Tampa Bay Lightning 2025-26 Season Preview | The Steve Dangle Podcast

They were considered an elite regular season team. And if you had told me after the first round, let’s say like you’d you’d fast forwarded a couple weeks, end of the season of the first round, immediately, I’d have been like, “Well, the Lightning at least gave the Panthers a pretty good fight if they didn’t get through. That had to be seven games.” I’m one of the idiots who picked them. The Lightning Oh, I picked them, too. And and they won one game. Y I’m I was shocked how meekly they went out. It was crazy. So, the Tampa Bay Lightning 102 points, second in the division last year. This year, the BMJM odds have them at roughly the same spot. And the odds over are or under are even. It’s 102.5 for the Ottawa or sorry, the Ottawa Center is the Tampa Bay Lightning. And that makes things tricky. What do you think about the Tampa Bay Lightning this season? I’m going to extend my pinky and push over. Okay. So, you’re not totally confident in that pick? No, again, I’ve said this in previous. You need to be giving it a stiff over, but okay. Yeah. No, it’s not getting a rock turgid friaking. Anyway, uh I said this in previous previews. The Leafs are going to have a hard time winning more games than they did. The Panthers are going to have a hard time winning more games than they did. I think the Lightning will also have a hard time winning more games than they did. out of the three, assuming Vaselvk’s healthy, which has been a question this preseason, also Victor Hedman. Assuming those guys play the vast majority of the season, I think they’re most likely to do it. That’s why I have them one. I didn’t ask you. Oh That’s why I have them over. Stay tuned to find out where I have them. We’ve done a lot of these, bro. Jesse, over or under? 102 and a half to refresh you. I’m going to pick under. Uh the Tampa Bay Lightning finished second in the division at 102 last year. So, I’ll just pick under for the sake of uh I think it it’s a better bet. I too will go under. And I want to go to the place that has me saying, “Hey, I think these guys are going under.” And that is the health of Andre Vaselki. Yes. Uh hasn’t done much. That’s why I have them one. And and and if you’re listen, if you’re if you’re a Lightning fan, you’re probably looking at me like, “Dude, he doesn’t need to do he’s Andre Vasilleski.” And I get you, but from an outsers’s perspective, this is a man who’s had significant injuries, surgeries, and played a lot of games. He’s played so many games. And it’s not just the regular season. It’s all of those runs to the cup. They never missed the playoffs. Hall of Fame career if he retired today. Absolutely. But he is 31 and hey, nothing wrong with being 31. It’s just that he has had a lot happen to him. Can I be 31? You cannot. You can be 37. Um, if I shave, can I be 31? If if does Andre Vasileleski sitting out most of training camp concern the two of you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, straight up. Yeah. Like there’s not a real strong contender back there uh to to take up those games. You mean Jonas Johansson doesn’t do it for you? Not even kind of a little. Um, I mean, we’ve seen him fill in in chunks. He was moderately adequate. Uh, Andre Vasilki is one of the best goalies in the world. Jesse, does it concern you how shy John Cooper has been to reveal anything that’s going on with the injury that Basilleski has? Because he said that there just he’s dealing with some player issues and that he needs to be treated for the injury. Um, and that he’s supposed to practice at the time of when we’re recording. I think supposed to practice tomorrow. Um, so we’ll see how that goes. And he said that he’s going to be ready for opening night, but over the last 10 days, he hasn’t been practicing. He hasn’t been around. So, it’s trending towards he doesn’t play opening night. It’s a big mystery as to the injury. And I I wonder if when he comes back to practice in the next 48 hours if we’ll get information on what happened with the injury. But right now, they’re saying he’s going to be there. He’s going to be an opening night, but he hasn’t been training at all. It’s It’s just It’s weird to me how mysterious they’ve been. Uh yeah, at you got to you got to place your bets. So like all these teams have big question marks about them. The the Leafs lost Martyr. The Panthers appear to have lost Bararkov and a half season of Kachchuck and a half season of Kachchuck. Vaselvki is the most likely player to play opening night out of all the names I mentioned. MNER is for sure not playing for the Leafs. Barov isn’t. Kachchuck isn’t. Vasileleski might. So, at some point, you gotta go, yes, this concerns me. I’m going to air on the side of things are going to be okay. I want to look at the defense next. Victor Hedman had a tweak in training camp. We don’t know how healthy he is. He’s also 34. Another player with a lot of hard miles. Amazing Hall of Fame miles, but hard miles. Well, it’s okay though because the guy who can fill in those minutes is even older. That would be Ryan Mcdana who is 36. Or is or are you talking about somebody else? No, I meant Mcdana. Okay. All right. I was I wanted to make sure. Um the defense, you know, it used to be extremely strong and much younger. But you lose Sergachev is the most psychotic left side in hockey. Um now it’s Headedman Mcdana Cernach who Cernach’s, you know, he is who he is. He’s great. Well, Cernach’s a righty. Yeah. No, I’m just talking about defense. Oh, got it. Got Uh, but JJ Moser, who came back for Sergeev, they expected more out of him than they got. I know there was an injury last year, but I think they’re they’re needing JJ Moser to take a bigger step forward than they than he did. I was kind of bullish on him. Uh, Darren Radish 29. Uh, Lillberg 24. Croser not son. Well, he’s he’s on an ELC. Like Lillberg’s the son of a gun. He is, but this is not the formidable defense core that it used to be. And I can see, here’s the thing, and this is where I’ll get to my main crux of a point with the Tampa Bay Lightning. I think this is a team that does well in the regular season. I don’t know that this team is built for the playoffs as currently constructed. Now, you you look for um you know, a trade mid mid-season or something like that. That changes everything. But I look up front and I go, “This team will do great in the regular season.” Cucharov point Gensel. An easy reason for why I have them number one. That might be the best line in the division. Hegel Celli Borkstrand. Nick Paul is injured. I think he’ll be back. Yanni Gourd is back. November. November. He had surgery in the summer and they’re saying he’ll be back in November sometime. So he’ll be fine. Yanni Gourd. Uh and they’ve got, you know, Gage Gage Gonzalez. Um Connor Geeki Gergensson’s is there. Upon Homeberg is joining them from the Leafs. Ah that’s right. Um Nick Abrazi at the top. This is an elite team. like the four groups elite basically what they had last year and then full season of uh Bjork Strand and full season of Gourd like yeah bet against that for sure. Okay, but here’s what I will bet against. They’re looking old. The whole group is we’re on the most of this group’s on 30 or the wrong side of it. Yeah. And so I’m not saying it happens this year because we asked that about the Boston Bruins for years and you know Berseron and Marshand and those guys were like, “Yeah, that’s right. keep asking the question because we’re going to keep kicking your ass. But at a certain point, this is going to turn. I think an underrated part of that forward group you just outlined there is Connor Geeki cuz he was he was acquired in that Sergeev deal. Yeah. And they’re somebody who went 11th overall and is still only 21. And if you’re looking for somebody to help the old guys, he could be that guy. And I think there’s too much there for them to be bad in the regular season. Like they have such a high floor because of who they have on that roster. He didn’t have the greatest regular season last year in 52 games, eight goals, six assists, 14 points. I assume he wasn’t playing very many minutes. AHL early returns were extremely good. He had 20 points in 24 games. 11 of those were goals. And I was bullish on him because of his WHL uh numbers. Uh he was with the Wild when he got sent to the Swift Current Broncos. He had a cartoonish 23 goals in 29 games and 50 points. He’s 6’4. He’s 207. Tampa has been good at finding these guys in the back. Yeah, like that’s a good candidate for a better season than eight goals. I think he’ll probably end up on the second line with Cell and Hegel at some point. I just I feel like that’s where it’s headed. But that’s that’s a dumb top 10. And Tampa, I have to say, you know, they’ve got first off, Tampa’s got a 9.5, a 9.5, and a nine on their top line. How hilarious is that in terms of millions? That’s uh that’s a hell of a line. This group does get production when it matters, at least in the regular season from their stars. That’s something in Toronto we didn’t always get. They’re going to score a shitload of goals. Uh they are. How do they finish? That’s my question. Uh this is going to surprise a lot of you, but I have them finishing first. Jesse, are you surprised by Steve’s answer the second time? I’m shocked. I’m shocked that he would go there. Like I said, I think there’s such a der of talent there that there’s a super high floor at the Lightning and they’ll fail fare pretty well in the regular season in the Atlantic. I have them finishing third in the division. And I might be the one who lives to regret this considering the season they had last year. But I’m concerned about these injuries. I’m concerned about that goalending. I’m concerned about the thinness of that defense of Headmond’s not playing all the time. I have the Tampa Bay Lightning in fifth. Wow. Yep. I’m stunned. Yep. Wow.

Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde and Jesse Blake preview the 2025 Tampa Bay Lightning season. Can they get back on top of the Atlantic Division? Could they possibly miss the playoffs?

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20 comments

  2. I think this is their last chance to win a stanley cup. If they beat florida they can go all the way to the stanley cup final. They got all the pieces to be champions just need to make right moves at the deadline

  5. The one injurie away from a wildcard Lightning…i admit, if they are healthy they are top 3 Atlantic, but I wouldn't be surprised if they fall either. Last year of the window, good luck Bolts fan !!

  9. So it's just the Canadian team left to do the season previews of, saving the highest viewership videos on this channels for last naturally.
    Adam has the following spots available: 1, 3, and 6
    Steve has: 2,4, and 5 left
    Jesse has: 1, 4, and 5 left

    Educated guess that they all have the leafs in the highest of the 3 spots available. Even if they weren't leaf fans it's the obvious choice. Adam in one of the other videos mentioned he was pretty high on Ottawa so they're probably 3rd on his list and the habs 6th. That'd mean Steve and Jesse have the habs and sens 4 and 5 on their lists.

  18. So I think somehow because of when the cups happened you all are overestimating their ages maybe because the core of Tampa isnt that much older than Florida, Toronto, Colorado, or Edmonton. In some cases in that list depending on where you draw the line the Lightning are younger.

  19. I must either be good at tuning out beeping or the comments are making too much of a fuss over it just to be annoying.

    That aside, Adam's choice to place Tampa Bay in 5th in the Atlantic is definitely a hot take.

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