This is my COMPLETE offseason with descriptions of the moves I think we should do (i used the taxi squad as players that would be in the AHL, ranked on probability of being called up per position. PLEASE READ IF YOU WANT A COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF MY IDEAS.
- FIRE JEFF BLASHILL... ever since he filled in the assistant coach role from Lalonde, our overall team defense has dropped significantly. He is the only coaching change that has happened since our finals runs and it shows, from 2021-22 to 2022-23 the Lightning have gone from allowing 3.0 high danger chances to 3.5 overall high danger chances, along with other drops in the team's overall defense. His job is to run structures and defensive game plans and, has we have seen over the past 2 years, our defense has struggled a ton because of him. Hedman and Cernak's defensive numbers have also taken a hit as well. By getting another assistant coach similar to Lalonde we could return to an overall better team defense. I also think a ton of other players will have their play improve from Blashill leaving. This is a SUPER important change for us despite him being friends with Cooper.
- LET STAMKOS WALK... I do not think we should re-sign Stammer. He has been my favorite player for my whole life being a Lightning fan and we have had so many good memories with him, but it is time to move on. Next season he will be 35 and his play has already been dropping off over time despite his recent hot play, yeah he goes on hot and cold streaks. Despite being the captain of the Stanley Cup winning teams, he has never been the best playoff performer compared to other guys and his 5v5 play is honestly not that great, something we desperately need to improve on next season. Same thing with Killorn, he will be able to get huge money elsewhere, but that is not what I think we should commit our money to, rather give it to multiple other players. It was a fun ride Stammer, our Captain, but it's time to move on. You and the memories you have had with is will forever be cherished in the Bay.
- LET DUCLAIR AND DUMBA WALK... I think these players should stay purely as rentals. I think Dumba leaving is self explanatory because the only way I would keep him is if he could come back for under 1 mil, other than that he is not worth it at ALL and he will probably get way more in the open market. Duclair will also get offered a lot on the open market and I think those offers will be better than what Tampa has to offer. Personally, I don't think we should pay big bucks for him as he did not prove himself in the playoffs despite being hot playing with our best players in the regular season. Yes he provides scoring but his defensive play, along with Dumba, is not that great.
- MAKE HUGE D SIGNING... making a great upgrade to our d-core would do wonders. Matt Roy is a guy that could fit with the Lightning as he checks all the physical boxes and he has amazing defense analytics, something that we need more of in our d-core. This signing could upgrade our defense from good to one of, if not the the best in the league with tons of capable guys and depth guys to choose from. 5 mil is also worth it and I think Roy would consider it due to it being... well... Florida and getting good money for long term on a great organization would sure be attractive.
- SIGN SOME NEW FORWARDS... Mantha, Joshua, and Aube-Kubel would be great examples of new players that can come in and make an impact, all 3 being the replacement for Stammer and making our forward core more well rounded especially on 5v5. Mantha is a player that should not cost too much and I could see him as being a bargain. He scored over 20 goals this year as his finishing is great and he also has amazing defensive stats that could benefit the forward core a ton. Joshua is also a guy that should not cost that much but I am willing to over pay a bit for these two players as they seem like great fits. Aube-Kubel also would be another solid bottom 6 defensive forward that we could add to solidify the bottom 6.
- RE-SIGN MOTTE... he will probably command a little raise from his 800k previous contract, but he should not be that hard to keep around. He is a great PK guy and shutdown 4th liner that I think we should keep and sign him to a low AAV multi-year contract that BriseBois loves to do with depth players.
- RE-SIGN FLEURY... another really solid depth defensemen that can preform well when he is played into the lineup. Hopefully should not cost that much.
- ROOKIE EMERGENCE... on this AGM I have Duke on the roster as the rookie that makes it onto the lineup and performs well enough to be on the team. Could be somebody else but he is who I have in here.
In conclusion, I trust BriseBois more than myself and I am confident that we will be BACK next season. This year was extremely unfortunate as we were recovering from the extreme cap crunch we have been in from the past years due to the cap not increasing at all during our cup runs. Now that the cap is increasing like normal we should have more flexibility. Also, injuries hurt us a TON this year. Vasy, ever since the surgery, has not been 100% the whole season, even in the playoffs, but this offseason he will get some rest to get back to the Vasy we know for next season. Also the Sergy injury kinda derailed the season even more, a huge reason why we were beaten by the panthers as he really rounds out our d-core. He also played AMAZING against the panthers but it was too late. In terms of players that would make absolutely no sense for us to trade we got Kuch, Pointer, Hagel, Cirelli, Pauly, Heddy, Sergy, Cernak, Raddysh, Lilleberg, and Vasy. These are our guys and trading either one would be a huge loss that would be extremely hard to recover from.
(Any Team) It likely won't cost anything to give Sheary away, previously good player before he came to Tampa and teams would see that he was just not a good fit in Tampa. Brings leadership and some scoring to other teams at only 2 mil for 2 years.
(Any Team) Looking to get around a 3rd round back or that value for Jeannot. He has in no way been a bad player for us as he is the perfect 4th liner-shutdown-tough guy but his cap hit is a bit too rich for us I fear even though I love the guy. Not a lot of teams are going to turn down a player with 1 year left that is on the younger side and previously scored 24 goals.
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