2022-23 Lightning season

[dmaxf9]

Perbix going nowhere. Lightning claimed Rudolfs Balcers off waivers from Florida so suspect Koepke is sent back to Syracuse.

[Puckhead]

From what I’ve seen of this Balcers kid, I like. Quick and not afraid of the boards or the corners. This could be a BIG bottom 6 pickup.

[Bolthed]

I like Koepke but it would be nice to see any of our forward prospects in Syracuse show some actual offensive skill. Just like Fortier, Koepke looks like he needs more time on a scoring line in the A

Balcers has 38 points in 106 NHL games. So he’s a clear upgrade and now he’s got a month or two to make an impression.

[Puckhead]

To all you armchair GM’s: Did FL really think that Balcers would clear waivers? With the possibility of losing him, for nothing, to US? I would think he’d be worth a decent pick or other asset on the open market. Their logic escapes me.

[Hoek]

Florida needed cap space to activate Ekblad. Not sure they had any leverage at that point.

[Puckhead]

Yeah, I knew that, but again, did they think nobody would claim him? If so, pretty dumb on their part to just let him go for nothing. I'd have thought a trade would at least have netted them something. His cap hit was around $780K so I can't imagine that if traded, "eating" part of his contract would be an issue to a trading partner.

[jason_haas]

Koepke will definitely go back to Syracuse when Cirelli returns. He's not blowing the doors off and he's waivers-exempt. Easy.

Unfortunately Perbix is also waivers-exempt so he's the easiest and least risky answer to go down as well. He's obviously been a surprise to the team because I'm not sure you extend Myers if you knew Perbix would look good this year. I believe due to his age, Myers actually could have been bought out and been a cap credit instead of any dead money.

You could easily say waive Myers or Fleury as well. Both of them have another year on their deals, but I could see Fleury being claimed for sure.

Hagel-Point-Kucherov
Paul-Stamkos-Killorn
Namestnikov-Cirelli-Colton
Balcers-Bellemare-Perry
Maroon

Hedman-Cernak
Sergachev-Foote
Cole-Bogosian
Myers
Fleury

[Bolthed]

How does it help the big club OR help Perbix to play in the minors? He’s better than Foote, Fleury and Meyers. Period. So it’s just as easy a decision as sending down Koepke. You waive Meyers and don’t sweat it if he gets claimed. Him and Fleury are fringe NHLers. Easily replaceable

[jason_haas]

How does it help the big club OR help Perbix to play in the minors? He’s better than Foote, Fleury and Meyers. Period. So it’s just as easy a decision as sending down Koepke. You waive Meyers and don’t sweat it if he gets claimed. Him and Fleury are fringe NHLers. Easily replaceable

Because he's waivers-exempt so there's no risk of losing a player. To be clear I agree with you. Teams take the path of least resistance all the time --- Gus Nyquist was over a point per game player in two AHL seasons (and part of a third!) before Detroit finally waived an actual player to keep him up.

[Bolthed]

But we wouldn’t be losing a player. We’d be losing a fringe player … the dime a dozen variety. Darren Raddysh might deserve NHL ice time more than Fleury and Meyers. Sending down Perbix would mess with him. Sorry I don’t understand your Nyquist comp

[goldenbolt]

Speaking of Fringe player(s)..... has anyone seen anything from Namestikov? I thought he'd be better than what he's shown to date.
Interesting last night Perbix only had 10+ minutes of time.....
For me the bottom six has been less than stellar. Maybe some of this fixes itself when Cirellli returns time will tell.

Our PK is in the poop category this year. Cirelli will help that but Hedman and Sergachev have not been solid on the back end while defending this year. Maybe they're waiting for the second half of the year to turn it on..... sure hope so.

We've not fared well against good teams this year.... sure we can beat the hapless Flappers and win slugfest's with the Sabers but Boston, Carolina, Colorado nope ya got nothing.
Tomorrow the Leafs another good team well see what we have if anything.

we need spare parts to fix t he bottom six and some solid D replacements..... otherwise this will be a really frustrating year..... Our expectations are high but to date not much of a performance.

GoBolts

[jason_haas]

The Nyquist comp was simply that a team kept a waivers-exempt NHL quality player in the minors for too long simply because he had the flexibility.

I guess we have our answer though - Myers on waivers today. So strange to me they rushed to extend him. Oh well, can't bat 1.000

Namestnikov every once in a while turns the jets on and looks great but generally no, he's done nothing all year. I was amazed it took them as long as it did to put Paul back on the PP in place of him.

And yes, the bottom six is a huge problem right now. Cirelli returning will help a ton. Bellemare and Maroon look washed though and neither was fast to begin with. Hopefully when fully healthy Cooper will have the stones to scratch Maroon for Balcers, at least occasionally.

[Puckhead]

I’ll certainly grant that Maroon is not fleet afoot far from it, , but I will say he’s the best we have at controlling pucks on the walls, corners and behind the net. Its rare for him to be knocked off or cough up a puck when being pressured. He can normally get the puck back to the point when called for. That said, I mentioned previously that Balcers impressed me playing for FL that he is not hesitant to compete for pucks anywhere in the O zone.

[dmaxf9]

Myers was a low risk add while Bogosian out. Perbix emergence also has led to waiving Myers. Perbix offensive zone tripping penalty at Boston led to his limited ice time. Raddysh doing very well at Syracuse and did not look out of place when with Lightning. Still confident Lightning have Cup contending team and always look forward to JBB’s deadline moves.

[jason_haas]

Myers was a low risk add while Bogosian out. Perbix emergence also has led to waiving Myers. Perbix offensive zone tripping penalty at Boston led to his limited ice time. Raddysh doing very well at Syracuse and did not look out of place when with Lightning. Still confident Lightning have Cup contending team and always look forward to JBB’s deadline moves.

Sure, but then why extend him to a not-100%-buriable amount before you have a look? Absolutely worth the risk keeping him for this season, but the extension looks like a misstep. His cap hit is just 275k when he's buried but this is a team that utilizes every penny.