Those guys are in their 30s, approaching 40. And just go down the list. I mean, it’s in part one of the reasons they moved on from Stamp Coast, although they wanted him, but they wanted him at a price. and they wanted him at a price because I think they also knew looking at metrics and looking at the player. I just you’re a really good player still, but we can’t afford you’re not an 11 million player anymore or a seven in in their eyes, you know, and I think that’s how you have to approach things. Ryan Mcdana has been fantastic. It does not look like his play is dipping anytime soon. No, but father time hits us all and eventually it will hit him and you just don’t want to be in a situation where you’re dealing with a bad contract on top of all of a sudden now the play has suffered. It’s a fine line. I understand that. Boy, what a cliche that is. It’s a fine line. You know what does that mean? It really does. It really does come down to that. I want to get to a couple more questions here, partner. Um, by the way, Steve sent us some texts. Follow up from Bailey. Bailey’s blind. I always listen to Dave on the radio. Thank you, Bailey again. And Dio says, “Listen on the lightning app.” Yeah, you know, things have changed since our childhood, Greg, when you know, if you want to listen to a game on the radio or watch a game on TV. Yeah. You know, you basically had to be in the market and the farther you got from that market, it became more difficult. Go and listen to it, right? like the signal would drop and you know you may be out of range to get the game on TV. Nowadays I mean like the lightning went to Stockholm in 2019. We could have people there tune in. That’s the beauty. That’s that there there is a beauty to listening to a game. There just is, you know, because you could be anywhere. Uh you could be in your bed just listening to a game. You could be out doing errands. You could just be whatever. I mean there’s there’s and and I think it’s because you have to use your imagination a little bit too, you know, and you know, you see the the on TV, you can see it obviously visually and and there’s there’s a component to it, but you’re you’re kind of telling a story when you’re listening to it on radio. At least I always felt like because there’s just you’re detailing things a little bit more, maybe a lot more. Um, this was uh in response to Ed and Cena’s tweet about an hour ago regarding the Hegel and Schmidt fight. Bolts fan Syracuse said, “Okay, can someone explain why Schmidt would do that if he wants a spot on the roster?” That may be exactly and that’s I think that’s he’s trying to, you know, not back down. I So Brian dropped unfortunately. We had him on yesterday. He had phone problems, but we led off with a question about Roman Schmidt and how he is playing tough. Now, I only saw him for however many minutes in the Nashville game. Brian called three of those prospect games where Schmidt played and played regularly and played a lot and was involved. I think he got into some some scuffles and and was looking to do a lot of the stuff that he did in the Nashville game and frankly that he did to Hegel. So there’s nothing wrong with a player who does that. I mean, they tow the line. That’s his game clearly. But I mean, I’m speaking a little bit from the perspective of of somebody who hasn’t watched him play a lot. You know, Brian saw more of him than I did. So that’s why we asked the question. Unfortunately, you know, he had phone problems, so we we never really got a full answer from him. Yeah. But I think for Roman Schmidt, he’s like, “This has to be part of my game.” like Shen evolved into from a top five overall pick like modified his game where he’s like, I’m going to play really good D. I’m going to make the smart simple play. I’m going to be extremely reliable. I’m going to be tough as nails and if you come anywhere near my goalie, you are going to be saying hello to me. That’s he punched guys in the face, but you know, it was not pleasant to have to go into the blow slot, you know, near the goalie when Luke Shen was out there. That was part of what made him an NHL defenseman and still makes him an NHL defenseman. So, if you’re a younger guy, it’s like Roman Schmidt, okay, I’m a right-handed defenseman. It’s like a left-handed pitcher in baseball. Like, these are coveted players. He is big. He is strong and he’s playing mean. And if he’s like, I’m going to play mean in a game. I’m going to play mean in a scrimmage. I’m going to play mean in a practice. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. No, I don’t. You know, Phil Phil would say the extra stuff he has a problem with, you know, after the whistle and guys are cross check. I And I don’t know how this this came about. Yeah. In the context of a drill. It might have been in context of a drill. And I think you if that is part of his game, you don’t have a problem with a young guy incorporating that into drills into scrimmages. You you don’t because I mean he’s he’s going to be doing that in a game. You would think you just don’t want it to come at the expense of one of your star players. And I get that. I think that’s my and beggars can’t be choosers. Do do we think Luke Shen would take a run of Cucharov in a drill? No, I don’t think he would. And I’m not comparing Schmidt and Hegel to Shen and Cutro, but you understand somewhat the comparison. I mean, Hegel’s what they want to do. Yeah. Um, speaking of Luke Shen, by the way, do you think there’s been another player who has really turned his career around in the NHL more than Luke Shen? He went from a guy that was put on waiverss right by the ducks. Yeah. To somebody who is coveted. Coveted. I mean, I remember my dad calling me a couple years ago. Luke Shen was, you know, and I think he was traded to Pittsburgh and then moved him. It was last year they moved him to Winnipeg. But I can remember like before he’s saying this Luke Shen. I mean, Penguins got Penguins would love to have a guy like that. He’s tough. he’ll drop the but like he went from somebody partner who really turned his career around to the point where other people were like yeah I’ll give up a third round pick for Luke Shen I mean kudos to him because he he like had a second career you know he went from being a top four guy and then I don’t know if the game caught up to him in terms of like he had to adjust to the speed of the game and certain things like that but he turned himself into a guy who every team wanted y and that’s a Credit to him. Just goes to show you a little bit too, like hard work, figuring that out, being a pro. I I can appreciate that. Bolts fan Syracuse also said, “Guys, uh, so excited to have you both back. Excited to see Croer and the league play together tonight. Hopefully.” Croer is very good on the PK, and I would love to see him get some time there opposite Headman. Moser didn’t have the same pop after his return from injury. I’ll be interested to see if he stays in the top four this year long term, especially if there is progression of some of the younger players. So, I think those are kind of a couple of different questions. Yes. I think do do people want to see Croer and Lberg together this year. It makes sense because they’ve had success before doing it and a lot of people feel like you’re not asking them to be top four defenseman if they’re your bottom pairing and they’re two young players playing together. Man, you feel really good about the future and um in the present. We don’t know if that’s going to happen. We’re speculating. I think the Moser question is, you know, a lot of people felt like when he came back from his injury that the standard wasn’t the same. When he was healthy the first half of the year, he was very good. Yes. And, you know, talking about age and and where he is in the prime of his career, you feel like that’s a good fit for the Lightning. Um, that doesn’t mean competition doesn’t knock one of the top four eventually out and somebody can slot back in, but I I think the Lightning have every intention of having JJ Moser be a part of not only today, but tomorrow as well and uh things can change. I think everybody’s interested to see how he bounces back for the full season. Hopefully he stays healthy. Yeah. But you can also be equally excited about the two young defenseman she just mentioned. Yeah. And so beyond Hedmond and Moser, you do have Croer and Lillberg in the lineup tonight. And you have Max Grochev and Simon Lmark. Lightning signed him. He’s a former second round pick of the Winnipeg Jets. Has never played in the NHL. He’s been in their minor league system, basically their AHL team for the last four years. So in the game at Carolina, Lillberg and Lmark were partners. So it is possible that they will keep them together and play Croer with Grochev who may or may not have played together in Syracuse. Actually Boltzan Syracuse would probably know this better than you or me whether they were ever partners last year after Grochev was moved on D. But I would think that Boltzan Syracuse’s hunch is probably correct that Crojer and Lillberg will be a pair that would put Lmark and Grochev as a pair as well. Assuming Moser is with Headman. Again, they didn’t run the lines in the deep pairs this morning. I mean, partner, here’s the other thing that you don’t anticipate, but maybe it does happen. Weird, crazier things have occurred. Maybe one of those younger players end up playing with Heman. Yeah, it could be. You know, it just you you see the development and you’re like, I like what I’m seeing from him, man. What could he look like playing with with Heedman? And, you know, does Moser go down? You mean for tonight? Well, I I’m saying in general, like throughout the year, if you find out one of these younger guys is playing well and you’re like, I think we can give him more and maybe one of the veterans is not playing well and you want to see how somebody interacts with a Headman. Maybe he does. I mean, that’s how these things happen. Yeah. You know, somebody takes advantage of an opportunity. So, uh, and we took another question here, um, from Boltz fan. Bolts fan Benny on YouTube says, “What have the Bolts done to improve their third D pair?” I think I think the potential of having Croer Littleberg is the answer to that. Mhm. I Because if you feel like there’s a lot of upside with those players, the floor is higher, but the ceiling is higher. Yeah. too. I mean, really, they didn’t really make kind of like what have they done? You know, they had a fairly quiet off season. The two main guys that they added were both forwards. Talking about Panis Holberg and Peltier in that they got them as as unrestricted free agents after their teams failed to qualify them. Really, the the choice that they made on D was to let Pervix go and not resign him and basically elevate Croer. But I I think the way I would answer that question is like development and growth, right? So development and growth for Littleberg, development and growth for Croer, development and growth for Moser, right? Who’s not in his first year with with the Lightning. He’s still a young guy like he’s in his mid20s. So I mean Moser is not in the bottom pair. The fan Bolts fan Benny was asking about the bottom pair, but I think that’s how I would look at it. just the natural evolution of players gaining more experience and and developing their overall game, but it wasn’t like the Lightning went out and and acquired a defenseman to supplement the the bottom pair. Um, she also says Carlile and Croer spent most of their time together last year when they were healthy. Okay. I mean, and they were actually together at practice yesterday. Yeah. when they had the 8D, right, on the sheet with the NHLers. I think people just have it in their mind when they initially came up, Lillberg and Croer gelled. I think a lot of people look at Croer as maybe having the most upside out of those three defensemen. Mhm. And so there’s maybe some of that do you have because they played together initially, the little Bur Croer connection, but she brings up a fair point about Carlile. I don’t know where Carlile ranks in the pecking order of the defenseman. You know, I think somewhere it’s it’s Croer, Littleberg or Liber Croer, then Carlile, but I I could be wrong and I know they play different positions. I’m just saying in terms of like where do they view them as prospects? I mean, clearly Littleberg is somebody they’ve given a lot of games to at the NHL level initially here. I think Croer has been knocking on the door, but you feel like he’s been he’s been blocked a little bit more than than somebody else, but um I think it’s a fair point. You want competition though, and it goes back to the question about the third pair D, like what have they done to improve it? That’s coming internally and that’s what you want to see. Those guys push each other and and look, Radish is going to be part of that, too. He’s in the mix, of course. and he’s a guy who’s who can be a point producer to a degree with his shot and maybe for him the next step is not only to continue being sound defensively, but if your bread and butter is some offense, you know, what can he do to to increase that number a little bit because he he can’t have a weapon back there. So, you know, some things to to keep an eye on. Uh we’re going to watch it all unfold tonight. Lightning and Kane 7 o’clock start partner which means we’ll be on the air at 6:30. Yep. And is Phil doing the game tonight? Yep. Yes. Phil Espazito will be there. Phil is not with us on Saturday. No, that’s okay. Um but we’ll see him tonight. Yes. And then um I will have the last call presented by Jack Daniels. Yeah, you got round table again. Brian again because that’s how you’re doing your pregame and edition. And no excuse for Brian and the connection because he’ll be right next to me and we’ll kind of speak up. Yeah, that’s right. Uh but partner, this was a fun week. First full week we got uh in in the uh flow and then next week, I mean, we’ll probably have more cuts, right, to talk about. Yeah. By the time we do our next show on Monday, I expect the Lightning’s roster will be down from wherever they are in the 50s, 50 some odd to probably low 30s, high 20s. Yep. So, that’ll be fun. We’ll have uh those things to talk about. And of course, our audience who participates all the time, we appreciate you. Yeah. Thanks for all the questions, everyone. It was great. Keep it going. Tell all your friends, too. Listen, listen, listen. And we’ll get it going again on Monday, partner. I’ll see you tonight at the rink. Great job. See you tonight. Dave Michigan right there. Thanks Steve and Jarro Johnson for producing and engineering. We always appreciate them. Everybody out there who’s been listening and participating. Appreciate you guys. I am Greg Lenelli. You’ve been listening to Power Lunch on Lighting Radio.

Dave Mishkin and Greg Linnelli preview the Tampa Bay Lightning’s preseason games this weekend vs. Carolina and Nashville at Benchmark International Arena.