I figured we could use a thread for everything that happens with the team in what is sure to be an eventful offseason. To get us started:

He may not have a shirt, but he’s got a contract with us. Welcome to the team @86Kucherov!There will be no press conferences for this announcement. pic.twitter.com/u2j0czHahc

— Bud Light (@budlight) July 9, 2021

Drunk Kuch is the best thing we could wish for

Just sharing one of Elliotte Friedman's most recent 31 thoughts:

Just going to list known offseason injury issues:
- Kucherov fractured rib
- Killorn fibula (surgery)
- Hedman torn meniscus (surgery)
- Cirelli wrist (surgery)
- Coleman arm in sling at boat parade
- Stamkos? (Always injured)
- McDonagh broken hand
- Goodrow broken hand

I can't wait for someone to find this list and say they are probably all gonna go on LTIR

Everyone I denoted with surgery said they'd be ready by September.

Did anyone else rough out the conditions downtown today?

I don't live in Tampa

The need is to get two ~5m contracts off the books.
I see them doing a protection like:
F: Kucherov, Point, Stamkos, Cirelli
D: Hedman, Sergachev, Cernak, Foote
Exposing: Gourde ($5.17m for 4y), Johnson ($5m for 3yr), Killorn ($4.45m for 2 yr), and Palat ($5.3m for 1yr)

I think Johnson is pretty far down the list in attractiveness to Seattle. Gourde at the top. Will be painful, as I think Gourde is a very good player, but it knocks one of two required contracts off the list.
To get rid of Johnson I think TBL would need to throw in Foote to make it happen. That simply doesn't help as they lose the balance of his good salary, they need the inclusion of Foote's $900k cap hit to make things work.
Then will still need to sign 6+ contracts. Oof going to be tough decisions.

OR just send Kucherov to my Habs. Bam cap issue gone. He's practically begging to go anyway :P

We have signed Fredrik Claesson to a one-year, two-way contract. https://t.co/dwMyl5JWdn

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 17, 2021

Probable 4th LHD on depth chart and Syracuse vet

We have acquired a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft from the New York Rangers in exchange for Barclay Goodrow. https://t.co/HpBOvUDF6R

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 17, 2021

I'm amazed we got anything for his rights.

I don't see how folks think NYR won this trade.

Even if they sign him it'll probably be an overpay. We got a draft pick for a player we were 100% losing. W for JBB.

I could see a team giving a pick for Coleman's rights, but I didn't think we'd get one for Goodrow. Hopefully this means they have a plan, but more likely Goodrow just wanted too much

I have that weird feeling that something bigger will happen than we all expect.

Before I return to the shadows, tampa will likely offload some depth contracts mix of killorn (if he is confirmed to be healthy by october) gourde johnson (obvious) If tampa wants to make a big move like a landeskog the thing is it would be at the expense of all three players I just listed. HOWEVER if we are going to go into the craziness of big unexpected moves. Before I lose all credibility forever just imagine how funny but ever so slightly possible this could be.... Ovechkin signs for a 1 year deal 1 million & joins Kucherov Sergachev Vasi. Ovi has made a career earning of 124 million with decent investments he can own detroit. He'll break the goal record on our power play almost immediately. Just for fun. Gabriel needs his big payday (sorta) so he is off the table considering we would have to get much worse to sign this guy. OVI wants to win & imo the sun has set in DC if he stays in DC he won't win another championship. Imagine stealing Ovi away from DC Tampa won back to back & took the best goal scorer of our generation, Montreal already hates us now The caps would want blood too we'll be front in center of the media all season. Tampa always finds ways to get players to sign for less so why not go out in a blaze of glory with the biggest underpay of all time. This might be our last year to lift lord stanley before we have to pay brayden point 9million so let's make it count.

#tblightning protection list: Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, Cirelli, Hedman, Sergachev, McDonagh, Cernak, Vasilevskiy. Left unprotected: Palat, Killorn, Gourde. Reasoning? We tried to explain the past few months https://t.co/Xluk6Lnivv https://t.co/7HRTvaSgYb

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) July 18, 2021

No real surprises here. Still think there's already a deal in place tho.

If so, the deal doesn't involve McDonagh, that's for sure. I could understand leaving McDonagh available to protect more forwards, but anyone thinking we needed to side deal McDonagh to Seattle missed a big part of why we've won 2 Stanley Cups.

Agreed. I kinda thought maybe he'd be a part of the Johnson sweetener to keep more futures while shedding more cap. But I doubt it now.

What would you guys think of giving Seattle Foote and Palat to take Johnson? Then we clear ten mil in cap and keep Gourde and Killorn. Don't know if Seattle would do it but I think both teams would definitely benefit from it. Seattle gets 3 good roster players and we clear cap

That's a lot of cap for Seattle to absorb. Gourde makes sense as a center, but there's an abundance of Top 6 wingers available for Seattle to select from. I'm at the point of just letting them take whoever they want and figuring it out from there.

They are allowed to spend too the cap and Palat has shown he's a 1st line winger on a championship team. If they also get a good young former 1st round pick. I see you're point though. I would say just let them pick but I think losing Gourde would be bad

There's no good options involved with the expansion draft. If there's a deal to be made I guess JBB will make it, but I'm souring on the idea of dumping a bunch of assets on them just to get what we want.

Gonna be hard to convince them not to take Gourde. They might look at him for 1 or 2c with their lack of options.