Lightning Strikes 18 Times on Draft Night

Lightning Strikes 18 Times on Draft Night
GM austin757 reloads the prospect pool with 18 draft picks + another 3 via trade

When we last checked in with the Lightning, newbie GM austin757 had taken over the night before the first two rounds of the draft were held, leveraged his buyout to gain the 93rd overall pick, traded Letang (50% retained), Calle Sjalin, and a 2024 5th for 18th overall and Cameron Lund, traded Isaac Howard and Jakub Zboril for 32nd overall and a 2024 6th,  and traded up from 11th overall to 9th overall. After the initial flurry of trading, the Lightning selected Matvei Michkov at 4, Dalibor Dvorsky at 9, Dmitri Simashev at 28, Lukas Dragicevic at 32, and David Edstrom at 36.

Well, the Lightning were far from done there - the team went on to make 15 more trades and 13 more draft selections. The bulk of those trades were, unsurprisingly, based around 2023 draft picks.

Starting off the trade frenzy with a very quiet bang, Brandon Duhaime was sent off to Vegas for a pair of 6th round picks in 2023. Not long after that, Ryan Strome’s UFA rights were sent off to Chicago for a pair of prospects in Ben Meehan and Adam Edstrom, and a 5th round pick in 2023. To replace the departed Ryan Strome as designated UFA signing, the Lightning went out and acquired Ryan Hartman’s UFA rights for young-ish defenseman Jacob Larsson.

The Lightning went into the third round of the draft with the 68th overall pick, effectively 4th overall in the second section. The Lightning’s scouts had identified three players as top targets at this spot and had their fingers crossed that one would still be around… but no dice. Instead, the pick was traded along with prospect Josh Bloom and a 2024 7th in exchange for the 82nd and 90th overall picks. Eventually selecting Damien Clara at 82nd overall and trading up with 90th overall plus 150th overall for 86th overall to select Denver Barkey. Tampa ended off the round by selecting controversial defenseman Cameron Allen 93rd overall.

Top cap off the fourth round, GM austin757 packaged Shane Bowers, a 5th round pick, and two 6th round picks to add 111th and 114th overall. The former was used on Cameron Squires, the latter was traded for 120th and 196th overall. The Lightning traded down once again in this round with 120th and acquired 129th and 197th overall, and used their remaining draft pick, 119th overall, on Jayson Shuagabay.

The Lightning started off the fifth round with the first selection of the round, Timur Mukhanov, and went on to make three further selections in Swedish defenseman Albert Wikman, and European goalies Yevgeni Volokhin and Melker Thelin, after a pair of trade-ups.

The Lightning sat out the penultimate round entirely after trading down from 164th overall to 193rd overall, and adding prospect Daniil Misyul in the process, but, after taking on Devin Shore’s contract for a pick, went on to make four selections in the final round – top USHL forward Ryan Conmy, undrafted WHL defenseman Mazden Leslie, undrafted overage forward Gabriel Szturc, and WHL defenseman Kalem Parker.

On the RFA front, GM austin757 locked up top player Kirby Dach for 4 years at 4.5M, signed rookies Owen Power, Sammy Walker, and Frederick Olofsson to ELC’s, and gave small extensions to Malenstyn, Swaney, Dugan, and Hoefenmayer.

All in all, the Lightning drafted three centers – Dvorsky, David Edstrom, and Barkey, six wingers – Michkov, Squires, Shaugabay, Mukhanov, Conmy and Szturc, six defensemen – Simashev, Dragicevic, Allen, Wikman, Leslie, and Parker, and three goalies – Clara, Volokhin and Thelin. Tampa also traded away Letang, Zboril, Howard, Sjalin, Duhaime, Bloom, Jacob Larsson, Bowers, Lagesson, and any 2024 picks later than round three, and traded for prospects Cameron Lund, Adam Edstrom, and Daniil Misyul, and veterans Devin Shore, Anton Stralman, and Ross Johnston.

The verdict: There sure has been a lot of movement but it remains to be seen how much has actually been accomplished here. According to NHL teams, the Lightning nailed 4 of their top 5 picks, but the NHL clubs are much more skeptical on Lukas Dragicevic. Selecting Michkov at four may have been aggressive, but this is a team that lacks a true franchise player up front to pair with Owen Power, and Michkov could be that player. Simashev looks like a steal already at 28th overall, Clara at 82nd overall could be a top starter with his size and agility, the trio of Allen/Shaugabay/Mukhanov feel like good bets where they went, and the organization went from 0 goalie prospects to three. I think it’s safe to call this draft season a big step in the right direction.

-Tampa Bay Times,
July 22, 2023