Myers up ooof.

I think there's gonna be a few hidden gems in the draft over the next couple years. Player development is all over the place post covid.

He better not play. I'd rather go 5 D-men

This defense is rough.

I'm pretty sure Cernak is the only one who actually knows how to defend

That might've been the worst period I've ever seen

He's the only one who's actually played the body on Bedard.

This is the d-core i wanna see next game:

Hedman-Cernak
Sergachev-Fleury



Yes that's all

I know there is a different crowd here than in the Armchair GM's pages so I though I would post this here to see what yall think the biggest problem with the team right now is. I am also going to put a thing I wrote about the prospects in syracuse below this to see your thoughts but if this is too long then just ignore this.

Whos to blame?
GM vs Coaching vs Players:
JBB: Some questionable trades have led the lightning into the position where they are now where they have almost no tradeable players, a not very serviceable group of defensemen and little to no draft picks to trade at the TDL.
Coaches: Im not sure exactly who is to blame here whether it be Blashill or Cooper but nothing has changed defensively for the entire season. They are still backing up on the blueline, not covering their man, not clearing the net, and constantly have their breakout passes intercepted. It feels like this has been a reoccuring theme for a couple of years now which is why I am heistant to completely blame blashill however this is the worst it has ever been. In terms of the offense, they were playing very well at the start of the year however I feel like they have resorted back to their old ways of seasons prior of trying to do the dump and chase to gain entry into the Offensive zone and they lose it almost every time. Tonight was different and they mostly skated it into the zone which was improvement however they were contained to the outside the entire game and it seemed as though nobody had a gameplan other than cycle the puck around the perimeter and take shots from the point that were never going in. They had some chances on the rush in the first period although those quickly stopped in the second and third. The style of hockey they aim to play is the fast and intense forechecking and backchecking game which syracuse has done perfectly this season which makes me even more confused as to why the lightning have not figured this out yet. Syracuse are better at intercepting the passing lanes and giving the opposition almost no time with the puck. They have had a deadly counter attack that seems non-existant in tampa.
Players: This year I can't find myself blaming anyone other than the defense. Perbix and Sergachev are having unimaginably bad seasons and cernak, raddysh, dehaan and hedman haven't been much better defensively. I feel like the system they are blaming has something to do with it, however they have no one other than themselves to blame for the constant turnovers and getting beat on 1 on 1s.

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There are many guys in tampa that have been promoted before that had similar stats at a similar age to Thompson, Goncalves, and robert, so I would expect them to be promoted soon, October/November/December seems to be when players are promoted on average. Also there is the possibility that Groshev gets a chance this season as he has 12pts in 12 games primarily on the 3rd/4th line and 2nd PK unit through the first ten games, and he has 5 goals (2 Empty Net) in the past 2 games on the second line in syracuse but they might want to adjust him to the North American game first (I think he might be our best prospect, just needs a chance).


Thompson (RD) at 20/21 yrs old- 23pts in 71 AHL games, 21 yrs old- 8pts in 12 AHL games
Very solid defensively, through the first twelve games this season I cannot recall a single player getting past him and he is on the top pairing. He is fast and is quaterbacking the powerplay, he is heistant to skate the puck down the ice and will always look for the pass. On the power play he will occasionally shoot, its usually low and from the point. He kinda reminds me of sergachev but more conservative and responsible defensively, he is also playing against AHL caliber talent so it is yet to be seen whether he will be able to hold up against NHL talent.
Previous Semi-Comparable Call ups:
Cernak (RD) at 20/21yrs old- 18pts in 71 AHL games, 21 yrs old- 7pts in 9 AHL games, then promoted
Perbix (RD) at 23 yrs old- 8pts in 12 AHL games, then promoted the following year
C. Foote (RD) at 19/20 yrs old- 28pts in 62 AHL games, 20 yrs old- 4pts in 6 AHL games, then promoted


Goncalves (LW) at 21/22 yrs old- 54 pts in 71 AHL games, 22 yrs old- 11pts in 12 AHL games
Goncalves is a skilled winger who is good off of the half wall and an elite passer. He is okay defensively, but is very streaky. Some nights he does not look like a threat at all and other nights he is the best player on the ice dangling through the opposition. There are nights where he will look for the pass and and will only shoot if no one is open for a pass for an extended period of time, I would like to see more consistency in his play. He needs to work on his shot, it is probably below average but serviceable. In terms of comparisons he is a walmart Kucherov, he can create plays and make good passes but not to the consistency or extent that Kucherov can obviously.
Previous Semi-Comparable Call ups:
Verhaeghe (LW) at 22 yrs old- 48 pts in 58 AHL games, 23 yrs old- 82 pts in 76 AHL games, then promoted the following season
T. Raddysh (RW) at 21/22 yrs old- 35pts in 62 AHL games, 22/23 yrs old- 29 pts in 27 AHL games, then promoted following season
Katchouk (LW) at 21 yrs old- 32 pts in 60 AHL games, 22 yrs old- 34 pts in 29 AHL games, then promoted following season


Robert (C/LW) at 23 yrs old- 34 pts in 55 AHL games, 24 yrs old- 13 pts in 12 AHL games (*may have been injured in 12th game)
He reminds me exactly of Gourde in every way. A feisty undersized Center/Winger that has a never ending motor and a touch of scoring, they even both dominated the QMJHL having around 1.82(Gourde) and 2.00(Robert) Points Per Game as over agers and went undrafted
Previous Semi-Comparable Call ups:
Gourde (C/LW) at 23/24 yrs old- 44 pts in 65 AHL games(promoted for 2 games in December), 24/25 yrs old- 48 pts in 56 AHL games(promoted for 20 games in December), 27 pts in 22 AHL playoff games, then final promotion the following season
Fortier (C/LW) at 21/22 yrs old- 35 pts in 72 AHL games(promoted for 10 games in November)
Colton (C) at 23 yrs old- 42 pts in 62 AHL games, promoted the following year


There are also a lot of players who have gotten a chance with worse stats in recent years like: stephens, volkov, koepke, Peca, etc. There also hasn't been a player with better stats than these guys who hasn't gotten a chance. Not saying it will be an extended stay but I expect to see them for at least a few games

I feel like nothing is gonna happen until we see a few games with Vasy with the current team. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing the forwards but we really need new defenders. I hope to see Thompson at some point this season.

It's constantly amazing me how bad Stamkos looks like he's playing on the eye test, but he's still at a point per game. Imagine what would be going on if he actually looked like he was playing well.

Apart from the one timer I don't think he's ever "looked" good. He's always been good.

That was definitely the best game of the year so far. So much fun to watch.

Main thing that stood out to me was how good Swayman was. If we switched goalies I think we would've won easily. Personally I think Boston let Swayman down and Johansson let us down in that game, despite getting the win.

How many points do we think Kucherov is gonna get?

129

Well I finally saw some defensemen who can actually defend. Unfortunately it was the Penguins defense core.

blue line is in shambles we have a wild card spot by a miracle at the moment stammer is useless 5 on 5 I personally am in the boat of its a coin flip if we make the playoffs at this point. Need this win vs Dallas. I'm glad Vasi is back but our defense is still afk. In about 10 games we are going to make a decision Buy a blue liner or ... Sell stammer one of those may happen jbb seems really pissed

The defense is really the big problem. Stamkos has been bad 5v5 but he's still on pace for almost 40 goals so it doesn't really matter. The defense needs to be improved for sure. Perbix and de Haan are really bad and Sergachev, Raddysh, and Hedman aren't much better

Kuch making friends in Seattle.

Sergy's twitter got hacked and then sold to some random dude promoting ETH. Considering he hasnt posted in 2 1/2 years I doubt he knows

Been pretty quiet on CF since the season started. Big 5 game stretch here coming up. 3 of the best teams in the league, Winnipeg, Boston, LA. Minnesota who has a lot of injuries but has managed to play their best hockey of the season with 3 of their best players out of the lineup and under fresh blood John Hynes who's got the team rollin. New Jersey who's struggled this year but is still lethal offensively on any given night. Should be a huge test for our defensive game and 60 minute pace. If we're gonna start to gain any sort of traction, rhythm or confidence for any part of our game that isn't offense, nows a good time to do it.

I'm not jumping ship with this roster. Could we always upgrade at certain positions? No doubt. But I've grown to like the construction of this roster. It's all a matter of getting focused and disciplined now. Things are tight enough in the east to where it's open season for standings. We need to start catching our stride here and start playing near the front of the pack, rather than trying to chase it.

We need Vasilevskiy to figure it out and start playing better. And at least one of Point or Stamkos, preferably Point, to do the same.

Well, 8 of our last 9 isn't bad heading into all-star break; Feels like things are coming together (and all without Sergachev and Cernak).

-Still the occasional giveaway or defensive miss-queue, but much better than earlier in the season. This has allowed for fewer goals against.
-Kucherov is out of his mind - last time I checked he was on pace for 130 points in the season.
-Vasilevskiy is looking like himself again. Even in the loss to the Wings, he looked good.
-Starting to see some depth scoring which is excellent.
-Defence is getting more involved in scoring.
-Young guys look good and appear to be projecting some energy onto the team.

If we can continue to get goals from the bottom six and defensemen, I think the Bolts will be very dangerous in the second half of the season.
My only real worry is the numbers from Stamkos and Point. Both are playing well, but I believe they can deliver more.
Overall, great few weeks by the Bolts and I'm optimistic for the remainder of the season.

The thing standing out to me a little bit is Stamkos' shot. I feel like he is shooting straight into the chest on semi-open shots a lot

Indeed. In my opinion, besides the one timer on the powerplay, he doesn't feel very dangerous with the puck like he has in previous seasons.
He is getting older, however I believe that scoring ability is still there - we saw a glimmer of it in Edmonton a few weeks ago.

Not sure what to think anymore to be completely honest. Bolts had a perfect opportunity to rebound in the second half of the season and we didn't take it. At this point, the quantity of losses and the quality of play is a little embarrassing, and I'm not sure how to react. This is a strong organisation, but it feels as if we've got no solutions and have given up. Furthermore, the Duclair trade was a rather bad move in my opinion. With the wildcard race tightening up, and the Bolts seemingly still faltering, I wonder about the future of the season and seasons to come. Any thoughts?