Lightning vs. Avalanche - Game 6 - 6/26 8PM ET

[TexasBolt]

It wouldn’t surprise me if Colorado had their own extended run. Especially if they can find a goalie a little better than Keumper. Certainly the West is a whole lot weaker than the East, so they’re also going to have an advantage working their way through the playoffs until that evens back out.

[Pat664422]

I just took a look at Colorado on cap friendly. Kadri, Nichuskin, Burakosky, Cogliano, Helm, Jack Johnson and Manson are all UFAs. Oh and so is Kuemper. That seems much worse than what the Lightning just went through in losing our entire 3rd line.

I'm sure they'll be getting passed the first round next year, but we've only had repeat champs 4 times since 1990, and that goes back further than the start of the salary cap era.

[RSchmitz]

Don’t care about Colorado, just care about our legacy

[TexasBolt]

I don’t really care what some ratings chasing radio host or some pathetic saddo who makes YouTube hater videos wants to say about this team’s legacy. They’re the best team of the salary cap era, full stop.

[dmaxf9]

Lightning were terrific in playoffs and will be back. Vasilevskiy is only 27 years old and may even get better! Defensive core solid and Perbix is close. Stamkos had arguably the best year of his career. Kucherov and Point missed lots of time with injuries and will be back. Cirelli looks like he is ready to take the next step. Killorn was a huge disappointment in these playoffs with NO goals in 23 playoff games and only 4 assists. Not upset at all with Perry, Maroon and Bellemare. Will take some magic for BriseBois to keep Palat and Paul.

[gphockey]

Way to go boys! Well done.
A very tough path to the cup.

First round Leafs was brutal series. Game 7 gut check win.
Second round we get to play the team with the best record in the NHL, Sweep
Third round faced the Vezina trophy winning goalie and a hot team. Win
Cup round faced a talented, fast and well coached team. but....Got beat. Two blowouts, two OT games and two one goal games. Can't ask for a better effort. A couple of bounces go our way and we hoist the cup.
After three + years of deep playoff runs, take a rest and enjoy the terrific accomplishments you have earned.

JBB, retool the 3rd 4th lines again. Maybe a younger D man.

Where was Hagel, Kilhorn and Nash? Needed goals from them.

Try and keep Paul and Palat, not sure if that can happen. Would be sad to see Palat go but not looking good.
OUT

[nutznboltz]

For what we traded away for Hagel, I thought he was a huge disappointment. Paul turned out to be the most important acquisition, we wouldn't have gotten this far without his Game 7 in Toronto. Disappointed in the ending but still damn proud of this team and franchise.

[Hoek]

Ridiculous how far they made it with all the injuries and games they played and the stacked opponents they faced. Shame we just couldn't find more shots and goals once we finally shut down the Avs offense.

[the_narrow_way]

Single biggest factor was missing Point I think. Just a few more PP goals and I think TB wins the Cup.

[TexasBolt]

Only thing I would say about the officiating: This has been a leaguewide issue for a few years now and it's not specific to one series or one call. The overall skill level of the referees and linesmen is the worst I can remember it. There isn't a single referee in the NHL today who you would trust to call a good, consistent game. They all miss calls, they all ignore calls, they all game manage, they all change their penalty standards at will.

[aapbolt]

Agreed TexasBolt, the league needs better training for their officials as well as critiques after the fact, which means that they have officials who tell the on ice people what they got right and what they got wrong. The officiating must be the same in the playoffs as the regular season. For example the cross check on Kuch should have drawn a 5 minute misconduct plus a 1game suspension. Consistency is what is needed. Anyway, the Bolts did us proud.

[the_narrow_way]

Officiating was atrocious.

[RSchmitz]

Team needs to move a little more toward their 2019/2020 selves where they were excellent at puck possession and shot suppression. We got burnt by Columbus because we didn't know how to play when the puck wasn't on our sticks. Cool, we learned, keep that, but now let's make it easier on ourselves by playing with the puck in the offensive zone. If the trade off is that Vasy has to make a few more high danger saves per game, so be it.

[Bolthed]

Even if the officiating were fair and/or balanced, we didn’t have the legs. They played 14 games before the final. We played 18, and 20+ the last two seasons, which included shortened offseasons.

If you’re honest with yourself, would better officiating have made the Avs’ power play less deadly, their penalty kill less effective, their 200-foot skating and checking any less stifling? Maybe a bit, but it wouldn’t have ultimately affected the outcome, especially in Game 6. We were spent. Colorado wisely allowed the first period to be a track meet, knowing they had better legs. Landeskog said as much at intermission.

I hope JBB isn’t sentimental about doing what I suspect needs to be done with this team. Start by signing Nic Paul. Then trade Killorn for an asset — either a 2nd round pick or a nice prospect with scoring pedigree or a middle-six forward who brings something extra to the team (speed, faceoffs, size, etc.). Then I’d think long and hard how much you’re willing to offer Palat in both money and term. He might want to stay, but how much is he willing to leave on the table? If he can fetch even 5 years, $25 million, we can’t match unless he gives us a heavy discount. But most league observers think his ultra-clutch playoff run, two-way physical game and ability to play on a top line has earned him a raise. We might not even be able to make an offer that doesn’t offend him.

Palat, Killorn and Paul are intertwined. If Paul’s price tag is more than say $2.5M AAV, then the only way to even dream of keeping Palat is to trade Killorn. Hell, if Paul can fetch any more than $2.5M AAV, we might have a hard time keeping Killer and filling out the back end of the roster.

So what about something slightly more radical? What about trading Killorn AND letting Palat walk? We do that and we’ve got nearly $9M to play with (by all means correct me if I’m wrong).

Maybe it’s time to retool for the next block of years — Vasy’s prime years — and try to keep contending while transitioning to the future on the fly. It’s much harder to make that kind of change when you just hoisted the silver chalice and deserve to chase history. But we lost. So maybe we make the best of it and get younger, faster and more athletic (as Pete suggested). Maybe there’s a way JBB can set this up perfectly to afford Cirelli, Sergachev and Cernak next summer? And look at how one of our most quietly important organizational strengths is in our pro scouting department — the scouts who identified Coleman, Goodrow, Savard and Paul. Maybe they keep hitting home runs?

If the term is long enough, I’d go $3M AAV for Paul. He and Hagel are proven middle-six guys who have enough talent to replace Palat and Killorn on the top two scoring lines. But they can both play on the third line too. Colton is the same type and certainly has earned just as much of a chance to compete for a scoring line role. The fourth line is set for another year. All we need are two more middle-six types. Maybe one even emerges from our farm in fall camp.

Another possibility, even more radical, would be to take more drastic measures to anticipate next summer and trade Sergachev. Whoa! That would take some major stones, but it could work depending on what the return is. The idea would be to get younger and cheaper while hopefully not taking too big a step back in terms of talent. And you’d clear the runway for next summer to not be so messy. Remember, JBB likes to extend his pending UFAs the year before whenever possible. That might only happen if one of those 3 is moved. Can you see that being Cirelli or Cernak?

Buckle up. It could be a bumpy ride.

TL;DR - JBB should strongly consider the opportunity to get younger this offseason.

[Top Shelf]

I don’t really care what some ratings chasing radio host or some pathetic saddo who makes YouTube hater videos wants to say about this team’s legacy. They’re the best team of the salary cap era, full stop.

No doubt.

IMHO winning the Cup in 2020, winning the Cup again in 2021, then winning the Eastern Conference Championship and coming within two OT goals of winning the Cup Final in five games in 2022, constitutes dynasty. Further cemented if they win the Cup in 2023, 24, etc.

Is it October yet?