Speculation: 2024-2025 General Lightning Discussion II: New year, same Cooper shell

[nhljohnson]

Can JBB win what I'd imagine would be quite the bidding war? I dunno, but I'd like to see him try. Andersson would be a savvy addition for the short- and long-term.

I was thinking about Andersson a bit this morning and it could actually be a super savvy move if the cap has the bigger than expected jump that EF is reporting. You could essentially build 3 very solid 2-way pairs of:
Moser - Andersson
McDonagh - Cernak
Hedman - Raddysh

Which would allow us to give Hedman more sheltered starts as he ages and begins to decline. This would be allotting a lot of capspace for Defense though, so you'd have to be pretty confident in Geekie at 2RW as we would have very minimal budget to upgrade their and would need to spend pretty much the entire remaining cap on our third line.

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[JTBF81]

Andersson seems an unlikely target for Tampa. Calgary wants high end center prospects, which Tampa has none to offer. I doubt JBB is considering moving Geekie in any offer for him either. Tampa doesn't have the pieces to win a bidding war against a few other teams in this situation.

 

[These Are The Days]

I don't hate Andersson but God.... please. PLEASE can we let go of the fixation with the defense? We have FIVE guys who can play in the 1st or 2nd pairing. Dudes. We have a SCORING problem in the playoffs not a lack of options on the defense

Everytime someone shuts down Kucherov we're f***ed. We have Guentzel now. Let's add to that insurance policy

 

[Point21]

with a healthy group:

Hedman-Moser
McD-Cernak
TDL Add-Raddysh
Lilleberg

Perbix could be shipped out as a cap move with a little value.

they dont really need to do much this deadline, just a bottom pairing dman that can shut down teams for 12-15 minutes a night. Forward wise is where it gets tricky as we need like 2-3 pieces in the 7F-12F spots preferably a strong middle 6 winger that can play on the 2nd line and move down to the 3rd line if need be to add "Depth" scoring. We could very well see Howard making his debut in the playoffs or very late in the season on the 3rd line

 

[Felonious Python]

I don't hate Andersson but God.... please. PLEASE can we let go of the fixation with the defense? We have FIVE guys who can play in the 1st or 2nd pairing. Dudes. We have a SCORING problem in the playoffs not a lack of options on the defense

Everytime someone shuts down Kucherov we're f***ed. We have Guentzel now. Let's add to that insurance policy

There are four defensemen on the top two pairings, so having five isn't too extravagant.

Teams have issues scoring in the playoffs because their opponents load up on defensive depth.

 

[These Are The Days]

There are four defensemen on the top two pairings, so having five isn't too extravagant.

Teams have issues scoring in the playoffs because their opponents load up on defensive depth.

You'd think in light of that we'd stop running a 1 line strategy but we insist on doing it year after year anyway. This is gonna be year 4. Teams don't have to do anything but throw the kitchen sink at Kucherov and watch our entire game plan collapse. Consciously deciding to let the other team control the puck 65% of every playoff game while your offense (Kucherov) is being suffocated is stupid. We don't do ANYTHING unless he's on the ice


Again, Guentzel is gonna help. But we are probably going to need more help seeing as line 2 is likely to be turned into a shutdown line come playoff time. Having Andersson isn't gonna fix a damn thing when a 1 goal deficit may as well be 3 because our coaching staff decided they'd rather see Cirelli block a shot instead of scoring a goal

 

[Rschmitz]

I'm also in favor of more forward depth instead of D depth. Very difficult to matchup against, as we've demonstrated in the past.

 

[gn2007]

These next 9 games are beyond brutal for us! In 15 days! 3 sets of back to back this can litereally determine our season christ lol

 

[Stammertime91]

As much as I'd like to see the Bruins implode, precisely from within, I believe Marchand on this. Seems like a dumb thing they wouldn't work out if it was true. Also doesn't strike me as logical that Pastrnak wouldn't want to play with the second best offensive player on the team just because he was mean or critical in public eye. Doesn't really check out. I don't follow the Bruins enough to know.


Though if true, I'm here for it. Lul.

 

[JTBF81]

Rather than spend a very large amount on Andersson, they could just go after Dumolin at 50% to shore up the 3rd pair, then go for someone like Donato @50%+either Gourde retained or maybe someone like Kunin. It all depends on how they feel about Geekie as 2RW, but if Cooper feels good about him there, they could pull these off and roll something like:
Guentzel-Point-Kuch
Hagel-Cirelli-Geekie
Donato-Paul-Gourde/Kunin
Ace-Glendening-Chaffee

Hedman-Moser
McD-Cernak
Dumolin-Raddysh/Perbix
Lilleberg

One of Raddysh or Perbix could be used as a trade piece, as.could Goncalves and one of Ace or Chaffee if absolutely necessary. If they want a more proven.2RW, and the Isles are selling, then Palmieri would be worth pursuing. Tampa has an estimated ~4.6 million at the deadline with accrued space, so as long as they get max retention on a couple of deals and can send a little salary back, they should be able to add 2F to the middle 6 and 1 depth dman if wanted.

 

[creg]

You'd think in light of that we'd stop running a 1 line strategy but we insist on doing it year after year anyway. This is gonna be year 4. Teams don't have to do anything but throw the kitchen sink at Kucherov and watch our entire game plan collapse. Consciously deciding to let the other team control the puck 65% of every playoff game while your offense (Kucherov) is being suffocated is stupid. We don't do ANYTHING unless he's on the ice


Again, Guentzel is gonna help. But we are probably need more seeing as line 2 is probably gonna be turned into a shutdown line come playoff time. Having Andersson isn't gonna fix a damn thing when a 1 goal deficit may as well be 3 because our coaching staff decided they'd rather see Cirelli block a shot instead of scoring a goal

I'm confused what you think is going to be different from the second line in the playoffs, Hagel/Cirelli already are a shutdown line right now, they're getting the hardest matchups & assignments right now and are thriving.

I understand that scoring depth is our biggest issue, but when I look at the players that are available on trade boards and the ones that are recommended here - none of them make any sense to me, they're either too old or too small (or are not the types of players that you'd want to re-sign).

The unfortunately reality is that as of right now the playoffs are incredibly tight in the WC position which means there are probably going to be a lot less players available than normal as more teams view themselves as in the mix. If we're going to use our premium assets, I'd much rather use them on premium players who play premium positions that set us up for the future over rentals or one of the many has-beens that are being sold. Honestly if we're being asked for a 1st or 2nds+ for players like Evans, Laughton, Hall, Gourde, I'd rather just keep the picks and go for some of the expiring UFA's on playoff teams in free agency.

 

[Peacefool]

If we can make a move like when we traded good Ktchouk and Raddysh for Hagel (did anyone here see and think about Hagel before trade) than we should trade Goncalves and Chafee (even though i like Chafee) for Hagel vol.2

 

[Rschmitz]

I think a Paul for Joseph type deal is the most likely trade we make, we are low on assets

 

[These Are The Days]

I'm confused what you think is going to be different from the second line in the playoffs, Hagel/Cirelli already are a shutdown line right now, they're getting the hardest matchups & assignments right now and are thriving.

I understand that scoring depth is our biggest issue, but when I look at the players that are available on trade boards and the ones that are recommended here - none of them make any sense to me, they're either too old or too small (or are not the types of players that you'd want to re-sign).

The unfortunately reality is that as of right now the playoffs are incredibly tight in the WC position which means there are probably going to be a lot less players available than normal as more teams view themselves as in the mix. If we're going to use our premium assets, I'd much rather use them on premium players who play premium positions that set us up for the future over rentals or one of the many has-beens that are being sold. Honestly if we're being asked for a 1st or 2nds+ for players like Evans, Laughton, Hall, Gourde, I'd rather just keep the picks and go for some of the expiring UFA's on playoff teams in free agency.

The simple answer is our coaching is a different animal in the playoffs and it often directly impacts our results on offense. We play like we are the 2015 Red Wings. That by itself scares the shit out of me. If you don't believe me by looking at the stats sheets, look at our playoff OT record lately @DrMartinVanNostrand aren't we like 1-12 now?

Call it coaching. Call it scoring depth. The formula has me worried. We need an answer for when teams throw the kitchen sink at Kucherov. Our coaching staff's only answer is "We will defend this hill for 5 OT's again if we have to!" and it doesn't work anymore. The Johnson/Palat era of 10 years ago saw us attack the other team til they crumbled. And it worked. We need to do more of that

As far as I'm concerned call the Bruins about Marchand. I don't imagine the price is going to be astronomical. Dude is a UFA and is exactly what went need

 

[Point21]

Ive seen enough, SIGN THIS MAN FOR THE 3RD LINE