Lightning Power Lunch – October 9, 2025

Lightning Power Lunch – October 9, 2025

This is Lightning Power Lunch on the Lightning Audio Network with Dave Michigan and Greg Lenelli. I think honestly just excitement, you know, uh never being around for for an opening night and not really knowing what to expect with the crowd, but if they’re anything like they were last year, uh it’s going to be a really fun night and hopefully that place is uh is rocking loud. I I mean I think it will be Gage. Yes. Why wouldn’t it? Anytime the opener in any sport is special. It is. I I’ve always said and it is power lunch. Glad everybody is here. I’m Greg Lenelli along with Dave Michigan. For those who are just listening only. Steve Ursnick, our producer. you know, um I think for me I I break up the seasons, mainly hockey, but when I was really into the baseball space, you have opening day, which is a big deal, mainly because it’s it’s a lot of people take off ba in baseball, kids go with their dads, maybe to go see the game, but it’s also, you know, everybody’s even and for teams that aren’t very good, man, it it it gives you some hope, you know, and after two weeks when the Pirates were, you know, two and 10. Yeah, that quickly faded. I acknowledge that. But that was always special. The all-star breaks can be, but the trade deadline was always something you circled and then the start of the playoffs. You know, it’s almost like opening day on steroids because now you know this the season is is really about to begin and that’s the best time of the year. And Coupe was asked about opening night and the Lightning don’t always open the season at home. This year they are. Yeah. And he referred to it as like Christmas morning. So he’s excited. The players are excited. We heard from Gage Gonalves. It’s it’s probably easy to forget because he had such an impactful second half of the year with the Lightning last year that Gonz has not been involved in an NHL opening night before. So this will be his first. But we have to start, Greg, with me issuing a Maya for me, but I think by extension maybe you and and a lot of fans who jump to a conclusion that may not have been completely accurate when the Lightning claimed Curtis Douglas on waiverss. And I think the conclusion that a lot of us jumped to was that this was in some way, shape, or form a reaction to what had happened with the preseason games against the Panthers that the Lightning were like, “Okay, these two games happened. We see this 6’9, 240 plus pound guy on waiverss. Let’s grab him.” And then I think the questions that followed were where I was even saying like are they going to keep this guy until they play the Panthers, you know, he’s taking a roster spot that other guys might have gotten who showed well in the preseason for the Lightning at the forward position. Those players have been have been sent to Syracuse or are you know in the case of Gergens is injured. So there is an open spot there with Ziggus being out. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s going to be week to week. I think that was the assumption. Certainly, we talked about it that way. I think a lot of fans reacted to the news that way. We had the one fan saying, “Did they actually make the claim after they got fined from the league?” And, you know, go Coupe and all of this. And I at least right now, I’m going to take all of that back because going on the show yesterday, I’m like, Douglas looks like he’s sliding in as the 13th forward. That’s the way I saw it at practice at the TGH Iceplex yesterday. Curtis Douglas is in tonight. He is the fourthline left winger. Jack Finley is going to be the lone healthy scratch. Lightning are also scratching Moser because he’s suspended and the other guys are are injured and they’re going to scratch a goalie. Vassie is going to start. I’m presuming Johansson is going to be backing up. So, what do we make of this? Here is a guy who basically has had a whirlwind 48 hours. Like was driving from Utah to Tucson, their minor league team, stopped in Vegas to get a coffee, got the news that he had been claimed on waiverss, grabs like a middle of the night flight from Vegas to Tampa, gets to Tampa, has a practice yesterday. The next day he’s in. He’s making his NHL debut and he has had no training camp with the Lightning. You know, this is a heavy lift for him, but he is super excited. I had a chance to to be involved in meeting him today. I I was there as he answered questions in the scrum and then I introduced myself and and asked him a couple of questions which I can share some of what he said to the media. But like he is just a bundle of excitement and energy. he’s got, you know, family coming in, etc., etc. So, I repeat the question, what do we make of this? What I make of this is the Lightning, he’s not some new guy to us. He’s new. You’re like, who is this guy? I was the same way. I hadn’t followed what was happening with Tucson in the AHL the last few years, and shame on us for not. But the Lightning of Scouts everywhere, they know that this player is out there. And I think what this shows is the Lightning are really interested in adding this player. And I have to wonder if Curtis Douglas had been a a restricted free agent who had not been qualified kind of like a Peltier or a Homeberg and become a UFA or simply had been a UFA if the Lightning wouldn’t have gone out and tried to get this guy. Yeah. Because not only is he in, he’s in ahead of Finley who had a very good preseason. So again, we’ll see how it plays out. What what I can tell you about the guy is he has a he has a very bubbly big personality. Pat Maroon, ironically, was in the locker room today because because Maroon is working the broadcast tonight on the the pregame intermission panel with Braden Cobert and Paul Kennedy. And you know, Douglas was like wideeyed to meet Maroon who went up and introduced himself. I just met Pat Maroon. So he’s not he’s not maroon like maroon by the time he arrived with the lightning had a lot of experience and you know was a chirper. I don’t know if Douglas is a chirper but Douglas has an energy about him which I think the lightning probably find appealing. Um and so he’s in tonight and I think that it it at least for me made me rethink kind of what went into this waiver claim. This was not the Lightning saying we want to add a big body and oh this guy who’s 69 is available and we think he he might be able to help us. I think it was more that like we like Curtis Douglas who happens to be 69 and because he is the guy who is available, we want to put on a waiver claim on him. So good for him, good for the Lightning and good luck to him tonight. It it’s a nice story. Um, we’re not supposed to know, me and you, all of the minor leaguers out there, right? We understand that’s the front office’s job. We can only take the information that’s given to us and process it. I’m not going to apologize because I think he was acquired not necessarily to handle the Florida Panthers, but you mentioned 69. That’s attractive. He also can fight. That’s attractive. when the Lightning have been really good, they’ve had guys to handle that business and make everybody on that bench a little bit taller. All right, that’s what this guy does. Now, look, he may go out there and score 15 goals this year. He may show that he can play more so than you hit Cuch, you’re going to have to answer. But clearly to me, yes, he’s 69 and that’s maybe what attracted to them. But it also tells me processing everything that’s gone on over the last couple of years, if this guy can skate a little bit, if this guy shows any ability whatsoever, make no mistake, this guy is going to protect our players on the ice. And I think, just take a look at the guy he’s replacing in the lineup who is big, probably has maybe a different skill set that some of us thought could help this team and still may. and Jack Finley taking the faceoffs, being responsible defensively. Clearly, at least tonight, they thought enough of this guy with his skill set, but I think also what they do need, which is an element of physical play to leapfrog a player who maybe doesn’t have that necessarily, although I think he can drop the gloves, but isn’t known for it. This guy comes in and he says, “Okay, I know my role. I know what I have to do and as long as I do that, I’m staying in this lineup. And I think this is accumulation of the last couple years potentially other teams maybe taking some liberties at the Lightning players. They do always respond. They don’t back down, but it’s different having a Brandon Hegel respond than somebody who is 69. And if that means this guy’s in the lineup and plays eight to nine minutes a night, but provides a security blanket for the star players partner, I’m okay with that. Now, does that mean this guy just can’t go up and down the ice and just take up a jersey? I think that’s a fair point. So to your point, there has to be something else this guy has that they like, that they are intrigued about to not only bring him on the team, but to have him in opening night, that’s a big deal. I mean, we didn’t see the guy. We were talking about how competitive this competition was in the bottom six and all of a sudden you bring a guy coming in with no NHL experience at 69 who’s going to come in and play on a fourth line. So to your point, absolutely there there is something else beyond the physical play and the toughness that he brings. But in my opinion, that’s a big reason why he’s on not only on the team, but in the lineup. Well, look, I agree with what you’re saying. I think I was just trying to make the point that it wasn’t that the Lightning were looking for a 69, 240lb player and one became available. I think that they knew about this guy and he became available, right? And he he does fill a role that they want filled. But if some other 69 240lb player might have become available, I’m not sure the Lightning would have put the claim in. That’s kind of what I’m saying. And the other part of this is you might look at the Ottawa Senators and be like, do they have an AJ Greer? You know, do they have a player like that? I mean, yeah, every team has some tough guys. They they made a trade for Curtis McDermad who is a big strong left winger during the the preseason. They made a trade with the Devils. They traded Zack Mchuan who can handle himself as well. So kind of an applesto apples sort of trade. So it’s not like they don’t have anybody. They have Nick Cousins and he has dropped the gloves before. But I’m not sure you would look at the senators and say we really need if you want to use the word like a protector, right? I’m not sure that this is that sort of game. So, I think it’s it’s actually more about he can play. They really like the player. They want to get him in. They want to see they want to see how he does. I I But let’s not let’s not get let over our skis on, you know, expecting too much. This is almost like a guy arriving at the deadline, getting dropped in, completely new environment, new teammates, new system, and add on top of that, he’s making his NHL debut. So, let’s see how he does. But it’s certainly a great story. It It’s a great story. And I think you’re right. I mean, for the Tampa Bay Lightning, you have to have an element of skill set beyond up and down, up and down, up and down. I I would think for a guy who had no training camp with them to come in and be one of your top 12 at the forward position. Make no mistake. We will find out, I think, how this is going to transpire. we get a pretty good idea how well does he skate? It’s a big part of what the Lightning want even if it’s on your fourth line. I do think I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here though. I do think this is about making potentially a statement to anybody out there that okay, we kind of let this go because we felt like we didn’t need it. We had a lot of guys who could stick up for themselves who were tough. Nick Paul’s tough. Celli’s tough. Hegel’s tough. I don’t know if you want them fighting or having to answer all the time. Not saying that’s going to happen every game, but the Florida game certainly didn’t put those concerns to bed. They’re going to be out there. And so, if you can find a guy who potentially addresses that problem and can play, this goes back to what you just said. He’s got to play a little bit. But if you can find somebody who’s a big bad, you know what, and you can put him in the lineup or maybe he’s your spare forward and you put him in whenever you want to, that’s okay. And there are a lot of people, mainly fans, who felt like, I mean, you and I take these questions all the time about, do they need a Pat Maroon type? Do they need a Luke Shen type? And our question or our answer always to that was usually twofold. one, uh, the Lightning have enough guys who can handle themselves, but they’re not traditional enforcers. And maybe that’s wrong to label Douglas that way because we haven’t seen him play, but we’ve seen clips of this is a guy had a couple fights in preseason. I mean, that’s probably what he’s brought here to do in large part. But if you don’t have to have your guys answering that all the time. Look, eventually Hegel and Eblad are going to go. They’re just going to go. I’m anticipating it and everybody else is probably anticipating. Worst kept secret out there, by the way. But you know where this comes in, and I’m using Florida as an example, but it could be any team that has somebody who takes some liberties at the Lightning Star players. What Douglas can prevent is okay. Hegel and Ekblad had their had their run in here. It’s done. And if one of you try and take another shot at anybody, you’re going to have to mess with me. And that’s where I think some of the messaging comes from with a guy like Douglas. I hope he I hope he’s a guy. Heck, who’s who’s the one listener that likes to talk about the power play? Netfront presence. Hey, you want a netfront presence? Put Douglas in front of that goalender. Right. Well, at the end of practice, they were working a drill. Dan Hina was actually working the drill. They had guys standing in front of a net. They actually the net at the red line, like up against the boards at the red line. They had a goalie in the net. Yeah. And they had guys practicing tips. I saw Borkstrand was tipping pucks. Geeky was tipping pucks. Douglas was tipping pucks. And he was tipping pucks. And I was just watching him. He’s like, he he is a big big man standing in front of the net. The other team’s net is what I’m talking about. Uh I just want to share one thing that that he told us please. So in one threemonth span when he was younger he grew 8 in. Wow. Eight inches in three months. So I think he said when he showed up as a 16-year-old cuz I asked then you know like have you grown like after this huge growth spurt did you continue growing? cuz when you grow that much like you have to adjust to balancing on your skates. It’s almost like hard. All the proportions got messed up. And he’s like, I really didn’t gain a lot of weight. So I showed up as a 16-year-old. I was 6’8, like 180 or so. I may be getting the weight wrong, but it was under 200. And so, you know, they talk about Bambi on skates, right? Like I mean, he really had to kind of continue to grow into his body. And what I asked was like, since you’ve been a pro player, have you continued to grow? He’s like that was when he said I was 6’8 at 16. So now he’s 6’9. So since then he’s only gained an inch in height, but he’s added a lot of weight. He’s like that has really been my objective. Everyone told me like you have to gain weight to fill out your body. You know, if you’re 68, 69, you know, you need to be heavier. And and now he’s, you know, as we talked about, he can just come over and sit with me for a day. We’ll we’ll snack and put on some weight. Don’t we all want Can you imagine that, though? growing 8 in in 3 months. I I mean that’s like how many different sets of clothes did he go through in that? Yeah. Really? Hey, it took me to grow 8 inches in 8 years, you know? I mean, he’s he’s doing it in 3 months. God bless the guy. But you know what though, credit to him because there you mentioned the balance component of things when you’re tall like that and you it’s it’s awkward. And now you you factor in skating. I’ll be curious to see what that skating does look like because as a big man to get going, you know, that was the point of the the question. I asked which was like as long as he’s not still growing like you know since he’s been a pro player he is basically set at his his height you know and so yeah you gain a little weight I think it didn’t all happen at once you slowly got heavier but you know it’s not like some new adjustment he’s had to like continually recalibrate you know how he needs to balance himself it happened all basically at once. Yeah. and then he got used to it and he’s kind of been set ever since. And I will say this for what it’s worth. I mean the AHL is not the NHL, but I mean it’s not like he’s finishing AHL seasons with like one goal, two goals. Like he said double digit goals. No, I mean there’s we’ll get to know more about his experience in the A and you know like what what was his role? How was he used? Sure. You know, did he have opportunities to score? Was he in front of the net? Listen, his role is going to be defined pretty quickly here. He doesn’t have to be a scorer. I’m stating the obvious, right? For you and for our audience, it’s really to go out there. What’s the one thing we always talk about the third and fourth lines, particularly the fourth lines, don’t get scored on, correct? Be hard to play against. And I think a guy like Douglas, go finish your checks and keep it simple. So, you get cross center ice, dump it in, and let’s see if you can get after it. Now, I’ve never seen him play, so maybe he has a little more dangle to his game. I’ve got to think a bigger guy like that, keep it simple, stupid. And I think that’s something that that maybe could bode well. Who are his linemates again tonight? Geeky, right? I would assume I mean so that honestly you could do a lot worse playing with a fourth line. I mean that’s a veteran and a young guy who’s got pedigree by the way. Geeky also has snarled his game. That might be an interesting dynamic. Um having those guys go out and almost hit everything in sight. And I’d be curious to see how Geeky’s game plays off of Douglas’s understanding again when you have a big guy like 69 who was on your on your ice. It does open things up. It really does. Well, interestingly, he started his AHL career with Belleville, which is Ottawa’s affiliate. He got into 11 games with them. So, he was drafted by Dallas and it sounds like they didn’t Yeah. They didn’t they didn’t sign him. So, that’s disappointing, right? So, you know, he kind of had to pull himself back up. He signed an AHL deal. It sounded like first with Belleville, that was in that weird shortened season. He also was playing overseas. And then it was the next year, 21-22, he spent the whole year with the Toronto Marlies. He had 13 goals. So, they ended up moving him to Arizona in the Conor Timmans trade. And the last couple years he’s been in Tucson or the last three years. So he was singledigit goals year one and year two with Tucson. Last year he had 10 goals and 23 points. So how many games he played at the age of level? Well last year he played 63. But I mean if you add them all up Yeah. add them all up. Uh I mean it’s over 100 I would say. 30 140. I’d say about 160. Yeah. Right around the same range where Finley is at because we talked about him. Right. That’s not bad. Yeah. And I’m wondering too, didn’t we have somebody ask if if Douglas and Geeky knew each other? Yeah. So, they do. Yeah. So, they would have had camps together. And then there was one year that Geeky joined Tucson for the playoffs after his junior season ended. So, that would have been interesting brief interaction, but now they’re line at least for tonight. That That’s kind of neat. So, you know, that’s our look. I I don’t want to make too much of this because we haven’t seen him play and we’re talking about somebody who’s we don’t know what the impact’s going to look like. we can just give you an opinion and the opinion I think is playing out the way it probably is here where the Lightning like the skill set and the makeup but where I may differ from you partner and maybe not um I think the skill set is something they’ve lacked the last couple of years and that if he addresses that in addition to being able to play a little bit it speaks to me that yes this is something they were trying to to figure out bringing somebody in and this guy was somebody they liked. They absolutely liked and they said this is worth a flyer. I think also too and maybe a little bit of the uncomfortable truth is they were willing to give Finley his spot and Finley was somebody we had talked a lot about in training camp with the faceoffs and his size. Yeah, that might be somebody who could help the team and I think that still could be the case. But in terms of who brings a more uh interesting skill set for the Lightning, because we always know faceoffs are important, they do feel like having a big body to answer any nefarious acts is just as important. Might not even be a little bit more. And that’s why I think we’re seeing him in the lineup. Well, look, this is the last thing I’ll say about it as it relates to Douglas and maybe tonight and then we can get to questions or or something. We’ve got a bunch coming in here. Yeah. Yeah. It looks like the Senators are going to have a fourth line. So, the two guys I mentioned who are kind of their their tougher guys, beefier guys. Certainly Curtis McDermad is that Mcdermad is on a line with Nick Cousins, not Dylan Cousins, Nick Cousins and Lars Eller. So, they have Eller centering their fourth line. So, that could be fourth line against fourth line. You’re going to see some big guys and tough guys on the ice at the same time. But, I would not classify the Ottawa Senators No. as a team that looks to go out and and intimidate. Um, they will play tough certainly and they’re a hardworking team. I mean, they play the Lightning really really well, but this is not one of those games where you feel like, well, we need to dress a guy to make sure that our players are are looked after. So, again, I just go back to it. I think that they they really like the player and enough to put a waiver claim in on him and get him here and get him into his NHL debut. Let’s have fun. Bold prediction. First shift he’s going. We’ll see how that plays out. And we’ve got Bugsy Malone in the radio booth tonight. Unfortunately, Phil is under the weather. I think he got caught out in one of those rainstorms. So hopefully he he’s on the men. But yeah, so I mean they have their um their panel of analysts on the spot 66. They have a rotation of I think four or five of them. So tonight it’s Pat Maroon and Braden Coburn, but Ryan Malone is one of the That’ll be cool the former Lightning players that will be used in that capacity, but he is not working tonight. So we were able to get him to bring him in from the bullpen. And this might be his I’m going to have to ask him if he’s ever done a game broadcast before. He certainly hasn’t with me. I don’t think he did in Pittsburgh. By the way, is everybody okay? Couple Pittsburgh guys in the booth. Yes. You know, we got our joke around about that. So, we got our league passes. Yeah. I don’t know if you get one, but the league passes is basically gets you into any building in the NHL. Okay. Yeah, I think I I think eventually I do. Steve usually Yeah. We get our we get our lightning passes which you know you can get into to the arena here. Mhm. But that will not help you to get into the arena like in Montreal, right? You need the you need the league pass. So they arrived and Steve gave me mine this morning and they were included with the passes NHL rights holder lanyards. And so oh do you want a lanyard? I said yeah I’ll take one. These landers were made in Pittsburgh, Greg, because they are they are black and gold. Like you could be a pirate, a stealer, or a penguin. And that pirate I got I got to pull out I’m going to pull out my lanyard and show you the color scheme here. It’s like you don’t want the pass. You just want the lanyard, my friend. Well, so you know what? I’ll give it to I’m multitasking here. Yeah, you give me the lanyard. I’ll give it to Enzo and Enzo will be playing around. By the way, I thought you were going to drop the Seinfeld reference about being a Look at this baby. Is that not gold? I mean, that is gold. Do you need a terrible towel? What are we doing here? It’s just crazy. Get Myron Cope. Where is he? All right. That’s an interesting choice though for a leaguewide lanyard, isn’t it? What does it mean? You know, God, is it a sign? No, it’s nothing. So, actually, it’s just been reported that somebody at the league office is the father of one of the management people in Pittsburgh. Oh, I’m just having some fun. Listen, we have to have fun. It’s opening night. Listen back to any one of our shows over the last like three days. Oh, man. You’re you’re uh you’re going into the uh the enemy’s den there, partner. Not really. I mean, they’re friendly fans. We just happen to disagree on this one item. We have very friendly fans and we do have disagreements, but it would be boring if we all agreed and I I think that makes it a a more purposeful talk show. At Boltz Radio, if you want to get involved in the conversation, look at the these names also crack me up. By the way, Wooden Whisker says, “What are each of you most looking forward to tonight?” You want me to go first? Yeah. Well, Douglas, I mean, I think everybody just because the size and what’s going to happen. Um, I’m interested to see Vassie. Just want to see what what it looks like in a game action. And I’m going to be looking at the younger players, you know, uh, the Geekies, the Croers. Curious to see how how that develops. Gonzalez, you know, um, kind of a full year now. Let’s let’s see what this looks like. And, um, you know, maybe to a lesser extent, Holberg, you know, because we really didn’t get a chance to see him. in any preseason action except for the one game. So, probably like a lot of fans, I mean, we can talk about defensive structure, the power play. I think that’s going to be ongoing, but for me, I want to see the new guy they’re bringing in. What’s that role going to look like? And Vassie, I just kind of want to see where he is. And, you know, you’re always going to keep an eye on him because you’re he’s your starter. Yeah, I I think that that’s where I am as well. I’m curious to see how Vasilowski looks. So, I think Vasilowski is going to be fine as we get into the season. I hope he’s fine starting tonight. Yeah. But, you know, we can’t ignore the fact that he he missed most of training camp. So, he wasn’t getting those reps. He wasn’t seeing pucks. He wasn’t dealing with activity around him. It was really the end of training camp that he got on the ice and then he got into correct, you know, the one game where he played two periods. So, let’s let’s see how he does tonight. I think just generally about tonight, like you’d like to get off to a good start. If you lose opening night, look, it’s not the end of the world. They were a couple of years ago, uh I remember the Lightning opened at home against Pittsburgh and they lost, right? But it didn’t mean that, you know, they ended up missing the playoffs or anything like that. So, it’s it’s not ideal to lose the opener at home, but it’s not the end of the world. Having said that, I would like to see the Lightning get off to a good start. Yeah. And and hopefully bank two points. And Coupe was asked about the preseason. He kind of snickered about, you know, six and one. He’s like, “There have been a lot of teams that have done really well in the preseason that have missed the playoffs.” He’s like, “Hopefully, we can carry forward some of the things that we saw in the preseason. Good habits, high energy, high compete.” And I’d like to see that, too. I’d like to see them, you know, playing as much of a buttoned up game as we can expect for game one in the regular season. Champ Bayon X says, “So, is Douglas playing tonight? Are they going 12-7?” Well, they can’t go 11 and seven because Moser is suspended and they don’t have any other defenseman. 12 and six. Yeah, I think we spelled that out, didn’t we? Yeah, he’s in. Yeah, we did. But just to to reiterate it, uh, Champa Bay, we appreciate you. CDB on Facebook says, “Correct me if I’m wrong. This guy was not good enough to make the Utah roster.” Utah. I think they are disrespecting Jack Finley and the other preseason standout players. We shall see tonight. So, let me answer that real quick before you get into just because a player isn’t a fit for one organization, albeit one that hasn’t won as much as Tampa Bay, doesn’t mean that player should be relegated to this perception that they can’t play for an inferior team and that he goes to a team like Tampa Bay somehow that you’re getting you’re getting the leftovers, so to speak, in a roundabout way. Um, everybody identifies needs. Each organization has a need. And just because, you know, take some of the worst teams in the NHL over the last couple of years, that doesn’t mean there’s a player on that roster that couldn’t help a team who’s in the playoffs. We see that all the time. Uh, I understand the point that this guy wasn’t on the roster per se, but it still goes back to the Lightning have their scouting report department looking at all players, not only at the NHL level, but clearly the AHL level over in Europe and everywhere else. So, to answer your question, I think in that in that analysis, in that question, for me, it hits home harder. There’s a reason this guy is brought into the Tampa Bay Lightning in addition to having some sort of skill set on the ice that deals with a stick. Um, I think he was brought in large part because there was a need for them to address what they felt maybe was a perceived lack of enforcer type that could control the flow of the game when things got out of control and that maybe the skill set wasn’t as great or greater between Finley and Douglas where that really became a hard decision to make. I think Douglas addresses a need and I think from their actions it was a need greater than what Finley could provide initially which was a little bit more of a complete skill set faceoffs checking killing penalties. Douglas may provide some of that maybe but I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here. I think, and we talked about this at the beginning, partner, he was brought in to address a need in a skill set that the Lightning really don’t have right now at the NHL level. And I would answer it this way to to the fan who who wrote that in. First of all, just because Utah has missed the playoffs for a number of years, doesn’t mean that Utah doesn’t have an upand cominging team. I think a lot of people are are actually pretty high on Utah, which finished higher than a lot of other teams that missed the playoffs in the West last year. They have a crop of good young players. And who knows, we’ll see. I mean, they were still in contention. The the Lightning and Utah played twice near the end of last year. And if you remember, because we had Matt McConnell join us, like they were still in contention to get Yeah. into a playoff spot. So, they are improving. So, I mean, look, it’s never a good idea just to like dismiss another NHL franchise. We don’t know what’s going on in Utah. Maybe they’re going to have a much better year this year. What I took out of it was less that Douglas was was not one of their 23 to start the year. It was that he was one of the last guys cut. It’s not like he went on waiverss, you know, a weekend ago. Remember when most teams made their first big cuts, including the Lightning, after week one of the preseason or even earlier? He stuck around till the very last possible moment before teams had to submit their opening night roster. He went down the same day that Declan Carile went down. Yeah. Does that mean that Declan Carile can’t play in the NHL? Of course not. I think Declan Carile can play in the NHL. So that’s the way I look at it. But look, you know, the the fan I’m reading that as the fan is upset that Finley is not in tonight. Correct. And Douglas is Jack Finley will play. This was a great training camp in preseason for Jack Finley. He made the team unlike a lot of other guys that are right now playing in Syracuse. So, this is one game and the players who are not playing tonight for the Lightning either due to being a healthy scratch, extra in the case of a goalie, suspended in the case of Moser, or injured like at some point they will get in. It’s just not tonight. I think that’s the part that’s hard for some people to grasp is that how could somebody who doesn’t have any NHL experience basically has been an enforcer although showed signs last year in the minors of being able to contribute offensively what was perceived to be a deep prospect pool this year for the Lightning in preseason. How could that person leapfrog a few of these Lightning forwards who maybe acquitted themselves pretty well and were with Tampa Bay the whole preseason? Yeah. And that is where it goes back to, I think, a unique skill set. I think they feel strongly this is somebody they need in their lineup. Now, it’s one game. I acknowledge that he could flop tonight and we see Finley in the next game. I get that. But it is interesting. It’s just interesting that a guy, you know, this isn’t somebody who has a track record of the NHL. This is somebody that’s first taste of the NHL tonight and he leaped frog a guy who was perceived to have taken the appropriate steps to potentially make opening night and I think people were shocked by that and so read into that however people want to. I’m not sure it’s an indictment on Finley as it is it is not an indictment on they really like Douglas. That’s what I’m taking. I don’t look at it that way at all. Yeah. Now look, as it relates to faceoffs to the right of Vasilki tonight, the best faceoff guy on Ottawa actually led the NHL in faceoff percentage last year. Klo Jaru. He’s a righty. So the Lightning would be I mean Jeru can actually take them on the other side, too. And he turns his stick around. Remember Belmar? Yeah. Used to do that. And Belmar’s not the only one, but he’s like, “Yeah, I learned that when I was in Philly from Clo Drew.” So Drew has adopted this technique when he wants to or needs to to take a face off on his weak side. But they have other guys Ottawa does. They have Stu Slow is pretty good in the circle and Brady Kachchuck does not take a lot of faceoffs five on five unless his centerman gets thrown out because he’s a winger, but he takes them on special teams. Brady will take power play faceoffs where they’re they’re putting him out there to take a draw to the right of the opposing goalie. So for this game tonight, the lighting of Braden Point as a right-handed faceoff guy. That’s it. So just like Douglas, as you have pointed out numerous times today, Greg, fills a particular need or role for the Lightning. I do think Finley has a skill set that the Lightning may look to to utilize when he gets in, but that’s not going to be tonight. No, it will not. And they’re going to ask other guys, whether it’s Pontis Holberg or Celli or Gourd, lefties to try and win a faceoff on their weak side. So important at Boltz Radio. So Boomer had some questions here. There’s four of them. We kind of touched on most, but let me just run through it and then if we have anything to say, partner, we can do it. Said, “Can you all discuss why hockey ops levy the $125,000 fine?” Does hockey ops usually get involved like this? Yeah, I don’t know about that. We We touched on that, I think, was it yesterday’s show or the day before? They’ve kind of blended together, but I think we did. It was reported that the fine was levied by Hockey Ops. And maybe Hockey Ops covers it when it’s a team fine or a fine to a coach if it’s not an automatic fine. Sometimes these fines are automatic. Sometimes if a coach gets a little salty in a postgame press conference about the league or referees, the coach will get fined. Maybe that does come from hockey ops. Why? We don’t know. I did my best to kind of put myself in the league shoes about like what might have been the reason behind this and we we touched on that the other day. The other questions he had, we might have touched on this one too. How big of a percentage of the cap were coovasi big contracts? I can’t imagine Julian would ever dish out 17 million to one player, even a superstar like Capri off. Do you think he would pay Cutravasi$ 177 million if they demanded it or would they walk? Unknown. Uh what we’ve seen with the Lightning. So the Lightning’s top players have come up for new contracts around the same time that the cap was basically flat. So we weren’t seeing, you know, like bank busting contracts from the Lightning then. Um, but we also have seen Julie and he’s like, “Okay, this is what I’m willing to to do.” And if if you’re not willing to to meet me and us somewhere close or where, you know, there’s almost a line in the sand where Julian will not cross that line. And if if that’s the case, you know, we certainly saw it with Stampos. I don’t have the particulars of of that negotiation, but it was clear that there was a gap between what Stampos and his camp wanted and what Julian and the Lightning were willing to offer. And Julian was like, “Okay.” You know, he walked away. So, I mean, Boomer asked very specific questions. I don’t know. The one thing I will say about the Capriooft deal, so first of all, the cap went up. So when you like throw out a number 17 million, a couple of years ago, nobody was getting that because the cap was lower and you know your top paid player can only get a percentage of the cap. I think that that’s part of the CBA as well. So now the cap has gone up so you can pay a player more. The other part, and maybe Minnesota is thinking this as well, is that the cap is projected to continue to go up. So that 17 million will become less of a percentage as the cap goes up over time, which kind of feeds into the question we had about the McDavid contract yesterday. So Conor McDavid, for whatever the reasons were that McDavid said, I want a two-year extension and that’s it. Part of it might have been that if the cap continues to go up after two years, you know, his next contract, he could get even more theoretically as opposed to signing an 8-year deal or seven-year deal, which is going to be the max next year for a player returning to the same team. And and by year six and seven, the number doesn’t go up. Like the amount that you’re paid stays the same, basically. I mean, it may have a little bit of a a difference from year to year, but it’s not a huge difference as we’ve talked about. So, the percentage of the cap is going to go down if the cap continues to go up. So there are a couple ways to look at the Capri soft contract and probably Minnesota is looking at as yeah we’re probably paying more in year one than maybe we were comfortable paying but he’s our best player and you know as the as the deal progresses this is going to be less limiting in terms of what else we can do. The Lightning players over the years have shown the ability to take less. Stamp co most notably and and that kind of Victor Hedmond followed suit. Do I think it’s going to be something that continues? I don’t think you can bank on those things. No pun intended. I don’t think you can count on players taking less. And there’s a debate going on with the star players coming after Conor McDavid. What are they going to do? And what are they going to get? Yeah. Um, Jack Eiko I know is one who’s going to be up uh for that uh interesting discussion. I don’t know. There’s always all it takes, as we have seen in life in general, but in sports, all it takes is one to give you a bigger contract than maybe you thought and kind of sets things sets things in motion. Um, we touched on this. What have you seen so far from Tambolin in High Note? That’s tougher for us fans to get a grasp on since it’s more behind the scenes. received well by the team. Yeah, but it’s early. Let’s let’s go. And by the way, I I thought I had read this and I just looked it up. Michael did just sign an extension yesterday. There you go. Oh, there you go. That answer AAV is 13.5 million. So, it’s less than what Capri off. But yeah, you know, I heard you know the argument there in Minnesota that and this goes back to our conversation we’ve had with Aaron Portzline with Columbus. Remember that narrative that a lot of people left Columbus because it just maybe wasn’t a destination for a lot of stars to stay. Some of that was just maybe not true. Panaran wanted to go to New York. Yeah. You know, there were there was there were things that happened. However, the article did point out it might have been Joe Smith, which makes sense because he’s covering Minnesota. is that did Minnesota basically negotiate and outbid themselves because Minnesota is not a destination for star players? I mean, it was pointed out in that article that might have been the reason that they overpaid and maybe were negotiating. they were the only ones negotiating this deal, but that they had to overpay because that’s what you have to do in a market that doesn’t necessarily attract the top-notch players. So, that was that was pointed out. And you know what? I think there is a little truth to it. If Capri off ends up being productive partner for the majority of that contract, I don’t think anybody’s going to care. But it’ll be a problem if he doesn’t. Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s probably like that for anyone. Curious to hear your NHL predictions. Who wins the Atlantic? How many points did the Bolts finish with? Anyone win awards? You know, Jared and I Jared’s sitting next to me. Camera’s not on him, but he’s not working. Smiling. He’s not working. Get to work. No, he’s very He’s got his He’s got his laptop open. He’s probably taking incoming questions and and parsing. He’s doing fantasy hockey. He’s doing fantasy hockey. Come on. So, look, I think that the teams that are expected to be good are still going to be good. I mean, I’m not big into predictions. Fans who have listened to the show long enough know I often say, you know, I don’t know how to push the ball. I’m not a fortune teller. All that. I know it’s it’s part of this medium. Do I think the Florida Panthers are going to have a good team this year? Yes. Do I think the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have a good team this year? Yes. Do I think those teams are going to have challenges this year? different challenges, but challenges this year that may be different from years past. Might they finish with fewer points than they did last year, but still make the playoffs? Yeah, I think it’s possible. I think taking Mitch Marner off the Toronto Maple Leafs is a significant development. I’m not going to use the word significant blow because maybe the Leafs can figure out a way to kind of cobble things together in his absence in a very productive way. I think Craig Ruby’s an excellent coach. The Panthers are going to be without Bararkov for the entire year and they’re going to be without Matthew Kachchuck for presumably half a year. Three long trips through the playoffs. I mean, where are they going to be this year in the regular season? They may actually finish with fewer points than they did last year in the regular season, but do I think they’re not going to make the playoffs? I think they’re going to make the playoffs. What do we make of teams that are looking to take a step forward? Ottawa took a step forward last year. Are they going to continue to take a step forward? I like their team, but they have to go out and show it. So, you know, was it Boomer who asked that question? Like, predictions for the Atlantic? I don’t know. I mean, this is why they play the games. There are definitely some teams though. The teams that are expected to be good should be good. And we’ll see if some of the teams that are trying to get good or better will be able to accomplish that. But I’m not comfortable at this point without having seen really any of these teams in the preseason. Until I see them, it’s hard for me to make an assessment. I mean, we’ve been talking about Buffalo and Detroit for how many years now as, you know, this is going to be the year they take a step forward and they just haven’t been able to do it to the point that they’ve gotten in the playoffs. But I’m sure that you have much more bold takes than me, Greg. So, the only thing I was going to say about the Atlantic, I’m going to just give you a broad brush for the East. I don’t know how strong it is this year. You mentioned, do you think Toronto is going to be good? Do you think Florida’s going to be good? Tampa Bay, I mean, I think that’s going to be status quo. I I don’t look at the East as favorable as I used to. I think there’s some cracks. I think the West collectively is stronger. Is the pendulum swinging back to the West? I mean, how many Eastern Conference teams have won the Stanley Cup the last five, six years? I mean, we know in Florida what that’s all. I think the West is stronger top to bottom. I think the East is a little more wide open. And I say that understanding Florida is going for a three people. We know what that’s like in Tampa. Yeah. So, there’s a little bit of playing the odds there and a four P to the final. Correct. I mean, there’ll be a tough out. We know that. We know they’ve got good players. Lightning do too. I I don’t know if there’s much shuffling in terms of the top three in the Atlantic. There may, but in terms of who is the head and shoulders best team, I’m not sure it’s coming out of the East right now. And I wholly understand we’ve got 82 games to see what this looks like, but that’s just my sense looking at some of these teams and maybe what we saw last year, some of the moves that were made in the offseason and of course there will be some surprises, but that that’s going to be my initial bull take from there in terms of like awards and things like that. I don’t I don’t know. I don’t know. your guess is as good as mine on a lot of that. Um, should I let me do our uh reef from read real quick and then I want to get to some questions I think I got via email. Uh, tonight enjoy some Reefrum. Smooth, versatile, and now pouring at every bar at Benchmark International Arena. Order a tropical wave or lightning mule and taste why fans are switching. Reef rum is a premium craft Florida local rum built on authenticity, quality, and easy drinkability. Ask for reef rum by name. Go Bolts. Enjoy responsibly. All right. Um, let me see what I got because I get them via email. Um, oh, this is Did we get to this? No, this was yesterday. Nick, our good buddy said, “Hey, Dave and Greg, are you guys concerned about the depth scoring this year compared to last? Obviously, a full year of Borstster and Gourd will help that on paper, but it still seems like we’re going to need guys like Chaffy and Geeky to chip in a lot more.” or Nick from Cincinnati. Nick, that’s a good question. I think depth scoring is always going to be, if not my biggest, I don’t want to say concern, but I’m going to be watching that closer than anything else because in my opinion, I think for the Lightning to go from being just a playoff team to a a legit Stanley Cup contender at this point, I think they’re going to need some younger players to push and help these the core group get over that hump like we’ve seen in previous years when they for. So, health of Vasileleski notwithstanding, that’s, you know, number one. Yeah, I I I do want to see Geeky Gonzalez throw Chaffy in there. Gourd, I mean, I don’t know about you, partner, my expectations aren’t incredibly high for Gourd in terms of scoring. I think his numbers have been dipping over the last four years in that department. That doesn’t mean he can’t contribute. I just don’t think he’s the oni gourd hitting 20 goals that we saw. You know, if he’s anywhere in that 13 to 15 range, I think that would be a win. I I think we have a higher ceiling right now with Chaffy, Gonzalez, and Geeki. And I think collectively, could you get 45 goals out of those three? That’d be nice. Yeah, I think that would be nice. Croer’s different be on the back end. I do want to see how he slides in and hopefully he plays regularly because I do think he can help on the back end. But partner, I think for me if if you’re talking about Geeky Chaffy and Gonz 45 to 50 goals combined, I’d like to see, you know, is that doable? Yeah, I think that’s doable. I do want to mention I just got word from from our friends on the Ottawa side sources. Yeah, Mcder it looks like is out. So Ula Lexel, who played in the Philly system the last few years. Yes. His name looks like Ali, but I think he’s had a couple of different versions of his first name, but I think as a league, we’ve reached a consensus. He likes Oola Excel. And thank you for the gazun type. Uh he is he is on the fourth line with Nick Cousins and Lars Eller. Okay, so that appears to be it. So, you know, there would not be a dance partner in that instance. No, Lars is not dropping the gloves if if but Nick Cousins will fight, but I don’t know that he’s going to fight every game. I mean, he might be willing to fight tonight. Well, and at some point, too, the practicality of fighting somebody who’s seven feet on on skates, right? You just you start to wonder, you know, I’m trying I’m I’m really punching up here and this guy’s just punching down. Yeah. You know, I I gotta I got to have a little height there. I mean, look, crazier things have happened. I get that. Um Okay, so that’s good to know. Um, Code Rez on YouTube. Let me open up my my text here. Uh, Finley’s on the bench. He only made this team because he wasn’t waiver exempt. He’s not an NHLer in my opinion. Well, clearly the general manager feels differently. So, I think they do feel that Jack Finley is an NHLer. Let’s tap the brakes a little bit on these, you know, bold bold predictions, kind of blanket statements. I mean, we haven’t even played one game in the regular season yet. I don’t mean to dismiss the comment, but, you know, Julian mentioned Finley when he met with the media over the summer as a guy that he was very excited to to see this year. I mean, he’s seen him every year, but you know what I mean? like he he had him targeted as a guy that you know might make the opening night roster. This is back in July when they had the development camp. So I think Finley look his skill set is a nice one. It’s also not terribly unique. So, if you have a guy who can score, who can fly, there are more reasons to put them in the lineup in today’s NHL than somebody who is 6’4, can win some faceoffs, and the scoring there’s a little bit of a ceiling there. Mhm. So, I go back to, and this is more of the the Douglas than it is Finley comparison, but I think the unique skill set that Douglas provides is more of a need for the Tampa Bay Lightning than Finley skill set right now. And maybe that’s what I should have said at the beginning of the show, but specific to this team, some skill sets are a bigger need than others. And I think, no pun intended, when we talk about big, I think that’s what Douglas provides, even more so than Finley. And it, to your point, it doesn’t mean Finley is not going to play this year. Finley is going to play. He will get in. Yeah. He may even get in on Saturday. Yep. it just he’s not in the lineup. Some people were thinking, “Yeah, that’s kind of odd.” But, you know, everybody else scouts every other player, NHL, AHL, and if you think, and I’ll put a bow on it, if you praise the Lightning for finding players in Europe, drafting them in the fifth and sixth rounds when maybe it’s not on anybody else’s radar, then you have to give them a little credit for finding a guy like Douglas because if you believe they have a talent, an eye for talent, That’s just not specific to who they draft and who they develop. It’s also who else is out there. And look, fans are entitled to have opinions and and fans are entitled to have different opinions. I mean, just in this show, we’ve heard from two different fans. one of whom clearly was very upset that Douglas was in for Finley and then the other fan who didn’t seem to have a problem with it at all. So look, I mean this is what makes sports enjoyable part of it certainly and helps talk shows like ours. You know, people people have different opinions. People have different takes, but the opinion that matters the most and the take that matters the most as it relates to building this Lightning roster is Julian Breeze Boss. And I think what you just touched on, like they don’t go about this in a slap dash manner. They do their due diligence and they have a proven track record of finding without having high-end draft picks. Listen, the Lightning repeatedly have been able to find quality players other ways. Heck yeah. Free agency trades. Free agency is is also included in this next category, but finding guys in Europe, you know, that have been over there for a few years. So, again, I kind of agree with you that they have the proven track record. I mean, they don’t hit everyone, you know, solidly and certainly not everyone out of the park, but their track record is very good. So, if you’re a Lightning fan, I think that it’s okay to have faith in Julian and his team that like they felt strongly enough about both of these players, Douglas and Finley. They felt strongly enough about Finley that Julian during the summer was like, I’m looking for Jack Finley to be maybe that guy taking face offs to the right of the goalie. and felt strongly enough to put in a waiver claim on Curtis Douglas and not only get him but get him here and get him into the lineup right away. I you know what it sometimes when you talk these things out you start to find the answers. Nick on YouTube says, “What should our expectations be for Croer tonight?” I I think what we’ve seen Yeah. when he’s been up here just pretty solid solid solid solid. Yeah, he’s been he’s been really good. But I think this is how everybody should be viewing Douglas and really anybody the Lightning bring in that maybe you’re not familiar with. They’ve earned the credibility over the years of finding players who maybe not are on your radar, but are on their radar to contribute to this team. And there have been plethora of examples. So, this may or may not work out, but I’m going to give Julian and his staff the benefit of the doubt because we often praise them about finding diamonds in the rough in any draft beyond the first and second rounds. Um, by the way, one quick note, Adam Ernie made Dallas’s roster. Good for him. Oh, good for him. I saw that um when I was changing Enzo’s diaper maybe a couple of days ago, and I had I had this one in the middle of the night, too. Yeah, I might, you know, I might have been getting up on my NHL coverage, but it was it was talking about Ernie. Um, and you know, he’s been kind of one of those players a little bit that’s Yeah. You know, I I don’t know if he’s felt lost since moving on from the He’s definitely bounced around. He’s bounced around, hasn’t he? Yeah. Yeah. And that was what, a second round pick. A lot of people thought power forward and you saw some ability there. It just sometimes it doesn’t work out with your original team, but hopefully for Ernie’s sake, he he does well and gets an opportunity uh to play. Um, and we’ll kind of go from there. Let’s get one more question in before we sign off. We’ll go a little extra here since it’s the uh opening night. Um Chris on X, I’m just glad we have the problem of too many useful forwards this year. Glad you got so many extra pieces and prospects took steps. I mean that’s true. They did. And and look, Finley is going to play. Douglas is playing tonight. And I think a lot of the guys that went down to Syracuse, we’ll call it at the 11th hour, they’re going to see time in the NHL this year, too. I mean, I’m not wishing for injuries, but I just think that the Lightning have some quality players, especially at the forward position, but not only at the forward position, but it was notable at the forward position. They have a lot of quality players that could play in the NHL, and I think that they would slot in just fine. And I think they’re going to get an opportunity this year. More than one or two. I may be wrong about that. If the Lightning stay incredibly healthy and just get on a roll and this is the lineup that they just throw out there every single night, then, you know, there may be a situation where some of those those guys knock at the door are blocked. But we know how an NHL season goes. Like, you know, guys have to miss some time and and I think it’s going to be an exciting year to see some guys make their NHL debuts or at least get get some reps at the NHL level. Um, you need that we haven’t really seen before with the Lightning. You need that young blood and I think they have a few guys in this lineup that can inject that and that can rub off on the older guys. It really can lot. The regular season is long and you may need your younger guys to carry a little bit here and it will be nice to see that. All right, so we’ve got what 3:45 the blue carpet correct for the players and going to making their entrance and interacting with fans. That’ll be pretty cool. And then we’ve got the pregame show starting at 6:30. You’ve got the game call with Ryan Malone who is in for Phil Espazito. We hope Espo is doing okay. And then under the weather. He’s under the weather in case you joined us late. Um what’s he say? Hourlong TV pregame starting at 6 for Thunder Alley. So Steve, appreciate that. And uh I will have the last call presented by Jack Daniels. Um want to get those Jack Daniels and Reef from you’re going to be uh if only I drank. Now listen, a glass of wine. You know that would be good. But I’ll have um JP Peterson, Brian Anglom, and Bobby the Chief with me to recap opening night. And you and I will be back at it tomorrow, noon to 1. Yes. Pre-taping taping tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. So, get your questions in um right after uh the game. Cigar City Tap Room is where we’ll be tonight. Oh, that’ll be fun. So, I will not see you. I have to leave a little bit. Duck out before the end of the game. Do I get escorted? Maybe Jared Jared will escort me. Get Get him working. You need your entourage help. My entourage. That’s right. Make your way to the the ground floor and across for Thunder Alley. That’ll be great. Um but we’ll we’ll do it tomorrow taped regardless. We’ll recap and then we’ll get set for the uh the game on Saturday. Partner, great job. Sounds good. You too. As always, Dave Michigan there. Thanks, Steve and Jared Johnston. We appreciate you guys participating at Boltz Radio. I am Greg Lenelli. You’ve been listening to Power Lunch on Lightning Radio.

Dave Mishkin and Greg Linnelli preview tonight’s Opening Night for the Tampa Bay Lightning as the Ottawa Senators are in town.