Lightning Prospects SHINE at the NHL Prospects Tournament | Tampa Bay Lightning Podcast
We got our first glimpse of lightning hockey. The prospects have two games down in the annual prospects tournament. Who stood out so far? We’ll talk about on today’s Locked on Lightning. [Music] You’re Locked on Lightning, your daily podcast on the Tampa Bay Lightning, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Thank you for making Locked on Lightning your first listen of the day every single day. We are your free daily Tampa Bay Lightning podcast, part of the Blocked On podcast network, your team every day. As always, I want to begin by shouting out our everydayers. Those of you who tune in to every single show every single day, we love you. We appreciate the port support you give us week in week out. I’m Nick Morgan and I am joined by the Zack Bryan to my Gavin Adcock. I’ll always jump over a barbedwire fence for you, man. Greg Steven. Greg, welcome to the show. Loving the throwback Devil Rays hat you got on. Thank you. Thank you. Uh it’s one of my favorites to wear around. Happy Monday to everyone. Got a little prospect review today and uh maybe a little insight to what we want to see in the future. We do. Uh first and foremost, prospect tournament of course going on right now. last game is uh going to be happening this afternoon. Greg, it’s just cool to see hockey again. People in the Tampa Bay Lightning uniform out there on the ice playing competitive games. And it’s and it’s a it’s a week away. One week from today is the first preseason theme. So, we can feel it getting closer. Yeah, it’s creeping up on us. You know, it when you’re in the middle of summer, it feels like it’s an eternity away, but it creeped up real quick. And we’re almost here already. I’m looking forward to it. October is my favorite month. Football is back. Hockeyy’s basically back. And here we go. It’s sports time. Yeah, it it feels a long way away when you’re trying to fill content for an entire slate of August shows. Uh but hey, we do have hockey to talk about. Of course, the Prospects tournament going on right now in Wesley Chapel. Um a little bit of a mixed bag for the Tampa Bay Prospects so far. a 3-2 loss to Nashville on Friday, but they rebounded with a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday. They had yesterday off. Uh they are playing their last game of the tournament today against the Carolina Hurricanes. Greg, what have you seen from the Lightning prospects in this tournament so far? I think they look great. And let me tell you, we were talking about a bunch of these guys last week. And a few of names that we didn’t even mention have really, you know, made a splash, I think. Um, some guys we’ll talk about today. And another thing I love to see in this so far is the Lightning beating the Panthers. And look, too early to start that rivalry. Any win against the Panthers is a win in my book. So, those are the those are my biggest takeaways uh generally. And we’ll dive into some players, too, but Yeah. No, absolutely. It’s been kind of a mixed bag for me for for these I think the Panthers or I’m sorry the Lightning in this tournament. Um you watch that Nashville game and I think you see kind of the gap between where the Lightnings are as a prospect pool right now and maybe some of the other teams around the NHL with really highly ranked prospect pools. But that’s fine. Like we talked about it kind of going into this tournament. And we know it wasn’t going to be like a bunch of future superstars from the Tampa Bay Lightning going against everybody, but right what I loved is that I would say outmatched in both of the games so far. Definitely Nashville, arguably Florida, but you got to love the resiliency in which these guys have played with. And look, I it’s this might be a hot take, but I don’t think like the wins and losses matter in these tournaments as much as let’s get some of these prospects on the ice, see what they can do against other people sort of at their skill level. Um, and see if there’s, you know, a fit for them at the NHL level. But that being said, you also love to see, especially Saturday, like the Lightning prospects were so outmatched against Nashville. And that’s not a dig. The Predators have one of the best prospect pools in the entire NHL. I mean, they had five first round picks, right, playing in that game. Um, there were some people that I I caught part of it. I saw some of the reviews where it’s like this could have been like 10 to one or something like that. Um, but great goalending from Tampa Bay and good sturdy I think like bend but don’t break defense from a lot of the Tampa Bay players there. And that is a that is a thing you want to see. You want to see a a group of players go out there and find a way to win games in which they according to stats or metrics probably shouldn’t. Yeah, you brought up a great point. Uh wins and losses in this tournament don’t really matter. It is about the ice time. It’s about seeing how these guys can play in an elite group. Um you know, just under the NHL level. And I think you’re right, the the goalending was probably I want to say outstanding in a in a weird way. I know it’s Yeah. No, absolutely. Right. So, because like you know with the scores, it’s hard to use that word, but I think it is fair to use. Um I think it’s also something that the Lightning view as one of the strong points of this prospect tournament because they actually posted an article about the how strong the goalending was. So, the Lightning I think organization is proud of their goalending in this tournament, which is great. And that’s something you actually want to see, right? Because Vassie, it’s not like Vassie’s 22. He’s not 37, but he, you know, you want a guy that could potentially replace him if you have him already. You want to develop him. So, good to see those guys playing well. Um, so, you know, again, score doesn’t matter, right? Like, who cares if we win or lose these? They mean nothing in the end, right? Um, but you get to see some of these guys bring out their passion. You get to see some of these guys really like we we saw a fight. Um, so, you know, there’s some fun stuff going on. It’s not uh this uptight like I got to prove myself and my hands are gripped tight to my stick. So, I like the Lucy vibe of it, too. I think it feels like they’re they’re definitely a little more settled in than I anticipated. I I kind of thought it was going to be like a oh, this is my chance to prove myself uptight, like trying to play perfect kind of game. And that can create a lot of issues, right? And that happens a lot. That happens a lot in these tournaments. I mean, that’s kind of like the first time to really get the kinks out and have players sort of play their game. Yeah. And like look, I don’t expect anything from any of these guys necessarily in the immediate future, right? But after watching some of these, I think some of them actually potentially could play for the Lightning and see a handful of games coming in this season. There’s a couple of people that I didn’t like I wasn’t really closely watching that I think have impressed me so far. Um to your point, the two goalies, uh Harrison Menigan, this is going to be his first year at the professional level. Uh 21-year-old was in uh the Western Hockey League last year. Probably going to be like an ECHL goalender unless um you know, something happens with Brandon Halverson, uh or Ryan Fanty in Syracuse. Um you know, the other the other day was uh Caleb Kyle in goal. He was a seventh round pick this year. Not even going to be in college yet. He’s still going to be in the UH uh or UA USHL. I don’t there’s too many similar sounding letters here. Yeah, he’s got another year there before he goes to North Dakota. So, these are two guys that, you know, this is this might kind of be their their best look from Tampa Bay Lightning pro scouts. And it’s good to see them impress. Um, Madigan especially, you know, his performance um, Friday against Nashville really stood out to me. Stun on his head, a couple of really good saves, really good positioning throughout. You know, reflexes were solid. Does have the look of an AHL goalie, but you know, it’s just one of those things that we’ll see. You know, he’s got a long way to go, but I I love I was impressed with goalending. Tying in your point about Nashville having five first rounders. I mean, when you play elite goalending against a five first round team, I mean, that’s awesome, right? I mean, you are proving yourself and like like you just said and I and I brought up earlier, the Lightning seem to be proud of this as well. So, I think they made a name for themselves. Like you said, they still have a little ways to go before they even really reach this level, but it’s a great start. It’s a great start. Yeah. Uh, a couple other players that we really love that stood out in this one. Um, obviously there’s a couple of big names that we’re watching if you listen to Friday’s show, but a couple other players that we didn’t name that I think have had strong tournaments so far. We’re going to dive into that and more from the prospects tournament when we come back. Today’s episode is brought to you by Indeed. Hey, if you just realize that your business needs to hire someone new, you know, like yesterday, how do you find amazing candidates fast? It’s easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. So, stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites. Indeed sponsored job puts your posts at top of the page and helps you reach the right candidates fast. Now you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 sponsored job credit. Just go to indeed.com/lockedon right now and support our show by saying you heard about it on Locked on Lightning. Terms and conditions apply if you’re hiring. Indeed is all you need. Welcome back to Locked on Lightning. Nick Morgan alongside Greg Steven. and Greg, we are talking about some of the players at this current prospects tournament that have really stood out and made an impression so far. Who do you have on your list? Okay, the the main one I really want to talk about is Dylan Duke. And we did talk about him last week and look, I think he was the most impressive. And I don’t want to say it wasn’t close, but I really think he stood out to me way more than anyone else. Um, and I just want to read a quote that he said. uh in the post game because it just really speaks to me and it also ties into what I said earlier in this show and here’s the quote Tampa versal in the NHL and I think we all aspire to play in those games and I love that because he is taking that rivalry personally already and he’s not even he’s not even been on the lightning to experience it for real yet right like and I love that he’s like I’m a part of this this franchise and I know that we need to beat the Panthers and I’m gonna do what I can and I can’t I’m not on the top line of the Lightning right now, but I can beat them here and I will I’ll chip away at them at the lower level to pave the way for the the other team to take them out later. And I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I can’t stress it enough. I think like taking personal like taking personal uh interest in specific rivalries like really drives you to play well. And I think that showed in his game like he he played ex right and I don’t know I I think he was one of the best guys out there. Agree 100%. And he of course had that really really good feed on the on the game-winning goal to Petri there right at the very end. Um which was good because I thought he was a little bit quiet in that first game which is which is something I think we’re going to talk about a little bit later on when we talk about what we want to see in day three today. But yeah, I mean Duke’s the elder statesman. He’s the guy with the most I need to double check that, but I think he’s the guy with the most NHL experience of anybody. Uh, played two games, so um I I think he might be the only one with NHL experience so far, or at least regular regular season NHL experience. So, yeah, you’re gonna count on him to kind of be the guy that that sets the pace for all these guys, but but I’m with you. I love what I saw from from Dylan Duke. Um, the one guy that I want to shout out is Lucas Mercury. This is a guy that wasn’t on my radar at all. In case, in fact, I had to kind of go back and look up exactly who he was. Um he was playing on I use this term loosely but the first line I would say like the line that got like you know bulk of the first line minutes along he was playing alongside Ethan Goautier who of course we mentioned probably one of the three top prospects in the system right now for Tampa Bay. Um I I really loved what he did with a lot of the fundamentals of his game. really strong for checker. Um was willing to get in there and make a lot of physical plays. I thought he was pretty solid in faceoffs, too. And that’s something that maybe one of Tampa’s biggest question marks right now at the NHL level. Um it’s one of those things. He made his AHL debut at the very end of last year, played at UMass for four years. So, it’s one of those where he’s it’s not like he’s going to come in and compete for a roster spot or anything, but I really liked what I saw from him in terms of those fundamentals. And he’s somebody that I think at least this year over the next like, you know, three years, I think can develop into a really good AHL player. And then, who knows, you know, he starts becoming a regular AHL guy. Maybe there is a path for him to kind of be that journeyman, you know, future free agent kind of guy that winds up finding a role on an NHL team uh a little bit later in his career. You know, we saw that with Darren Radish this past year. Uh Lucas Miri is a guy that I think has tools to sort of be that way. Um but I I was impressed u really with with him in both games so far. Love that. Yeah. And you know, it’s always great when we find these guys through watching that we didn’t even bring up in our in our pre pre-prospect tournament chat, right? Like we didn’t talk about him at all. And so that’s awesome that he was able to uh stand out to guys like us who just watched these games. Um and this is why you watch these games, right? Um I want to go back to something you said about Dylan Duke. And I think it he you said you weren’t super impressed early on with his performance and I’m with you. I think that goes back to what we were talking about. I think he was maybe a little tight on his stick. Um, he, like you said, he does have the NHL experience. So, I think going into that locker room in his mind, maybe he’s the guy that’s like the vet, if you will, maybe for a lack of better word. Um, so I think maybe that kind of contributed to that. He was maybe a little uh over overthinking his style and game a little bit and then you could see settled in like and you know, he had a great pass later on. So, um, yeah, looking looking forward to seeing how that goes out too. Yeah. Um, another guy that I think stood out to me was a guy in uh I think Friday’s show you called out and that was Max Grochef. We talked about him the position switch earlier this year. Y um he was kind of still figuring it out but I sort of loved the chaos of it all because it was you ever like a Real Madrid or soccer guy at all? Not a huge soccer guy. Okay. Well, there was a player on Real Madrid called Marcelo who I think he was a left back, but he he said, “Damn you and your positional restrictions.” And he was just kind of played everywhere. Yeah. Uh and that to me was Grochef a little bit in this game. Like he was you you would look and he’s like on the he’s like on the forch like you know right around the crease. I’m like aren’t you a aren’t you a defenseman? What are you doing there? Um, but I kind of love it and I kind of love that they give him a little bit of free will there. And yeah, like it’s I’m excited to see maybe if he if this was just like it’s the prospects tournament. Just go out there and try to make a play. Um, or maybe if things are cooking in Syracuse a little bit and they’re like, “Okay, this is a different kind of player. Let’s see how we can use them a little bit.” Yeah, this is the time you experiment, too, right? So, it’s great to see them like just allowing things to happen, you know, a little unnaturally maybe. Um, but yeah, look, I think the ability to switch like that is so awesome and so unique. It’s it reminds me of Travis Hunter, right, in in the NFL. Yeah. So, it’s like a two- position guy and I like that a lot. So, I’m excited to see where he goes. I don’t think he’s not a guy that’s, you know, contesting for a lightning spot like we’ve been talking about, but um yeah, like I think he has a bright future. Yeah, I agree on that. The last one I bring up is is Grant Spatada, though, because look, he threw hands and anyone that throws hands like we got to bring him up because he’s only 18 years old. Yeah. So, he he at least understood the assignment, right? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. He’s 18 years old. He was eager to get out there and be like, “This is my this is what I do. Let me show you what I do.” And if that’s what he does, draft pick this year. He was seventh round draft pick this year. Okay. So yeah, it’s it’ll be a while before we see him, but yeah, you love to see anybody just throwing hands with with another Florida Panther, right? And he’s 6’5. So yeah, he’s a big boy. He We love our big boys here in Tampa. Love our big boys. Um couple players that we didn’t mention. We didn’t mention uh Ethan Goier in depth. Uh and we also haven’t mentioned Sam O’Reilly a lot. Um what have we taken away from their performances so far? And what do we want to see in this final preseason or not preseason, final prospects tournament game? We’ll talk about that in just one second. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL season is finally here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Yep, you heard that right. $5 down, you can get 300 back. I love using FanDuel because it fits exactly the way I like to bet at any given time. I can do player props. I can build a same game parlay or one of my favorite things to do, jump in and make some live bets as the action unfolds. It makes every game more exciting. Whether I’m watching my team or just keeping an eye out on my fantasy lineup, it’s quick, easy, and the best way to add a little bit of zest to my Sunday football watching experience. So, if you’re ready to play, download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. Again, fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. Welcome back to Locked on Lightning. Nick Morgan alongside Greg Steven. We are talking about the first two games of the Tampa Bay Lightning Prospects Tournament going on in Wesley Chapel. Two games down. Last game happening today at I believe 3:00 Eastern. 3:00 is what I saw. Yeah. Against the Carolina Hurricanes. Um Greg, in our players to watch, we really haven’t mentioned Sam O’Reilly and Ethan Gothia. I would say parts two and three of the three best um prospects in the Tampa Bay Lightning system. So far, um, I would sum it up, and let me know if you agree with this. Not a bad tournament by any means. They’ve all looked pretty solid. Seems like there might be a little bit more in the tank though, right? Yeah, I think so. Um, I think it goes back again to just like being a little uptight on on the stick. Um, I think Sam O’Reilly is still very new, right? I mean, he was only dealt here semi-reent. I can’t even remember when they did that deal. It was a couple months ago. Yeah, end of June, I think. Yeah, somewhere in there. But, uh, so it’s not like he’s been around a long time. I’m sure, you know, new faces, new environment is a little bit intimidating. Um, and, you know, it’s also a time in your life where you’re like, this is a chance for me to, you know, do my thing, and prove myself. So, I think there’s a lot of pressure there. And I’m sure that that contributes to a lot of it. I don’t I’m not even concerned, though. That’s where I want to make it clear. Like I I still think they’re all so young, right? There’s so much time for them to grow and and develop and I’m not concerned. I think like you said, not bad. Not bad. Um nothing saying he’s a bust or anything. No, no, no. Yeah. But you know, nothing like he didn’t have some sort of superstar play or anything like that either. So somewhere in the middle. Yeah. Um I I did like you you saw elements of his two-way game. I think that was that was a big takeaway for me is you know you kind of see the elements of you know the puck possession um you know of the really good positioning the ability to kind of understand what you have to do as a two-way center. You saw elements of there um and I thought the same for Ethan Goier. Look, it’s if I if I had one thing that I would love to see in today’s game, it’s just maybe those two guys and Duke specifically kind of being a little bit more, you know, dynamos. Yeah. So to speak. Um look, you know, obviously you’re playing against some really good prospects. Um these are two games a very tiny sample size. Um, but they are kind of the the blue chips of this of this Lightning roster going into camp. You kind of want to see them play like it a little bit more. Um, you know, really be on the front foot when they have the chance, especially when it’s on the power play. Um, the power play did not look particularly good in either of the first two games. you would love to see them maybe put the, you know, their their foot on the necks of the opponents when they have those chances to really get on the front foot offensively. That’s the big thing. Again, like I’m not saying that either of them have played bad. I just think there’s a little bit more in the tank that I would love to see out of them in this last game today. Definitely. Look, some conversion on the power play would just be alone a great thing, right? Like if that’s all we get out of the next game, that’s enough, I think. Um, you said something that I wanted to bring up and it slipped my mind now, but um, look, hey, well, that’s today’s show, everybody. Uh, we’re done. Oh, I was going to say, um, I don’t know what the Hurricanes prospect pool looks like, um, because I’m not super familiar with the depth there in their organization, but I would assume that this game is, uh, a little, uh, easier than a game like against Nashville. So, I think there’s going to be more room for these guys to make plays. Um, I don’t think they’re playing against five first round draft picks. I don’t think the Hurricanes have that many. So, uh, they were, according to Scott Wheeler, ranked 16th at the end of last year. That’s kind of where I was thinking because as a team that finishes, you know, in the top eight every time, I can’t imagine they’d have a ton of picks anyway. So, um, just like like I’m saying, I think there’s going to be more, uh, possibility for, you know, bigger plays, make a name for yourself kind of deal. You’re not going to get stuffed out by this team that’s, we’ll call it, stacked, if you will. Um, so I think I’m looking for what you just said. The guys that we haven’t seen that we did expect at least a little bit of something from, I’d like to see them step up today. Um, I’ll definitely be watching the one at three, so I’m excited for it. Um, and I want to see, and I know I keep talking about him, but I want to see Dylan Duke’s leadership continue because look, with the whole like quote about the Panthers, like he just seems like his postgame interview, he’s so calm and professional and it it’s almost like he’s 22, I think. He acts like he’s 30, right? Like he’s got that that emotional maturity. I think that takes time for all humans to develop regardless of what you do, right? Um, but he’s he’s got it early and I like that a lot about him. He I’m really drawn to Dylan Duke. I think, like I said earlier, I think he’s going to get a crack at the Lightning again this season. I think it’ll be more than two games. I think he’ll get five to 10, maybe 20. We’ll see what they need at the time, but I think he has a real I think he has a real chance, especially with the maturity that he’s shown so far. And I look, if he shows that today more and more and as the captain, awesome. I love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Yeah, I’m there. Um the one other thing I I kind of want to see today is just some of the AHL guys. um both players like last year um like Tristan Allard who scored a goal um I think it was I think it was Saturday’s game he scored um you know love to see if he takes the next step um you know also guys like you know Cooper Flinton who are going to be coming in and competing for time Lucas Mccuri who we mentioned is going to start out in the AHL this year I I would just love to see maybe if there are some paths for some of these guys to really come in and maybe show that they can evolve in Syracuse this year as well because um look there there’s probably going to be some shuffling. I would imagine Duke at some point is going to graduate. Um you know, we already saw Geeky last year kind of graduated. We saw Gage um you know, sort of cement himself as a full-time NHLer. You know, even depth guys like Radish have moved on. You’re going to have Max Croer probably competing for that seventh defensive spot. So, there’s going to be some opportunities for some new faces in Syracuse. And I think this tournament maybe a good impression for guys to come in and maybe cement that they can be used in a meaningful way this year. Definitely. And this brings up a great point that and I see this I see a lot of comments on Lightning stuff and they talk about how oh the Lightning are giving away their picks. They got nothing and they’re going to be doomed once all these guys get old. You you guys realize how many people they have coming up? Like look at all these AHLers are about to fill in these roles, right? Like we did like you just named three guys who did it last year and we have like three or four more coming this season, right? So I love that they’re retooling on the fly in a weird way where they’re developing guys while like maintaining this veteran core that’s still extremely elite and it really is encouraging for the future as a fan that like this team will not be a bottom feeder like we’ve seen happen to the Hawks and the Sharks. I think I think when those guys eventually, the veterans, I mean, when they eventually do, you know, retire, if you will, I think they’re not going to be a bottom four team, I think they’re going to be in the middle of the pack. And I like that a lot. I’m encouraged. I’m encouraged. Yeah, I am, too. I’m right there with you. I’m excited to see what they can do moving forward. Hey, if you’re a team like Tampa Bay, that that machine’s got to keep turning. It’s got to keep pumping out some star prospects. Tampa Bay, look, I mean, look at the Bucks. The Bucks have been doing it, too. And they’re turning around. They look great. They got Baker and let me just shout out the Bucks game is tonight. It is. First home game is tonight. Is it home? Yeah, you’re you’re the you’re the Baker Mayfield expert. You tell me, man. I believe it is, but then I second guessed myself and now I’m doubting myself. I’m almost certain it’s home. Let me check. All right. Well, well, while Greg looks this up, I will say again, it’s not home. Okay. So, we’ll have to put the uh the pirate ship away for another day. Yeah. One more week. One more week. One more week. Um, hey, but there is hockey before that, too. Again, three o’clock today is the last prospects tournament game. You can watch that on tampa Bay Lightning.com. Again, big shout out for the team for putting these online for us to watch every year. It’s It’s a lot of fun. Um, tomorrow we will have a full, I guess, collective wrap-up of the prospects tournament. Uh, but we’re also looking ahead to what’s next, Greg, and that is the start of preeason. Preseason training camp is going to be going on this week. Again, first preseason game uh a week from today. So, we’ll have thoughts on training camp, some of the big storylines to watch, as well as our thoughts on preeason as a whole. Sounds like the format might be changing uh in the next year or two. So, we’ll see what that yields. Uh that’s going to do it for us on today’s show, though. We appreciate you making us your first listen of the day. again. We will see you tomorrow for prospects wrap up and a preseason look ahead. We’ll see you then.
What Tampa Bay Lightning prospects made a splash so far in the NHL Prospects Tournament?
Nick and Greg discuss the top performances so far from the Tampa Bay Lightning prospect pool at the NHL Prospects Tournament and who they’d like to see give a little more in the final prospect game today.
0:00 Prospect tournament thoughts
10:01 Players that stood out
19:08 What more do we want to see?
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I think we'll be seeing alot of the Syracuse boys in Feb and March with so many of our guys playing in the Olympics