For some reason i think this team may suprise

[dannyb24195]

I don't think this team will finish top 3 in the Atlantic Conference but I see the Wildcard as a possibility. This team will get goals, there is no doubt about that despite the youth this team will feature amongst the forwards. Again defense and goaltending will be the question mark. I believe on paper this defense is better than what they showed last year. I believe our defense will improve, the personnel is too good in my opinion not to improve. Hedman, Salo, Carle and Gudas make up a decent top 4 and with Aulie as your # 6 and Barberio as the # 7, that in my books is a solid defense. You have to imagine Hedman, Gudas and Aulie will continue to develop and improve with the more experience they gain and Matt Carle is a lot better than what he showed you last year as is Brewer but he may be over the hill but as a # 5 defenseman, I think he'd slot in nicely alongside Aulie. You add that to Cooper's more defensively driven style of play, as well as an experienced head in Rick Bowness in charge of the defense, I do think the defense will improve especially of the course of a full season. Goaltending, Bishop looked like a # 1 in Ottawa but didn't here. Simply if the Lightning defense improve which I expect, I think both Bishop and Lindback will improve especially Bishop.

As it stands right now this is what the lines should look like in my opinion:

Killorn-Stamkos-Marty
Drouin-Filppula-Purcell
Palat-Johnson-Panik
Malone-Thompson-Crombeen

Labrie-Pyatt

Hedman-Salo
Carle-Gudas
Brewer-Aulie

Barberio

Bishop-Lindback


I like them lines, Killorn's gritty style will complement Stammer's and Marty's skill. How many times have we said Teddy shoot the puck! He's got a great shot, well playing with Filppula whose more of a complete 200-foot player and with Drouin the magician playmaker that he is, Purcell is going to have to shoot more instead of trying to feed the likes of Stamkos, Marty and Vinny in the past. Purcell could have a big year, i'm talking 25 + goals. 3rd line, the Crunch's number 1 line year. Perfect balance of speed, grit, skill, energy, reliability, I love Palat's two-way game, Johnson is very reliable too and has a great shot and I love Panik's speed/power game, he also has nice skill. Both he and Palat both get in and the fore-check and hit which is nice to see. 4th Line is obviously your checking line but I also like the fact that Cooper can slide Malone up and down. He may see time in the top 6 to take some of the pressure of the youngsters and it's also beneficial to know you can slide Killorn and Palat down the lineup if need by as they have that gritty, reliable element to their game.

 

[Bolt Fore]

With Vinny gone and his career -120 rating, thats an improvement right there. He was a great player but played on a lot of bad teams hence the -- 120 .

 

[Todd1a]

I don't think this team will finish top 3 in the Atlantic Conference but I see the Wildcard as a possibility. This team will get goals, there is no doubt about that despite the youth this team will feature amongst the forwards. Again defense and goaltending will be the question mark. I believe on paper this defense is better than what they showed last year. I believe our defense will improve, the personnel is too good in my opinion not to improve. Hedman, Salo, Carle and Gudas make up a decent top 4 and with Aulie as your # 6 and Barberio as the # 7, that in my books is a solid defense. You have to imagine Hedman, Gudas and Aulie will continue to develop and improve with the more experience they gain and Matt Carle is a lot better than what he showed you last year as is Brewer but he may be over the hill but as a # 5 defenseman, I think he'd slot in nicely alongside Aulie. You add that to Cooper's more defensively driven style of play, as well as an experienced head in Rick Bowness in charge of the defense, I do think the defense will improve especially of the course of a full season. Goaltending, Bishop looked like a # 1 in Ottawa but didn't here. Simply if the Lightning defense improve which I expect, I think both Bishop and Lindback will improve especially Bishop.

As it stands right now this is what the lines should look like in my opinion:

Killorn-Stamkos-Marty
Drouin-Filppula-Purcell
Palat-Johnson-Panik
Malone-Thompson-Crombeen

Labrie-Pyatt

Hedman-Salo
Carle-Gudas
Brewer-Aulie

Barberio

Bishop-Lindback


I like them lines, Killorn's gritty style will complement Stammer's and Marty's skill. How many times have we said Teddy shoot the puck! He's got a great shot, well playing with Filppula whose more of a complete 200-foot player and with Drouin the magician playmaker that he is, Purcell is going to have to shoot more instead of trying to feed the likes of Stamkos, Marty and Vinny in the past. Purcell could have a big year, i'm talking 25 + goals. 3rd line, the Crunch's number 1 line year. Perfect balance of speed, grit, skill, energy, reliability, I love Palat's two-way game, Johnson is very reliable too and has a great shot and I love Panik's speed/power game, he also has nice skill. Both he and Palat both get in and the fore-check and hit which is nice to see. 4th Line is obviously your checking line but I also like the fact that Cooper can slide Malone up and down. He may see time in the top 6 to take some of the pressure of the youngsters and it's also beneficial to know you can slide Killorn and Palat down the lineup if need by as they have that gritty, reliable element to their game.

Tough to say thats a lot of youth to make a playoff run! Can Bishop and Lindback solve are goalie problems is the big question ?? but where is Bret Connolly ? I think he will make the team next season for sure. The defense really has no where to go but improve Bishop is solid but we still need to play some good defense in front of him. The break out player that I see I think will be Andres Lindback I really think he will step up more this season.

 

[dannyb24195]

Tough to say thats a lot of youth to make a playoff run! Can Bishop and Lindback solve are goalie problems is the big question ?? but where is Bret Connolly ? I think he will make the team next season for sure. The defense really has no where to go but improve Bishop is solid but we still need to play some good defense in front of him. The break out player that I see I think will be Andres Lindback I really think he will step up more this season.

There is a lot of youth but it's talented and NHL ready youth. Where's Brett Connolly? Interesting, I thought he would be a lock too but it seems like Panik and he will battle it out in camp for that 3rd line RW spot. I think Panik is a safer bet as he is more seasoned and is more of a 200-foot player than Connolly. I can see Connolly spending more time at Syracuse. If an opportunity emerges, then he'll be the first one Yzerman will look too.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

They're a very talented team no doubt. I think offensively speaking they got as much firepower as anyone in the league. I also think their goaltending situation is better this year with Bishop. Only doubts I have about them is if they could play good defense. If they could tighten up on defense, Lightning will be a very dangerous team.

 

[Todd1a]

They're a very talented team no doubt. I think offensively speaking they got as much firepower as anyone in the league. I also think their goaltending situation is better this year with Bishop. Only doubts I have about them is if they could play good defense. If they could tighten up on defense, Lightning will be a very dangerous team.

yep the defense is what I most worry about does brewer stink or did he just have a off year last year! can Hedman step up more ? was matt carle worth the big money ? can salo hang one more season in the nhl ? can gudas, Aulie and a new rookie step in and play well ?

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

yep the defense is what I most worry about does brewer stink or did he just have a off year last year! can Hedman step up more ? was matt carle worth the big money ? can salo hang one more season in the nhl ? can gudas, Aulie and a new rookie step in and play well ?

Sorry for going offtopic here, but did you guys see NHL 14's player ratings? They left Martin St. Louis out of the top 50 players. A guy who lead the league in scoring, lead the league in assists, has always been a solid defensive player is not top 50. What a travesty. He should be top 10 IMO, to not have him top 50 is a disgrace. I know it's just a video game but how disrespectful and ignorant can one be?

 

[dannyb24195]

Sorry for going offtopic here, but did you guys see NHL 14's player ratings? They left Martin St. Louis out of the top 50 players. A guy who lead the league in scoring, lead the league in assists, has always been a solid defensive player is not top 50. What a travesty. He should be top 10 IMO, to not have him top 50 is a disgrace. I know it's just a video game but how disrespectful and ignorant can one be?

Agreed

 

[dannyb24195]

Sorry for going offtopic here, but did you guys see NHL 14's player ratings? They left Martin St. Louis out of the top 50 players. A guy who lead the league in scoring, lead the league in assists, has always been a solid defensive player is not top 50. What a travesty. He should be top 10 IMO, to not have him top 50 is a disgrace. I know it's just a video game but how disrespectful and ignorant can one be?

What rating was he last year 87? so i'm guessing he wasn't a top 50 player last year either. It's just a video game but yeah I agree it's disrespectful and ignorant, I mean video games are striving to be as accurate as possible, does that include player's skillset's/rating's? because if so that's one they've missed for several years because I consider Marty to be a top 20 player in the league at the very least. The game itself looks good from what I've seen of the trailers, especially the fighting!

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

What rating was he last year 87? so i'm guessing he wasn't a top 50 player last year either. It's just a video game but yeah I agree it's disrespectful and ignorant, I mean video games are striving to be as accurate as possible, does that include player's skillset's/rating's? because if so that's one they've missed for several years because I consider Marty to be a top 20 player in the league at the very least. The game itself looks good from what I've seen of the trailers, especially the fighting!

What's interesting is that after looking at the top 50 again, I also noticed that Anti Niemi was left off the top 50 as well. Kind of odd that they would leave the player with the best offensive numbers and the player with the best goaltending numbers off the top 50. Clearly the ratings are based on jersey sales more than anything else.

I would probably put Martin St Louis up there with Sid & Datsyuk. Skills wise, there's nothing Sid & Datsyuk could do that St Louis can't do. Only difference is size. If we base it off last season, I would probably have St Louis be a top 3 player. The numbers certainly back it up.

 

[I_Shall_Return]

yep the defense is what I most worry about does brewer stink or did he just have a off year last year! can Hedman step up more ? was matt carle worth the big money ? can salo hang one more season in the nhl ? can gudas, Aulie and a new rookie step in and play well ?

Indeed Todd, I cannot agree with you more! That's what I been saying. At least Murray is a physical presence. But this D that allowed sooooo many shots on goal per game last year will only make our netminders look amateur unless they have taken a complete u-turn during the offseason!

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I shouldn't have brought up defense. I feel like I'm raining on the parade. Defense played bad last year but it's not because they lacked talent. I just don't think they committed enough to defense. Hopefully Jon Cooper will bring a new attitude. He got good results with the Admirals/Crunch, I think he might be able to instill a more defensive orientated system than Guy Boucher did. I don't think Boucher put any emphasis into defense at all. Really left Lightning goalies out to dry.

 

[I_Shall_Return]

Doobee, don't feel badly about addressing the D, I think I can safely say that we all wish Stevie Y addressed it!

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Doobee, don't feel badly about addressing the D, I think I can safely say that we all wish Stevie Y addressed it!

Yeah, they need to get a defensive anchor like how they had with Brett Clark a couple seasons ago. Not a superstar, but someone who could clear pucks and bodies away from the low slot area. They have very talented dmen no doubt (Carle, Salo, Hedman, Ohlund, etc), they just need to add a defensive anchor to the mix. Good thing they got a reliable goalie tho, I think goaltending will be a major improvement from last season. Now all they gotta do is get into a defensive mindset.

 

[dannyb24195]

I shouldn't have brought up defense. I feel like I'm raining on the parade. Defense played bad last year but it's not because they lacked talent. I just don't think they committed enough to defense. Hopefully Jon Cooper will bring a new attitude. He got good results with the Admirals/Crunch, I think he might be able to instill a more defensive orientated system than Guy Boucher did. I don't think Boucher put any emphasis into defense at all. Really left Lightning goalies out to dry.

Totally agree doobee. When we signed Salo and Carle last year to go along with Hedman and Brewer I think all of us thought that was a solid top 4. Both Brewer and Carle grossly underperformed, I expect them as well as the entire defense will improve under a new coach who is more of a defensively driven coach, a new experienced coach in Rick Bowness who is in charge of the defense and I also think a condensed schedule didn't help the habits of this team last year. I think Salo will be steady like last year, I think Aulie will continue to improve as he showcased last year. I think Gudas will make this defense a lot better in a bigger sample size, I think he's ready for a top 4 duty in the NHL. The biggest one of them all is Hedman. He makes impressive strives every year and I'm expecting him to take the leap next year entering his 5th season. I think he's going to be that # 1 defenseman we were hoping to get when we drafted in 09. I think he'll lead the way and really put his name up there as one a top 10 defenseman in the league, he certainly has the talent and ability to do so.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Totally agree doobee. When we signed Salo and Carle last year to go along with Hedman and Brewer I think all of us thought that was a solid top 4. Both Brewer and Carle grossly underperformed, I expect them as well as the entire defense will improve under a new coach who is more of a defensively driven coach, a new experienced coach in Rick Bowness who is in charge of the defense and I also think a condensed schedule didn't help the habits of this team last year. I think Salo will be steady like last year, I think Aulie will continue to improve as he showcased last year. I think Gudas will make this defense a lot better in a bigger sample size, I think he's ready for a top 4 duty in the NHL. The biggest one of them all is Hedman. He makes impressive strives every year and I'm expecting him to take the leap next year entering his 5th season. I think he's going to be that # 1 defenseman we were hoping to get when we drafted in 09. I think he'll lead the way and really put his name up there as one a top 10 defenseman in the league, he certainly has the talent and ability to do so.

I really like Victor Hedman, he was probably the Lightning's most impressive dman last season, really looked like a #1 to me, even tho the system dictates that it either be Carle or Salo. He really looked poised and appeared to be the dman who played with the most purpose. You could tell he really wants to be the leader of the blue line and he probably will be the leader within 2 seasons, maybe even this year. I think they got plenty of talent at the blue line, but they're lacking that stay at home defensive anchor that could clear pucks & bodies away from Ben Bishop. I think the Lightning have just enough cap space ($2,609,523) to sign someone like Hal Gill or bring Brett Clark back. I think those would be cost efficient ways of addressing the defense without having to trade Hedman, Gudas, Brewer, or Ohlund (who are the future of the team). IDK, doesn't seem like a big problem, they could probably address it in different ways. I personally would sign someone like Gill or Clark for $2-2.5 million and pair them up with someone like Hedman.

D1: Salo - Carle
D2: Hedman - Gill/Clark
D3: Ohlund - Gudas
Reserve: Brewer

I think that would work out well for the Lightning.

 

[dannyb24195]

I really like Victor Hedman, he was probably the Lightning's most impressive dman last season, really looked like a #1 to me, even tho the system dictates that it either be Carle or Salo. He really looked poised and appeared to be the dman who played with the most purpose. You could tell he really wants to be the leader of the blue line and he probably will be the leader within 2 seasons, maybe even this year. I think they got plenty of talent at the blue line, but they're lacking that stay at home defensive anchor that could clear pucks & bodies away from Ben Bishop. I think the Lightning have just enough cap space ($2,609,523) to sign someone like Hal Gill or bring Brett Clark back. I think those would be cost efficient ways of addressing the defense without having to trade Hedman, Gudas, Brewer, or Ohlund (who are the future of the team). IDK, doesn't seem like a big problem, they could probably address it in different ways. I personally would sign someone like Gill or Clark for $2-2.5 million and pair them up with someone like Hedman.

D1: Salo - Carle
D2: Hedman - Gill/Clark
D3: Ohlund - Gudas
Reserve: Brewer

I think that would work out well for the Lightning.

I think we should stay with :

Hedman - Salo
Carle - Brewer
Aulie - Gudas
Reserve : Barberio


Overall that is a good top 6 in my opinion. I think Brewer and Gudas should swap at times so that takes some pressure of Brewer as he did struggle last year but in saying that I thought he played better under Cooper, he certainly played more physical which he should do on a consistent basis. I really like Aulie ever since we acquired him and I thought he made the biggest improvement from the 2011-2012 to the 2012-2013 season and I don't see him in your team? I think he is becoming into that defensive anchor that we need, he just needs to continue to develop. I don't think he'll be as good as Robyn Regher but I think Aulie will develop into that sort of a defenseman. Yeah I like Aulie, big, physical and tough.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I think we should stay with :

Hedman - Salo
Carle - Brewer
Aulie - Gudas
Reserve : Barberio


Overall that is a good top 6 in my opinion. I think Brewer and Gudas should swap at times so that takes some pressure of Brewer as he did struggle last year but in saying that I thought he played better under Cooper, he certainly played more physical which he should do on a consistent basis. I really like Aulie ever since we acquired him and I thought he made the biggest improvement from the 2011-2012 to the 2012-2013 season and I don't see him in your team? I think he is becoming into that defensive anchor that we need, he just needs to continue to develop. I don't think he'll be as good as Robyn Regher but I think Aulie will develop into that sort of a defenseman. Yeah I like Aulie, big, physical and tough.

Yeah, Aulie could be that wild card that gives the Lightning that missing piece. If Cooper emphasizes defense then Aulie very well could become that player. My only thing with Aulie is the same as Gudas, experience. Do they have it? Are they ready? If they are, they could provide the 'Ning with much needed pieces.

 

[I_Shall_Return]

All I can add, I hope all of them really improve from last season. I would love to see them play way more physical but smart & not taking unnecessary penalties. I would love to see some old fashion hip checks & see them really work on their transition game a lot. The passing of the puck last season was absolutely horrifying! Way too many giveaways & way too many shots on goal allowed!

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Glad you guys feel that way. I don't want to divide the Lightning fans up into Team St. Louis & Team Stamkos, both are great players, if people want to say Stamkos is the best player on the Lightning instead of St. Louis I will disagree but I could totally respect that point of view. I just think St. Louis needs to be recognized as the captain of the team. I think Stamkos would also make a good captain but he will have many many years to be captain of the team. St. Louis's captaincy is long overdue, and I don't think anyone has done as much for the Lightning over the years as MStL. Not just a player for the Lightning but a truly great symbol. He's almost to the Lightning what Martin Brodeur is to the Devils. I totally agree with building a statue of MStL outside of the TBT Forum. Really every player that puts on that Lightning jersey should remember MStL for all he did for the team and how he overcame so many obstacles to become such a great player. A very inspiring hockey story, really wish more people would recognize him for the great superstar/legend that he is.

Anyways, not a Lightning fan, but always a joy & pleasure to watch MStL on the ice. One of the most exciting players of all time.