Lightning Power Lunch – October 21, 2025

Lightning Power Lunch – October 21, 2025

This is Lightning Power Lunch presented by Reef Rum on the Lightning Audio Network with Dave Mishkin and Greg Lenelli. Oh, you know, even as we tape today’s show, there is news. We couldn’t wait to do the show today. I don’t think for Connor geeky sake obviously but it is something that grabbed my attention. I’m sure it grabbed your attention partner and probably grabbed a lot of our audience because we were getting some some tweets coming in and wanted to know why what to make of all this. Dave Randoorf by the way will be joining us in just a bit here on Power Lunch on Lightning Power Play at Boltz Radio if you do want to get involved. uh in the conversation obviously for tomorrow. We’ll get to those. Um but let me bring in my partner Dave Michigan. And you know what’s funny? So we spent some time on the show yesterday and I maybe floated the idea of a shakeup. Um part of me wanted to pull that back because I usually don’t like to go that route six games in. You know, people will ask, I I see a lot of problems with this Lightning team. And typically our response as a team here is, look, I I think they’re going to be okay. They’re going to turn some things around and they’ll figure this out. I still think that will be true, but I felt like what was different this year potentially when the team maybe came out of the gates struggling compared to previous years over the last two to three, let’s say, is that maybe you had collectively some options that you could go to quicker if there were some slumps or struggles with the big club. We can debate who those players would be or should be called up from Syracuse, but nonetheless, it was announced yesterday that Connor Geeki is going down to Syracuse. Mhm. And while I don’t know if he was a guy specifically I would have brought up because the argument that I have made to a degree with Geeky is that I think he needs to probably be in a more of a top six role for an extended period of time for me to really gauge what he can bring to this team because of the pedigree and I think of the skill set. I don’t think playing him on a third or fourth line helps his development all that much. That being said, he wasn’t a player I had in mind that was going to be the first to potentially fall to Syracuse. Um, I had a couple of other players in mind that I was going to say, “Yeah, I I need to see a little bit more here.” And and I think there were some options. That being said, it did happen and you and me partner for the next hour are going to talk about what does this mean to the Lightning? What does it mean for Connor Geeki? Who did they call up? Why did they call this player up? And if things continue this path, are we going to see potentially maybe more movement from Syracuse to the big club? understanding there’s some injuries, there’s some sicknesses that, you know, hopefully Cuch’s ready to go. But I I I threw a lot out there to start, but I I thought it was important to bring that up because we did kind of hint at that yesterday. You did. And well, and the player wasn’t the one I thought, but it did happen. So, does that give us a little bit more insight into maybe what the organization is thinking with how this start has been going on through six games? Well, if you and I were on a game show, and the game show was channel the spirit of Julian Breez, you would have won. I’ve said many times on the show, I’m not the general manager. I try and kind of put the pieces together. Sure. In my own mind and try and get into Julian’s head, but Julian is his own person. And I kind of when you said maybe make some changes, I couched it as this was a little bit of a tough stretch with the backto backs. They had the illnesses and while you know they didn’t play as well as they wanted to certainly as as we’ve looked at the first six games, they haven’t played as well as they wanted to and in certain games they haven’t played as well as they wanted to in those games. and they haven’t played as well as they’re probably going to need to play. Let’s state that upfront. Yeah, I thought that okay, now they’re kind of coming home and kind of reset the dial here and have another crack at where you’re not on the road. You’re not playing the second half of a backtoback with travel against a rested opponent. Let’s see how they do. And you had said maybe let’s see what some guys in Syracuse have got cuz a lot of them showed really well in the preseason. Well, we do know that Julian is not one to sit around and and wait if he sees that an action is needed to be taken. So, that is consistent with his mindset. That is consistent with what we’ve seen from him. He is a very bold general manager when it comes to making moves and he’s not shy about making difficult moves. So, you were right. Like they made the change yesterday and we can get into maybe why the change was made. But the second thing that I want to point out is another reason why I would lose that game show contest is that I have said Declan Carile is probably the next guy up. I said he’s the defenseman. If they need a lefty, it would be him. Lo and behold, they called up a lefty. It was not Declan Carile. It was Charles Edoir Destu. Yes, that is how you say his name. You usually say gazunite when I say that. Greg, hopefully we will get to know this player quite well because yes, I will say we saw him in very limited action. He was in that 322 penalty minute game and and played a game, but that that game was there’s not much you can take out of that game in terms of kind of assessing how guys are playing. But he got into one other game. It was the Lightning’s home game against Nashville and I was impressed. That was the first time I had seen him because he’s another one of these guys that’s new to the organization. He’d been in Europe the last couple of years, so he’s not like he’s a young buck. I mean, he’s got some some pro years of experience under his belt. And he had a good start to the year in Syracuse. I think he’s leading all defenseman with a goal and two assists. Yeah, I think you’re right. So, I was wrong about them standing pat. I was wrong about the guy that they were going to call up. So, what do we make of this? Well, let’s take the geeky part first. You just said he was maybe not the guy you would expect, but I’m going to go back to something you repeated often during training camp in the preseason, and that is it’s a lot easier to send down a guy who is waiver exempt. Conor Geeki is waiver exempt. just about everybody else that they would or could send down would have to clear waiverss. Yeah. So sometimes the easiest solution is the most obvious solution. There may be more to it than that and I understand Geeki is a prospect. Yeah. I I can tell already and he’s been with the organization a year and a little bit like this is going to be a controversial player in that fans have lots of opinions about this guy and I think that is in some ways normal because the Lightning made a significant trade to get him right. They traded Sergev to get Geeki and Moser. Geeki has not burst upon the scene and to your point playing top six minutes and scoring 20 to 25 goals right off the bat. We see that from some younger players that are are new to the NHL. That has not been Geeki’s path. Geeki is going to have a different path. Do I still think he is a blue chip prospect? Yes. Do I still think that at some point he’s going to end up playing significant minutes for the Lightning? Yes. But I mean, part of this is clearly they feel he can get more seasoning in the minors. Unless, and I did see a a post from someone like Syracuse does play Wednesday. It’s possible they could call him back up. I think it is it is fairly certain, at least in my mind, that they will make another recall because right now with the injuries they have at forward, notably Paul and Gurgensson’s, the Lightning do not have any extra forwards. Right. I mean, they they basically have 11 forwards right now. So, I don’t think that they’re going into this three and four set over the weekend with 11 forwards. So, somebody’s coming up. Maybe it’s Geeky again. Maybe they’re sending him down Syracuse plays tomorrow. Maybe they’re going to give him a game down there and call him back up. Maybe it’s going to be somebody else, which is something that I think you had mentioned. You know, some of these forwards that showed very well in the preseason. Maybe it’s one of them. Dest is interesting. So, they called up a lefty. We don’t know. They’re practicing today after we are off the air. We don’t know if Croer is is going to be well enough to play, but calling up a lefty does signal to me that I think Destu is in. I think they called up Dest because this is unlike the Santini situation where they felt they needed insurance. It was a backto-back on the road. They’re calling him up a couple of days in advance. They’re giving him It’s not like he is going to play Wednesday and fly in Thursday as the seventh defenseman, right, which they could do. They’re bringing him in early. They’re giving him some practice days. I think he’s in Greg. And if he’s in, we’ve had some fans talk about this. I I think he comes in for Littleberg. We’ll see how they they kind of run the D pair, but he’s played well. like he I am not shocked based on what I saw from this guy in the one preseason game and what we heard he has done in Syracuse and he’s not a spring chicken to pro hockey like he’s played pro hockey he hasn’t played in the NHL but look that’s that is shuffling things up and maybe causing a ripple as the GM best you can you can’t go out and make like blockbuster trades I’m Not saying he would do that, but you know, it’s just harder to do that, particularly early in the season with the salary cap, everything else. This is something you can do, though. You can call up this guy. He’s already cleared waivers, so you can move them up and down pretty freely for the next month. And they want they want to take a different look at things, but unless Geeki is coming back up, the Lightning don’t have any extra healthy forwards, right? So, I mean, they’re going to have to they’re going to have to call up another forward before Thursday’s game. and we’ll see who that forward is. Yep. That’s my take on on what we’ve seen in the last 24 hours. I I also get the sense you mentioned, however you phrased it, that this I I’m paraphrasing for you. I do think Geeky is a little of a a polarizing player because I think the pedigree from the fan base is what I’m saying. Yeah. We’ve gotten we’ve gotten comments all across the spectrum about kind of where he is in his development. For sure. It’s it’s more of the pedigree, the trade, the expectations. I I don’t want to say similar to Jonathan Duan, but maybe Druin was a very polarizing figure for fans. Everybody you had a very strong opinion on him one way or the other. And really the best year he had with the Tampa Bay Lightning, I think it was the year they didn’t make the playoffs, but he had he had a tremendous year because he was forced into it with some injuries and he really showcased particularly on the power play that he was somebody who had that pedigree of being a high draft pick. I think Geeky is, look, we’ve talked a lot about this. The Lightning haven’t had a ton of high-end prospects over the last handful of years. They acquired Geeky, but Geeky immediately became probably that guy. And I think because of that, do you overvalue and I’m I’m talking more in the fans from the fans perspective. Because of that, do you overvalue somebody’s abilities and maybe where they project because you don’t have a lot of those players in your system. So the ones that you do, you tend to you really latch on to them. Maybe I think what’s intriguing with Geeky, we’ve always said this, his size and his skill set. Worked on his skating this year. wanted to to take a a bigger role. Whether he plays center or wing, that’s always a debate. So, I think I think there are some things out of his control that probably didn’t put him maybe in the best position to be productive players position. Some of those things are out of his control. What we do know is that based off of his body of work so far, it has been inconsistent. There have been a couple of stints now going back to the minor leagues. He’s still a young player, but clearly it is not a as big of a slam dunk for the coaching staff and the organization that he should be in the top six as it potentially could be for some of the fans out there who just want to see the guy play and let roll out the puck and let him go. This is a different Yeah. And this is a different situation. By the way, before I say that, I want to correct myself because I totally forgot the Lightning scratched Cooerov because he was ill. So assuming Krav is healthy, the Lightning have 12 forwards. Still, they have the roster spot open. They could call up another forward. And I would be surprised if they don’t, but we’ll see. So I was like, yeah, they didn’t scratch any they don’t have any injured forwards that that were scratched. They didn’t healthy scratch anyone over the weekend. Well, that’s because Cutrov was sick. So they have 12 forwards. Yep. Having said that, we’ve talked about some players. Barle is a good example. I think we said this about Croer, too. It’s like, would they really even benefit from going back to the minors at this point? It’s kind of like they’ve they’ve showed everything they need to show at the minor league level. So, it’s either onward and upward or maybe time to to find another organization. That was the case of Bari Ble. I think Croer is onward and upward as we’ve seen already this year. I think Geeki can benefit from time in the miners just because he hasn’t had he hasn’t really been in a situation for a full year certainly not to play the the 18 to 22 minutes a night being the guy being in all situations right so that may be part of it too there may be a benefit for him to to go to Syracuse and play in the role that you’re kind of saying you envision that this would benefit him at the NHL level. Well, maybe there isn’t room for him at the NHL level to do that or just coach’s decision. They’re not putting him there, but in Syracuse, you would figure he would get that opportunity. I think that would benefit him. And I think we both would would we agree and probably Phil would agree although we can ask him on Thursday if it comes up that he’s probably going to be most successful if he’s your centerman. Well, I liked him when he was at center in that I thought he was skating freely. I’ve said that on the show. We’ll see. That’s that’s a decision for Joel Bashard about how he wants to construct the lineup. Should we bring in? Keep in mind, we’ve already seen a couple of centers go down, right? Like Dominic James is a center. Stooviaak’s a center. So, if they’re playing center in Syracuse, yeah, you could just have a lot of depth down the middle, but maybe they maybe they put Geeki on the wing with one of those other guys as centers. That’s going to be that’s going to be the it’s what you do at the NHL level. Are you playing out of position to a degree? Does it matter? Dave Randorf is with us, of course. Yeah. for for our audio listeners. Dave is sporting his Blue Jays hat. I don’t think that thing may have come off his head last night. Did you sleep in that hat, Dave? I didn’t I take good care of my hat and uh why wouldn’t I be wearing this hat today? I know. I know. Down two nothing at home in the ALCS. Come all the way back and win it in dramatic fashion last night with a big three-run homer by George Springer. Uh it was Listen, I I know it’s a hockey show. I’ll just say one thing. As we all know, baseball has a special connection unlike other sports. It’s such a long long season and it is been a big part of my family with my sons, with my dad who I lost earlier this year, with my grandfather before that. So, it’s a it was a big night last night in this house. It was a lot of a lot of emotions felt. So, I’m very excited to uh look forward to the World Series. And even just watching it on TV, I mean, you could feel the noise, if that’s the right way of putting it. I’m just bringing this up because you had a chance to go to Toronto breaking the Lightning schedule and see what was game two of the Yankee series, right? And Guerrero Grand Slam home run. And you were saying like that was incredible to be in the stadium for that. Yeah, I thought about that too. I did tell you about that. That was a day that Vladimir Guerrero, who ended up being the ALCS MVP, uh he had a grand slam in that game and the roof was open that day. And I could not imagine how much louder it would have been had the roof been closed, which it was last night uh in the seventh inning when Springer hit his home run on a and and the way the night built, there was there was nothing going on. The Jays did not have a lot of things going on offensively with their bats uh until that point when you know they got a leadoff walk and they got a hit two on then Springer comes up he’s been out for the night and you you could feel everybody I even know I moved up the edge of my couch so it must have been uh electric. It’s it’s a great baseball uh city Toronto and uh and of course it’s unique in that the fan base stretches from St. John’s Newfoundland to Victoria British Columbia. It’s uh it’s a whole country that’s behind that team. So, it’s pretty cool. I was going to ask you before we get into the Lightning, Dave, is that you know, obviously it’s probably not the craze for, you know, a Maple Leaf win or obviously a Stanley Cup if that happens, but are the Blue Jays pretty wellreceived collectively. Oh, yeah. In terms of No, no, this isn’t this isn’t a uh a distant second. It’s second. It’s always the least first, but it is no by no means a distant second. It is uh you know, the the Blue Jay has been around since the the late 70s. So, and they they won world two World Series. Um, they uh it is it is a definitely a big deal in Toronto for sure. It’s a daily thing as it as it is, you know, in this area with the Rays. It’s a daily drama that goes up and down, but uh make no mistake about it. Uh Leafs do come in at number one, but the it’s the Jays are right behind them. Yeah. No, it’s great. So Dave, we spent the first 15 minutes in par talking about the roster moves yesterday. Connor Geeky going down and Destu coming up. What did you make of the news when you saw it? Well, um, couple things. Uh, I guess I was a little surprised that Connor Geeki was sent down, but at the same time, I guess this is anticipation of Gergensson’s being ready to come back up. Good point. I didn’t mention that. Yeah. And get back into the lineup. Not come back up, but get back in. And in my mind, and I’ve I’ve had this conversation off the air with my broadcast partner Brian Engel. Geeky is is not a fourth line player. You know, he believes it belongs in the top if not if not the second line, the third line for sure. Now, that third line combination they like. They’re going to uh you know, stick with that, I think, for the foreseeable future to try to build some chemistry. So, I think in this case, it’s a matter of you’re not going to like this, Connor, but we want you to go back down. want you to play in a role we see you better suited to, which is a much more offensive, much more meaningful role. Not to say the fourth line isn’t, but let’s be honest here. It’s it’s it’s a different type role than he would have. He got a small opportunity on that second line in the preseason, and I don’t really know that he did much to play his way off of it. Uh, I just think it’s it’s a numbers thing right now. They love Gage Gonzalez in that position right at the moment. So, go down, get some u minutes in in different situations that you’re not going to get here. Grow your game like you did last year. Uh I think we would all agree the three of us on this this chat here that he hit a wall last year, needed to go down, and when he came back, he was arguably one of their better players in that first round series against the Florida Panthers. So, this is a patience thing with with Geeky, who was a high first round pick and has got that pedigree. So, he goes down. I I think the other thing too is that dust stew coming up is it’s like this is a bit of a shot across the bout to not only the guys in defense but everybody. We’re not waiting around. It’s not early. One win in six games is far beneath our standards here. And uh we are going we’re not going to sit around and let things and let things just continue to work themselves out. We need to um as Ryan Mcdana said the other night, yeah, we showed a lot of urgency the other night in Columbus trying to, you know, rally and come back just as we did the other night. We’ve got to start showing that for 60 minutes. We’ve got to start showing that when we’ve had the lead, of which they’ve had many uh in this in this struggling start. It’s it’s really interesting. You know, if you think back to that opening night against Ottawa, they jumped out to that that three nothing lead and it looked like it should. I think we all agree. You probably talked about it, Greg, in your postgame show. It it looked like everybody expected it to look like this was a team that had preseason predictions across the league going, “Yeah, they’re going to be in the they’re going to be amongst the top teams.” And then they lost that lead and everything has been a struggle since. Everything has been a struggle since. Even their win in Boston was a struggle. So, you know, they they are going to try to find their best chances to win in each and every position that they put out on the ice. Will Dust Stew get a look? I think he I think he would. You know, I think he’s definitely going to get a look here. They wouldn’t bring him up for nothing. And in my mind, I didn’t know anything about this guy until I saw him in the rookie and then preseason, uh, rookie camp and preseason. and he’s got a little bit of edge to go along with the offensive numbers that he clearly has had over the course of his junior and pro career. He had a little bit of uh little bit of presence with the puck and a little bit of edge to him as well. Um he wasn’t he was bigger than I think he I I envision him being and he played a little bit bigger too. Uh is he going to turn around things single-handedly? No. But uh this could be a real kind of found money situation. Uh we shall see. Dave, do you feel like now because the Lightning have some options down in Syracuse, legitimate options of guys who could come up that we may see more of these moves if things continue to muddy along? No question, Greg. I mean, not not for the sake of, you know, just always rocking the boat, but just for the sake of of improving things. And um, you know, are you are any of the big guys going to get sat? You know, unlikely. No, I I think I think we all feel Brandon Hegel is is going to is going to break free offensively here. He’s still doing a lot of good things. We all think Coovro and points are going to get back the level that we’re more accustomed to seeing offensively. I think once you get Nick Paul back into the lineup, that’s going to be open up a whole new uh situation for the lines, the way things line up um for the Lightning. But, uh, think about it. They they haven’t really had a whole lot going on in the American League for a couple of seasons now, but Joel Bousard has taken over the reigns down there and has really started to develop uh, guys who weren’t first round picks, who maybe weren’t even drafted. Uh, guys who are becoming options now. And that is such a huge thing. And I don’t think they uh, uh, I think that’s part of the plan. And I think they they plan to use utilize that strength uh, in certain situations. And I think D2 is a perfect example of that. Six games in, as you mentioned, just the one win, they do have four points because they’ve cobbled together some some games. They’ve they’ve gotten to overtime. But kind of big picture, what do you see as lacking or missing or the team needing to start winning games more regularly? To me, it’s it’s execution and and it’s just flow to their game, particularly offensively. Dave, you know, uh, we’re seeing a lot of one and dones like Columbus um, really shut them down, snuffed them out at key moments. I think the power play continues to be a work in progress. Uh, obviously not having Coutron for the last two games changes everything. So, uh, let’s let’s just kind of take that and put it to the side. But, but even with him in the lineup, it hasn’t really popped yet as we expected it to. So, I still think they’re they’re still while they’ve had some effective moments and effective looks with man advantage, that that aspect of their game hasn’t really taken hold. Uh I don’t know if it’ll be a top three, four, five power play this year or not. We we’ll wait and see. Um they certainly were last year, but now they’re working in a newer piece with Borkstrand, who they didn’t really have really at all last season. They had him for a small stretch and that was it. So, but he is going to be a part of the uh equation as well. Um, but to me, it’s basically just execution and urgency to go with it. Uh, I don’t want to say they’ve been outworked. I I I don’t really have an issue with the uh with the with the battle level and the work level. It’s just the efficiency level has been has been down for me and that has been surprising um that they have been had to work so hard to get not only goals but to get some sustained offensive pressure at key moments. Yes, they had the big third period in Detroit. Yes, they had a big push in Columbus, but that’s that’s the other team’s kind of playing a little bit off the puck as well just to try to keep them at bay and they’re not being as aggressive. So, there’s other things that go into that. And to me, I want to see more of that as Mcdana pointed out in the first and second period rather than just uh you know, trying to make up lost ground, you know, in the last 15 minutes of a game. One thing that has stood out and and Mitch talked about this yesterday and I think it’s it’s pretty apparent uh from preseason to now that I mean some positives would be JJ Moser, right? I mean he’s looked physical, feisty, and he’s healthy, which is great, but it it does feel like his game looks different than what we saw at times last year. Yeah, I think you I would agree. I certainly know Dave’s thoughts on this. He’s made that clear on the postgame bus ride back and and I I don’t disagree. Um, this is a guy who has uh I think missed being out there and be he was given a role a role unlike any type role he’s had in his NHL career. You’re going to play with Victor Hedman. Yeah. Uh, we’re going to ask you to switch sides and and and hey, no problem. I can do whatever you want. And then that was taken from him in a kind of a freaky little uh freak accident non-cont injury that kept him out for all what was it 30 games or something like that last year. Uh, and I think, uh, you know, he took it serious, uh, at the time, and I think he certainly took it serious at his training and came back and wanted to just reinsert him back into an elev elevated role. And I love the fact that he he plays at that level to stay where he is. I mean, that is a that’s a prime spot in the NHL to be a part partnered up with with Victor Hedman. And I think as we’ve seen o certainly over the the few years that I’ve been here and and going back beyond that it takes a special not everybody can do it. Not everybody can play with Headman and be successful and make that pairing comfortable. We saw it with Strawman. We saw it with um Shustster of all people, right? We saw it with guys who are under the radar guys. Then they mixed Radish in mixed results. Croer got a small look in there. You know, they didn’t stick with that very long. It it is it’s a it’s a special type of player that is able to seamlessly allow Victor to be Victor but at the same time not leave things too exposed uh while also bringing parts of elements of your game to the table as well. And I think Moser has has done that. I think you know we’re going to look back on that trade and I still have a lot of faith in Connor Geeki developing into a you know an important player going forward. He’s still very young. Uh but uh don’t discount the the addition that was that was a shrewd addition to that deal to bring in Moser as well. Last one for me, Dave, just uh take us under the hood here for uh what it’s been like with the new television provider, the Spot 66. You guys got five preseason games to hopefully smooth out any bumps and and now you’re off and running in the regular season. Has has there been any significant difference for you in your role? Uh and if so, h how has it gone for you and how has it gone for for the broadcast team? Yeah, for me really it it’s uh you you know at his debut you walk in, you slap on the headset and you call the game. We’ve got the same producer uh which is for for those listeners obviously that’s that’s a key he’s the he’s the guy who’s in charge of of everything and how it is presented beyond the the play dictating where it goes. He’s the guy who decides when we’re going to show this clip or we’re going to show that graphic or when we’re going to go to Gabby and what Brian’s going to talk about in between plays. So, same producers in place. We have a new director this year. We had a longtime director named Doug Yulaki. Excellent at what he does. And he retired. So, we brought in a new one. And that takes a little time for the new Doug to He’s also a Doug. Also a Doug. A great guy. Very experienced as well. But but you know, it’s like a new player coming in. We’re a team just just like the players are and and we are connected. uh throughout this show, too. So, it takes him a little time to get up and running. Um it’s been good. Uh I think the the biggest difference for me obviously is in this changing age of broadcast media and certainly regional sports broadcasts. Um it is a it’s a it’s it’s shifting and everything was was on a on a on a higher tier sports channel and app-based and that wasn’t working. you know, we were on our previous arrangement with, you know, FanDuel before that Bally, things started to shift rapidly in terms of people cutting the cord, uh, not paying the extra money that you needed to get that tier to to include the package that included our games. Uh, this goes for the raise as well. And then the app came out and the app wasn’t really reliable and it was a lot of money and people already have subscription fatigue and on and on and on. It’s still, you know, FanDuel’s still up and running and I wish everybody over there on that side of the fence the best. But now we’ve got now it’s free. It’s over the air. It’s a broader audience base and viewing region basically the top half of the state all the way to Jacksonville, Gainesville and Orlando and all points in between and Tallahassee, you name it. So that’s good. And it’s free. So I think that’s the best thing we can get more viewers and more people to enjoy the Lightning Games. So that’s great. And the other thing too is that I’d like to remind everybody about when you’re not listening to Dave on the radio, it is on the app as well. It’s on this app that you’re watching this show on right now. The first NHL team to do that to stream their games. That one is not free, but it’s it’s less than a dollar a game, which I can objectively say I think is is pretty reasonable. That’s from like the beginning of the season all the way through to our first round of the playoffs, plus pregames, plus all the other content that you get, including this show. So, um, that’s been the big difference for me is I’m already getting feedback like, okay, this is great. I don’t have to I found it. It’s I I get it. It’s on this channel. depending upon which carrier I have. And that’s been the biggest takeaway for me is that people are appreciative that uh in this day and age when we’ve all got all these subscriptions all over the place. Uh Greg’s got kids, he’s probably got Disney Plus and everything else going on there, right? You know it. You can all reaches a breaking point. So this is this is good that we can uh we can get our product. You need you got to be seen. You’ve got to be seen and I think the Lightning recognized that and that’s why we went this way. Go Blue Jays. Friday night and I’m so uh lucky that we have a very busy schedule once the season starts and everything’s lined up where I’m I’m really able to watch a lot. You can watch the whole thing. I’ve been well there’s one game where we’ll be in Nashville and the game will be on but that other than that I’m free and clear to watch all there’s five o’clock games this that was a huge one on Saturday. It’s going to help me out. I’ll be ra You will see me Dave after that game against my chair will be spinning. It’ll I’ll be gone. There’ll be a puff of smoke. I’ll be leaving very quickly. I will just mention Dave I think so you you said all of Canada will be cheering for Toronto. There is I think a healthy anti-DODER vibe at least in parts of the US. So there may be a good pocket of of this country too rooting for Toronto. Maybe. Well, we can there’s there’s room. There’s room on the wagon. Jump aboard, Greg. Come on. Let’s go. Let’s do it all day long. Yes. Well, Dave, we appreciate it, buddy. Thank you, sir, for coming on. It’s always a pleasure coming on with you guys. Dave, I will see you at practice shortly and Greg will see you uh on Thursday. You got it, buddy. Appreciate you coming on. All right, there he goes. Dave Randorf who hey look anytime you can follow your your team Mish talked about this before and you know it’s been a while since the Pirates have been any good but you know around the same time that the Blue Jays won their they won their World Series in back-to-back years that was when basically when the Pirates were last relevant I guess we can use that word so good for them it’s I remember we had Elliott Freriedman on our show after the Lightning had won I can’t remember if it was the 2020 cup or the 2021 cup and he said I wish every fan base basically in every sport gets to experience a championship because there’s nothing like it and part of me was a little disappointed for Seattle just because Seattle’s never been to a World Series but again I have no I’m not like Dave I had no dog in a hunt here. I was really happy to see either team get in. I think I’d mentioned that the Blue Jays haven’t been to a World Series since 1993, but one team had to win, one team had to lose. So, that’s the way it goes. There’s nothing better than rooting for your team. Uh I I love it. And um you know, especially he’s right about baseball. It does take on kind of a different It’s so long, too. Yeah. Yeah, I think you get to a certain point and you’re so invested in things. It is interesting, you know, baseball how it’s received in Canada, you know, because we’re just we talk so much about hockey and to get that taste. The Blue Jays have had success of course over the course of their That’s their sport in the summer. I mean, the CFL, Canadian Football League starts earlier than the NFL, so that is kind of sort of in the summer. But once, you know, once the Maple Leafs and the Raptors are done, because there are no other Canadian teams in the NBA, there are in the NHL. I understand that. But, you know, once you get into the summer in Canada, I mean, yeah, they have soccer and that’s that’s big. Like, I did some soccer. I I know soccer is very big in Montreal because there’s a um a very healthy Italian population base there and we know you know Italians love soccer. Italy has won the World Cup before. Um but yeah, it’s kind of like what are you going to what are you going to do? You’re going to watch sports the the regular sports. I mean, yeah, maybe golf and tennis and and stuff like that, but I think the Blue Jays have a pretty healthy following. They’re kind of the only game in town in some ways during the dog days of the summer. So, no doubt. Good for them. I didn’t realize, and this just goes to show how far out of the loop I am with baseball, I didn’t realize they finished last in their their division last year, too. Worst to first. That’s impressive. Yeah, that’s impressive. That’s hard to do in baseball as we just talked about with the Pirates, right? Like if you’re down at the bottom, it’s hard to just snap your fingers and and elevate. I I would agree on that. Um, do we want to get to some questions? Yeah, absolutely. Let’s uh let’s dig them. I have them on my my phone here. I’ll read. Scott says, “I got home and see Geeky was sent down. My reaction.” What? So, knowing the Lightning don’t have a game until Thursday, I just looked at the Crunch’s schedule. So, they have a game on Wednesday. Uh, my galaxy brain. Uh, and then he has parentheses what JBB is doing. Conclusion. I’m hoping that this is just to give Geeky an extra game of experience on top and the first power play unit to build confidence. And he’s coming right back to the Bolts for Thursday’s game. Guys, would love to hear your thoughts about this on the show. Yeah. So, I had seen that comment elsewhere from from somebody else that Syracuse was playing. I don’t know. I I hadn’t really thought that Gergensson’s was that close to to coming back, but he did skate on the trip. Dave Randf mentioned that it’s possible Gergensson’s will essentially take Geeki spot on the roster. Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, my Maya Kulpa, I forgot the Lightning do have 12 forward. So, even if Gergensson’s doesn’t come off IR, they could just dress the 12 that that they have. I don’t know. I mean, yes, it’s possible they send him down for one game. This feels like it’s a little bit longer, though, to me. I don’t know if you share that sentiment, Greg. No, I I think I think this is this has been ongoing. This is probably a lot of information from last year, preseason, and then where we got to here. So, to your point, I think this is more about also, where does he fit? Let’s be pretty clear. I to your point and why I think this is maybe more of a mid to long-term play for Geeky and that can be 15 games, that could be 20, whatever you want to to put there. He needs to play he needs to play in a in a more offensive-minded role. He’s not going to get that here. Mhm. The question that’s going to come up if he goes down to Syracuse and does very well, what do you do when you bring when you bring him back up? Where are you going to put him? Because now we’re we’re kind of ramming our head against the wall, you know. Now it’s now it becomes, okay, your confidence is high again. You’re putting up numbers. We wanted to see you dominate. That is tremendous. Do you put him back on a fourth line or do you sit there and say, “We’ve got to make room for him in the top six. And if that means somebody else has to come down, that’s what we do.” Look, I I’m not at the center position. What are you going to do with the first two lines? Who are you going to sit? Not sit, but who who you going to move around? I mean, you’re you’re talking about a perennial all-star in Braden Point. And if you want to go that route with Anthony Stelli as your second line center, um, you know, he’s he’s well entrenched as that guy. Now, you know, maybe you could have some flexibility and if you want to start growing your top three lines and maybe maybe this is that conversation where Geeki is part of something, but he’s playing center. I don’t think you can put him on a fourth line again. I mean, you can, but you want to get the most out of Connor Geeki. And so, if Connor Geeki does what you want him to do down in Syracuse, which is a good problem to have, by the way, and then he comes up here and he’s playing eight minutes a night on a wing, are you giving him the best chance to be successful? Yeah. And I don’t know if they are. So, first things first, partner, he’s got to go down to Syracuse, be motivated, and put up some numbers. I mean, he’s got to do the things the Lightning want him to do. Whatever that game, whatever that is. Yeah, whatever that is. A good portion of that is going to be scoring points. But, you know, you want to be responsible defensively, uh, winning some faceoffs. Um, you know, how’s your conditioning? How’s your skating? I mean, those are things that they’re evaluating. But let’s let’s get beyond that point and say, okay, after how many games down there, he has performed very well and it’s time for the Lightning to make another decision and bring him up. Where does he go? because that is going to be the ultimate question which I’m not sure they have figured out mainly because I don’t know if geeky has given them a reason in fairness to them to say you are a top six forward on our team right now the way it’s currently constructed you and I have kind of talked about could he do a third line I think there’s room there to to have those conversations certainly not a fourth line I think I think the start of the year the plan was to slot him in on the third line. Yeah. And then other things happened. Other things happened and they put Holberg on that third line and they really like that line. That was what Dave Randf was talking about. So So you have it’s kind of like you’re not going to disrupt a line that is going arguably your your best line in terms of consistently driving play. You’re not going to pull that line apart just because you’re saying, “All right, we need to get this guy into and that’s fair a top nine.” And that’s going to be part of the process which could mean that if he is promoted again and if he ends up being a fourthline center is that something that ends up being the best for both worlds. He’s at the NHL which means Geeki is much he’s in a much better spot mentally wanting to be up here than in Syracuse. He’s maybe at his natural position. The only downside for him, if you want to call it a downside, is his minutes are probably limited and you’re not probably driving a ton of play offensively. So, that would be the that would be the part they have to work through. But eventually, in a perfect world, which we don’t live in, Geeki comes up, he’s forces his way into a top six, becomes a dominant power forward, and you adjust accordingly. Then you’ve got to make some other decisions, right? By the way, that’s that’s a positive thing. Anthony says, “Chaffy can’t find his game right now. I think Vassie needs to play less than 50 games this season. I heard from goalie expert that his stance is too upright. Maybe less pressure for his spine. Maybe you can invite Steve, is it Velet?” Yeah. Well, Steve Velake knows the position. He played the position. He does uh Rangers broadcasts. I know that. I can’t speak to that. I always I always urge some caution when at least I hear from fans who are repeating what they’ve heard from broadcasters. Now look, Valette is a well- reggarded, wellrespected analyst who played the position. It’s not like he’s, you know, a beerly goalie who’s like giving his opinion online and somebody is repeating it. All I will say is that the guy who knows Vasileleski the best is Fran who has been his goalie coach for a decade. Okay. So there is no stone left unturned about usage about stance about like every goal against is videoed and reviewed by the coaching staff by Fron who’s part of the coaching staff. He needs to meet with Vasilowski. It’s not like they’re putting their feet up on the Ottoman and not reviewing the information that they need to review or going over everything that you can imagine to help not just him but Johansson get ready to perform at their best. So look, Vassie likes to play. Vassie has played well with the one exception of the year where he missed 20 games and needed to get his game back in gear. But, you know, last year was his best goals against average in his career and he played his usual amount. I think he has played well this year. His numbers don’t really reflect that, but he has been more under siege and had to deal with more scoring chances against than probably he would like or the team would like. We’ll see. Yeah. Yeah, the one thing I will mention kind of pro- Anony’s comment is if Johansson continues to play the way that he has played, maybe the Lightning are like we understand Vassie wants to play three out of every four, but yeah, we do want to play him less and we have faith that Johansson can get more to a a 5030 split rather than 6020. We’ll see. We’ll see how it plays out at the end. Lightning, I think, have one or two additional back-to-backs this year. I haven’t counted them. I know that they had two already and they have another one at home this weekend. You know, assuming both goalies stay healthy, both goalies, you know, kind of play well. So, I mean, there’s no issue of like having a guy not play because he needs to get his game together. We’ll see where they are at the end of the year. I don’t see any sign though that Vassie is going to play less than his three out of every four at this point. Goal setting has been solid this year and that’s been a bright spot. He mentioned Chaffi. Yes. Yeah. Anthony JV Jaffy to me is one of these guys like too many of the Lightning forwards have not been able to help the Lightning impose their will on the other team frequently enough. Now Chaffy on the line with Finley and Douglas had a good third period in Detroit. They spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. They had that one sequence around the net. Chaffy probably nine times out of 10 scores the tying goal there, right? I mean that was an amazing save by John Gibson with you know his arm but too much of the time and this isn’t just Chaffy. I think we touched on this on the show yesterday. too much of the time the Lightning’s five on five play. They have not, and these are the words that Dave used executed or played with high enough urgency and so they had not been able to dictate the terms of what has been going on. So when Anthony singles out a guy, look, I don’t disagree. I think Chaffy would probably like to be more involved in helping the Lightning grab control of the rudder, right? too often they have not really been in control of the rudder. Either the other team has or it’s been kind of a push and not much is happening for either team. I think he’s he’s one of those guys that’s he’s kind of penciled in the starting lineup, but you don’t have it’s not in pen, if you know what I mean. I I think he’s somebody that you need to see a little bit more from him. And you know, I know Chief has talked about this. He mentioned this at the beginning of the year, but I mean, Gonzalez, I think, is kind of in the same boat. Maybe he’s a little bit more of a leash. He’s been given more opportunity. Yes. More ice time, bigger role. I think that’s what like a lot of people would say, okay, Gonzalez, he’s in a top six. Is he doing much? And I know we have um people who really like his game, but it is about production. And some people who were in the geeky camp would be like, well, why can’t he get a shot, you know, in a top six role like that? And so that’s where you’re going to have some of that back and forth. And I’m not saying I I disagree with that thinking. Healthy competition is good, but it’s only good if you allow it. So, I I think at some point with Chaffy and Gonzalez, I think those two guys specifically. And look, if you want to if you want to throw Littleberg in there, too, as a defenseman that, you know, you’ve seen some up and down performance and you want to be a little bit more consistent and maybe there’s going to be more competition. You know, those are maybe three players you could look at. I know, look, Douglas is who he is. Um, I think he was brought in for a purpose and for a reason. I don’t think that’s blocking any of these guys from getting to the NHL necessarily because he’s filling a very specific role. His his main thing will be um in the six or seven minutes that you do play making sure the other team doesn’t score and answer for anything out there that that happens to your teammates. And I think that’s I don’t believe they’ve been out there. They being so Finley and Douglas were swapping spots and then when Coov got sick they were in the lineup together and linemates. I don’t believe that they have been out for any goal against at this point. I mean, their minutes have been like they’ve been sheltered a little bit. Yeah, Douglas more than Finley because Finley has taken some defensive zone faceoffs. I’d have to go back and look, but there isn’t a play that comes to mind. They certainly weren’t out on the ice for any of the goals against over the weekend in the Detroit or Columbus games, and they were linemates. I’m including Finley in here, but you know that line with Finley, Douglas, and and Chaffy, they weren’t out on the ice for any goals against, which is to your point, kind of the the first box to check. I don’t know if I got to this yesterday or not. Uh, NHL MS Paint says, “Dave, as someone who has a lot of hockey IQ, have there been any obvious system differences from last year? Example, from 23 to 24 to 24 and 25, the defense system changed slightly and we did better. Has any system changed from 24-25 to today? Yeah, I I don’t have that much hockey IQ. So, when I call a game, I’m on the puck. I’m not always paying so close attention to what’s happening away from the puck. And sometimes you you need to look at that. Yeah. To see how players are are moving and reacting. It’s more that you just hear it. So, the Lightning did adapt that Vegas style I think at the beginning of the 23 24 season and they had some trouble with it and so they I think they dialed it back somewhat and they kind of reached a system that worked well last year. I’m not sure if it was exactly the same as the one they had pre2023 24. What I am seeing and this is less about system. So my indication would be to you that they haven’t really changed their their quoteunquote system. They’ve just not making the plays they need to make to to prevent scoring chances, whether it’s tracking and rush chances against have been probably more of a problem than in zone. And really when you’re talking about defensive system, you’re talking about inzone. Yes, rush coverage is part of it, but sometimes rush coverage is less about your system and more about whatever decision you’re making up the ice that maybe got you into trouble. Whereas inzone, it’s kind of like you’re setting up, right? Um, and they’ve given up some goals in zone. They have, but I just think it’s it’s going back to to what we’ve talked about and what Dave mentioned earlier in the show, execution. Are you making the plays that are there to be made to get out of your defensive zone cleanly? Are you making the plays that need to be made to get through the neutral zone cleanly? Are you making the plays that need to be made to get into the offensive zone, either carrying it in or dumping it in and maintain possession? We have not seen enough of that consistently through these first six games. You’re going to look quiet offensively. You’re going to look slow offensively. You’re going to look out of sync because you are out of sync when that happens. Sure. And the other team gets a vote. I mean, the other team is out there trying to prevent you from doing that. You just need to, this is why we talk about imposing your will. You need to be executing at a level where they’re trying to stop you, but they’re not really able to. I don’t know if that answers your question, MS in the paint, but I that’s the best that’s the best I’ve got at this point. Yeah. Anthony also says the only good thing is that almost all Atlantic teams lost their last game. I think this team needs new new players on the fourth line. It’s not creating enough. Uh the ozone time isn’t there. Uh either is the possession. Kachuk will bring a lot more energy. Third line team right now isn’t good enough or threeline team isn’t good enough. Yeah, that comment probably came in yesterday because Montreal played Buffalo last night. So one of those teams is going to win. Montreal won again. So good good for the Canadians off to a good start. I mean look, we want the Lightning to do well, but I’m glad for Marty St. Louis that they had a push at the end of last year. They got into the playoffs. I thought they gave the Capitals a pretty good series. They did. They were up They were down 2-1. They were up in game four if I’m remembering that right. They they were that close to making the series a two- two series. They lost that game. I think they lost game five in overtime. Anyway, they gave them a pretty good series. And it looks like they’re building off of, you know, what they did last year. Anyway, we touched on this at the beginning of yesterday’s show. The Lightning are idle until Thursday. So, some teams are going to get points. Panthers and Bruins play tonight. There’s a big story about Marianne coming back to Boston. One of those teams is getting two points. So that’s going to happen, right? Generally though, yes. It’s not like we’ve had a bunch of teams in the Atlantic, you know, get off to six and one, seven, eight and one starts. So the Lightning are within range. The what was the other part he had about beyond the division? I think he was Oh, he didn’t he didn’t like the fourth line. The fourth line hasn’t seen a lot of action. And Kach I think he liked Boris in the preseason. He’s like a lot of Syracuse players, he’s gotten off to a good start. I think he’s playing at a line with, did I see this right? Duke and Stooviaak. And they had a It’s a pretty good line. They had a pretty good offensive weekend. Syracuse is 4-0. Yeah. Three road wins. They’ve done it offensively. They’ve done it defensively. Hson shut out in there. I mean, has scored. James has scored. the D have scored. They have if if they continue to progress well down at Syracuse, I mean, they have four or five legitimate options of guys they could call up who we saw in preeason and said they caught our they caught our attention and they, you know, they played in the preseason with urgency. So if we are all in the agreement in agreement that this is an area that has been lacking a little bit for the Lightning if the guys that you are addressing are not bringing urgency as Mcdana said throughout the game. And yes, you can you can fail to play the full 60 because the full 60 means that you’re just dictating play the whole 60. That is not it. But you should be able and I think the expectation would be that you should be able to bring effort urgency for much of the game. Understand he may have a small dip but be able to push back and that’s Julian’s decision. If he’s not seeing it from the guys that they are are addressing and he knows that he has guys in the minors who showed this during the preseason then yeah that may be part of the reason DU is up. Dest plays with jam. He does. I mean, I saw him more in the in the Nashville home game in the preseason than that at Florida game, but he had to play a lot in that at Florida game. He did because the Lightning were down to whatever eight skaters. Yep. And he wasn’t shy about being in that game. That game was not for the faint of heart. Charl Edward Destu had no had no like vote last year or he had no allegiance last year to either one of these teams. So he gets signed by the Lightning and he’s dropped into this rivalry and he’s like, “Yeah, it’s on.” We saw that from a number of the guys that were in that game for the Lightning. Agreed. That’s why we kind of thought that maybe those two games would would help bring the Lightning as a team closer together, and it may. And I I wholeheartedly believe this with any championship-l like team. The the increase in your team’s play that are significant, the gains that are made, I think oftentimes comes from your third and fourth lines. Your top most teams have their top line set. Would you agree, partner? And most teams, even if they’re not relatively deep, can probably field two decent lines who can score. You know, even the teams who are struggling a little bit, it may be a struggle to get five or six forwards who can play at a high level, but I I think most are there. What separates you and where you make the biggest gains year in and year out are what are your third and fourth lines? And the years, again, we keep going back to this. I don’t want to make it such a simple point because there are other factors, but it does stand out for obvious reasons. The Arizona, the Lightning have made tremendous gains in the playoffs is because oftent times that third and fourth line could change the game in a way. It was a goal. I mean, the third line, the the Goodro Coleman um and Gourd line is going to go down as it almost has its own mystique. Mhm. Like they’re not going to have their own statue, but you know what I mean? Like people are going to they reference that line. They tipped the balance. Yes. To the Lightning side because they could do things that the other team’s third line couldn’t do or they they matched up against a top six line, one of the top two lines on the other team and neutralized that line, which gave Yes. one of the Lightning’s top two lines a big advantage with whatever matchup they were getting and they could push back to the point they could score as well which is valuable and all I’m saying is the good news is I think collectively the Lightning have those players they just need to find out the right combinations I do think they have that I don’t and they have some guys you need to get going whether it’s confidence a little bit of a slump things not happening like you have to believe it’s going going to click in. Yes. And Braden Point like he’s gotten this point. What does he have? Five points this year. I mean, so he’s chipped in some points, but we’ve seen him dictate play far more frequently than he has. Same with Hegel. Same with Same with Celli, you know, I think. I mean, those guys aren’t clicking yet. But, you know, is Dominic James somebody that ends up coming up at some point and could he play on a fourth line with what we saw him do and say he’s just not a guy that’s going to go up and down, right? you know, he might be able to do something in in that space. So, part of the frustration for lighting fans is that you want to throw all these guys up there and say, “Okay, he’s immediately going to do this. He’s It” It doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t always work that way. It doesn’t work that way. Like, you’re going to have to find and it may not happen until mid-season where you finally find the right fourth line combinations or the third line combinations. The good news is I think the personnel is there. I think they just have to find the mix. And I will add, Greg, it is a very good sign that these guys that we talked about during preseason who went down are having an immediate impact at the AHL level. So that to me shows a sustainability to kind of how they are playing. I know it’s early days in the AHL, but four-0 is three road wins, two in Hershey, which Hershey may not be quite the same team that it was when, you know, they won back-to-back Calder Cups recently, but still not an easy building to go into and and play in and win. And they rallied from deficits in those games, did Syracuse. So I think organizationally we should feel good about where things are with the guys who are right on the cusp, right? Who are right now kind of sort of tweeners, but maybe some of the tweeners are not going to end up being tweeners. How Julian figures all this out is is a different matter. like he kind of took he had a he had a card to play to free up a roster spot and I think there was more to it than just I want to free up a roster spot but he had the waiver exempt option for geeky so that was no problem. He may be far more hesitant to try and send down to Jack Finley who may get claimed or and I know the fans have been at least some of them to us have been complaining about Lillberg. Lillberg would have to clear waiverss. Are the Lightning willing to like risk that to lose this young defenseman? That would be a hard decision. And you can’t just keep adding players, right? Like you have to make it fit within the cap. You can’t go over 23. So look, you may have a lot of guys that you’re interested in bringing up from Syracuse. You have to create room for them. How do you do that? Well, one way you do it is send down the guy who is waiver exempt. After this though, it gets a little bit trickier. Yeah. And you have guys coming off the injured list. Yeah, Nick Paul is going to be here. You know, we keep talking about look like Yeah, we’ll see if Gergens is able to come back as soon as Thursday, you know, that’s going to fill another roster spot. Things are going to be changing. Yeah, and you know, they have options. We’ll talk more about it tomorrow for sure. Um, but tomorrow we are going to go live and and we’ll see if there’s anything transpiring there. Uh, thanks to Dave Randf uh and his Blue Jays team for hopping on uh earlier. Good luck to him and uh our audience who participated. We always appreciate you guys partner. We’ll do it again tomorrow and uh maybe have a guest lined up too. Uh maybe a national guy. We got to get a national guy. See if anybody know those likes to come on or gal. That’s right. Or gal. Yeah, we don’t care. As long as you can talk hockey, we’re we’re okay with that. Uh thanks to Stevenik as well and Jared Johnston. Uh you’ve been listening to Power Lunch right here on Lenning Radio.

Dave Mishkin and Greg Linnelli discuss the latest on the Tampa Bay Lightning including Charle-Édouard D’Astous being recalled from Syracuse and Conor Geekie being assigned to the Crunch. Plus they are joined by Dave Randorf from The Spot – Tampa Bay 66.