By Mark Pukalo
How about three Cups in four years?
That quest began Thursday as the Tampa Bay Lightning opened training camp with a few more questions to answer than the previous few seasons.
The Bolts fell two wins short of a third straight Stanley Cup last summer as the Colorado Avalanche finally reached their potential and turned aside a game, but injury-depleted team. Some of those injuries will linger into the 2022-23 campaign and make the early season more difficult and important.
Here are the things to look for during training camp before Tampa Bay meets the New York Rangers in the first game that counts on Oct. 11.
Center Anthony Cirelli and defenseman Zach Bogosian will start the season on the injured list, creating a pair of holes to fill and Lightning stalwart left wing Ondrej Palat has moved on to the New Jersey Devils as a free agent. Ultra-dependable veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh was also traded to Nashville for salary cap reasons and serviceable rearguard - and often-Victor Hedman partner - Jan Rutta is now in Pittsburgh.
If coach Jon Cooper keeps Corey Perry, Pierre-Eduard Bellemare and Pat Maroon together on the fourth line, that leaves eight proven forwards in the top nine. With no other signings aside from old friend Vladislav Namestnikov and no PTOs in camp, there will be a battle for the final one or likely two spots up front.
Skillful Alex Barre-Boulet should have the inside track, not only because he would have to get through waivers, but he won’t be given the position. Gabriel Fortier did not embarrass himself in his short stint in Tampa Bay last season and Cole Koepke is coming off a very good season on both sides of the ice in the minors. Veteran Gemel Smith is also still around and 25-year-old Swede Simon Ryfors started to come on at the end of last season. Free agent-signee Felix Robert may get a look, too.
Cooper must decide what to do with the top three lines as well. Brayden Point will likely slide into one of the center spots, but Steven Stamkos, Nick Paul, Ross Colton and Namestnikov can also play in the pivot. Stamkos seemed to prosper when he was put back in the middle last season, so you wonder if he stays there to start. Perhaps we may look at Paul-Point-Nikita Kucherov, followed by Alex-Killorn-Stamkos-Namestnikov and Brandon Hagel-Colton-Barre-Boulet/Koepke. There are so many ways Cooper and his staff can go.
We won’t get a true picture on Mikhail Sergachev moving up a spot with McDonagh gone on the left side of the defense until midway through the season, but the young Russian won’t be playing a much different role. He’s already used to playing a lot of minutes. The question is always with him, can he limit mistakes? Veteran Ian Cole was signed for a year to take the stay-at-home defense role on the left side and former first round pick Haydn Fleury will likely be the seventh defenseman, being able to play both sides. Fleury is intriguing and signed for two years at a very low rate.
The right side presents the most question marks. Who plays with Hedman? The answer, probably, is everyone, but all of the three top candidates will probably get a look in preseason. Erik Cernak, McDonagh’s long-time partner, could be the boring choice. But Cernak seems like he would be a perfect compliment to Sergachev instead. Cal Foote, who has also played with Sergachev a lot, could get the first look with the big Swede. Foote was very good in the first 13 contests of the postseason, but once the Bolts fell behind 2-0 against the Rangers in the third round Cooper decided to shuffle things while turning to veterans Bogosian and Rutta. Both raised their level of play considerably as Tampa Bay won the next four games.
Then there is probably the most interesting player to watch in preseason - righty defenseman Philippe Myers. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound, 25-year-old had a really good season with Philadelphia in 2019-20 (16 points, plus-17 in 50 regular-season games, three goals in 16 playoff tilts), but injuries and inconsistent performances since have slowed his progress. The Lightning believe his upside is so high they extended his contract through 2023-24 after he came over in the McDonagh deal. We will see.
Righty Darren Raddysh and lefty Sean Day are also capable, but another thing to watch in preseason is how Nick Perbix and 20-year-old Jack Thompson perform on the right side. Lefty Declan Carlile might also earn a look on defense.
It will be quite interesting how it all shakes out. With four of the first five games on the road, no Cirelli and Bogosian, and a Western trip also slated for October, the Bolts will have to be ready fast. But, they have Andrei Vasilevskiy in net. Does that not make you feel better?
Drop the puck!
