Storm Clouds Rolling In

The fans in Tampa Bay are in for a wild ride, that much is clear already.

Here we sit a mere 36 hours into a new era and already, this team looks quite a bit different. Yesterday, Tampa's ownership group announced that they were bringing in austin757 as GM, one day before the start of a franchise-altering draft. He wasted no time getting to work reshaping this roster into a team with a future, making four draft day deals, and five selections in the top two rounds of the draft.

After a quick flip through the rulebook, the newbie GM realized he was allotted one consequence-free buyout and wasted no time acquiring a terrible contract to use it on. The Lightning acquired Pius Suter and his stinker of a contract along with 2023 TOR 3rd for whoever CJ Yakimowicz is, if he does in fact exist.

Next up the Lightning shipped off top prospect Isaac Howard, a first round pick from last season who had underachieved slightly this year, along with a man intimately familiar with underachieving - Jakub Zboril - that has finally started to carve out an NHL role, to San Jose in exchange for 2023 CBJ 1st (32 overall, congrats CBJ) and 2024 SJS 6th. 

In the third deal of the day, austin757 put the team's financial flexibility to use and decided to retain 50% of Kris Letang's 2 year 7.75M contract. Letang was shipped off to Colorado along with interesting AHL defender Calle Sjalin and 2024 TBL 5th for 2023 COL 1st (28th overall) and B+ prospect Cameron Lund. The Lightning will carry 3.875M in dead money for the next two years as a result, but for a team more than 30M under the cap, this should be a manageable issue.

After this series of moves the Lightning entered the opening night of the draft with the #4, #11, #28, #32, and #36 picks to use.

When reached for a quick quote before the draft, austin757 said, plainly, "In a year with four superstar prospects... I'm pretty happy to have a top four pick."

He continued: "This pick has a good shot at being a franchise player. At #11 we're looking at a player with a high probability of being a top of the lineup player, and with all of 28, 32, and 36 we're likely getting a player good enough to go in the 20s or better in most draft classes. This is going to be fun."

The night did not disappoint.

#4 overall: With the first three picks off the board, the Lightning were left with an easy choice. Draft the last superstar available (plz don't slap me Will Smith) in Matvei Michkov, a player best described as a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
Scouting Report: Michkov has a hockey IQ said to be on par with the likes of Bedard and Ovechkin, but the body of Johnny Gaudreau. The consensus outlook is it may take this kid a few years to come over to the NHL, but when he does, he is likely to rapidly shift the fortunes of the NHL team lucky enough to select him. It's not a stretch to imagine a Calder trophy is his future, and dream on the potential for more impressive hardware down the road. He projects as a Major Award Winner with high risk (9.5D).

#11 overall: With the #9 pick on the clock, after hours of working the phones and weighing the possibilities of moving up or down with the 11th pick, austin757 pounced at the opportunity to move up a few spots and select the player ranked #6 on his board, Dalibor Dvorsky. The 11th pick and 2024 TBL 4th were sent to NYI in order to accomplish this move.
Scouting Report: Dvorsky is a skilled center with a strong scoring/playmaking combo that has been dominant at the U20 level as a 17 year old, dominant internationally for Slovakia, and shown well in the Allsvensken for two seasons now. He projects as a Top Line Forward with average risk (8.5C).

#28 overall: As the picks ticked on and players fell off the board, the Lightning's draft team nervously watched and hoped to see a few of their top 20 names fall. That would not quite be the case, but the Lightning were still lucky enough to get a player they had ranked exactly 20th in Dmitri Simashev, another polarizing Russian prospect.
Scouting Report: Some scouts swear he is the best defenseman in the draft, and some just see a bottom pair future... but they all agree that he's a 6'4" defenseman that can skate. Those tend to translate well to the NHL level. He projects as a Top 3 Defenseman with average risk, that would grade as lower risk if he wasn't Russian (8.0C).

#32 overall: To cap off the first round the Lightning selected another defenseman, Lukas Dragicevic, who lit up the WHL offensively but was unable to convince scouts that he was a clear-cut 1st round talent due to his skating concerns, defensive concerns, and questionable U18 performance.
Scouting Report: He is likely a boom-bust pick. If Dragicevic can improve his weaknesses and maintain his puck-moving ability as his moves up the ranks, he could be a #1 PP unit type, but he has a long ways to go still. He projects as a Top 3 Defenseman with above average risk (8.0C-).

Not long after making a ridiculous four picks in the first round, the Lightning were up again with their only pick of the second round, #36. By this point, there was only one player remaining that the team had ranked as a clear first round talent, so without much internal debate David Edstrom was selected.
Scouting Report: A significant deviation from previous selections, Edstrom is a two way center with size that kicked ass at the U18s. He showed steady improvement as the season went on. He projects as a Top 9 Forward with low risk (7.5B).

Out: 11th overall, Letang with salary retention, Zboril, Howard, a pair of later 2024 picks, and Calle Sjalin
In: 9th overall, 28th overall, 32nd overall, Cameron Lund, a 2023 3rd, a 2024 6th, and Pius Suter's gross contract
Draft Picks: Michkov, Dvorsky, Simashev, Dragicevic, and Edstrom.

Only time will tell if these moves and selections will work out, but right now the Lightning look better set-up for a successful rebuild than they did 36 hours ago.

-Tampa Bay Times,
June 23, 2023