Don't under estimate the lightning's moves.
Posted 9:24 PM ET | Comments 0
The Tampa bay Lightning may not have made the big moves during the off-season but that doesn't mean they didn't make good moves. In my opinion the lightning improved on every line and on defense. the first line improves just by vinny and marty having career years. the second line improves by michael quellet and jan hlavac. quellet is a very good goal scorer and hlavac was once a 30 goal scorer. you put both of those players with a superstar like brad richards and they are bound to score a lot of goals. the third line improves by the trade for chris gratton. he will join a hard working jason ward and an andreas karlsson who really wants to make a name for himself. the fourth line improves by all of the depth signings the lightning made. Players such as craig macdonald, mathieu darche, and 2nd year player blair jones who looked like he could be a very promising player. you add those players to mix and match with ryan craig, who probably will make it to the 3rd or second line, nick tarnasky, and andre roy and you have a very nice fourth line.
now the defense, the defense should look a lot different, one because of a couple different players, and two because of a new coach. coach ramsay last year wanted to play a stick check type game when he had physical defenders. this year coach sullivan will be behind the bench as assistant coach and he should bring the physical presence out. the defense will bring back dan boyle, filip kuba, paul ranger, and shane o'brien. the lightning also signed brad lukowich, who i think is one of the best defenders you can have on a team because of his ability and his personality. he has gotten very good in the last couple years. Also the lightning will look to bring up one of their defensive prospects such as matt smaby, andy rogers, or vladimir milhalik.
the last and most important question the lightning have is the goaltending. marc denis was terrible last year and i don't see any way he can be worse so look for a bounce back season from him. johan holmqvist was a rookie last year and won 27 games. also aside from game 1 he gave the lightning a chance to win all of the playoff games. the last goalie is karri ramo, a promising prospect who many people think is nhl ready. all three of these goalies will battle it out in training camp.
my prediction for the lightning, 95-105 points, divison winner and a second round playoff trip, depending on the draw they might make it to the conference finals.
now the defense, the defense should look a lot different, one because of a couple different players, and two because of a new coach. coach ramsay last year wanted to play a stick check type game when he had physical defenders. this year coach sullivan will be behind the bench as assistant coach and he should bring the physical presence out. the defense will bring back dan boyle, filip kuba, paul ranger, and shane o'brien. the lightning also signed brad lukowich, who i think is one of the best defenders you can have on a team because of his ability and his personality. he has gotten very good in the last couple years. Also the lightning will look to bring up one of their defensive prospects such as matt smaby, andy rogers, or vladimir milhalik.
the last and most important question the lightning have is the goaltending. marc denis was terrible last year and i don't see any way he can be worse so look for a bounce back season from him. johan holmqvist was a rookie last year and won 27 games. also aside from game 1 he gave the lightning a chance to win all of the playoff games. the last goalie is karri ramo, a promising prospect who many people think is nhl ready. all three of these goalies will battle it out in training camp.
my prediction for the lightning, 95-105 points, divison winner and a second round playoff trip, depending on the draw they might make it to the conference finals.