What are the 2024-25 NHL season expectations for the Tampa Lightning? New Locked on Lightning host Josh Sperber details how the Lightning will follow up on a playoff season with some new faces on the roster after the departure of Steven Stamkos. We will discuss who the 2024-25 captains should be and the keys to the Lightning season.
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Call him at 385-885-3885-8585-28, tell him to lock down, send to you. Intercap Lending, NMLS, number 19-0-465. For more information, visit intercaplending.com. Hello, everyone. I'm Josh Sperver, and this is my first show here on Lockdown Lightning. And I'm hoping that it's going to be a good season with you guys as may I make my first year as part of this Lockdown podcast group. This week we're going to chat about the Lightning as we introduce them to this 2024 season as I introduce myself to you guys here on Lockdown Lightning. Your Lockdown Lightning, your daily podcast on the Tampa Bay Lightning, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team, every day. Welcome in Lockdown Lightning. Thanks for making Lockdown Lightning, your first listen every day. We are part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team, every day. I am Josh Sperver, your host, every day. Want to give a big shout out to Adam Danker, former host here at Lockdown Lightning for paving the way. We've got big shoes to fill, but we're going to get into it. I've been living in Tampa for two years now, mainly covered the Clearwater Threshers in the minor league, been covering hockey at multiple different levels since 2018, and I'm really excited to get the chance to bring you guys information about the Tampa Bay Lightning throughout the course of this season. With that, we can get into our first segment, the expectations going into this new Lightning season. We know that a lot of off season, it was a pretty light off season though, around the NHL. Not too many massive, you know, big shaker kind of trades that we saw, but the Lightning did make one of them, getting Jake Genssel from the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the replacement package, if you will, for the former captain, Stephen Stampko. Obviously, the expectations for this Lightning season are going to be changed up a little bit because not having Stephen Stampko's a 10-year captain, a guy who is on the all-time Lightning list in so many different ways. I mean, that's just a hard guy to replace, and you have to look on this Lightning team about where that replacement is going to be coming from, and it's really going to kind of set the stage for the rest of this show, because what we can expect from this Lightning team kind of gets the ball rolling on kind of the keys to the season, key players, and of course, the big question, which is going to be who will the Lightning name as their captain to replace Stephen Stampko, for yet to cover all of these on the show so far today, but we're going to start off with, of course, the expectations for the season last year at the Tampa Bay Lightning, a playoff team once again, get used to the Lightning in the playoffs because I'd like to think that's where they're going to go back to. I just don't see a lot of other teams in the East that made enough moves to really overtake any, any one of, really a lot of these playoff teams, but the Lightning especially, I think that they just have such great coaching, and just the culture there is all about winning games. And I think kind of the moves that they made in some way showed that, you know, you can say how giving up Stephen Stampko's is not really, you know, the Lightning committing to winning, but they're committing to long-term, so they're getting a lot more younger guys on their roster. I mean, if you look down their position groups, they don't have more than three, 30-year-olds in any one position group giving them a grand total of seven when you look at their goalies, defenders, and over most of their team is 30-year-under. You know, the goalies you have, Andre Vazolevsky, Matt Tomkins are both 30-years-old. Vazolevsky is in the prime of his career. You look at some of the, a couple of the older guys really do bring some experience though for these Tampa Bay Lightning. A big one is Ryan McDonough. A guy that they acquired in the offseason from Nashville, don't want to call it a Stephen Stampko's trade, but that certainly could be considered one, as McDonough came back from the Nashville Predators a bit before Stephen Stampko's did. As you may know, McDonough spent a grand total of five years with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Solid defender. Had two good seasons in Nashville where he combined for a plus minus of 31, and he is going to be a big key to this Lightning season and a big way that these, that his team can kind of get back to the playoffs because with the Lightning, especially in the last couple of years, it's a team that has won two Stanley Cups in the past 10 years. When you look at, when you look at this Lightning team now, you think like that's just part of their culture. That is just how we do things here in Tampa Bay, just trying to win games and get towards the Promised Land. I don't know if I can say I expect their playoff runs to be that much better than last season. Hopefully they won't run into the eventual champions again, and obviously want to beat your rivals and Florida certainly that, but I don't know if I can expect too deep of a playoff run for the Lightning because a lot of it is kind of up in the air. I mean, you look at some of their key players, some of them have been here for a while, you know, and the key to Kucharov is a guy who's not going anywhere. I expect him to have another big season and maybe even a bigger one than he had in 2024 and 2023 in the last season for Kucharov, the tightest Sis leader in the NHL and the point leader in the NHL. I mean, he just had such an incredible season and this year, the Lightning, I think did a good job at a piece they always and what they had to kind of move some compliment to get some complimentary pieces around him. Jake Genssel is another guy who I expect a really good season from. You know, he's kind of had a more secondary role on each of the past teams he's played on. He played most of his year in Pittsburgh, played part of 2023 with Carolina before the Penn's got him and now, of course, with the Tampa Bay Lightning season, high end points, 84 dating back to 2021 and 2022, he had 22 goals and 30 is last year for a plus minus of nine and he is going to be key kind of filling in for the heater or Kucharov at times. You know, if Kucharov is out, maybe he'll be that starting left wing. These are really have lightning are going to make up their lineup right now just because there are so many new phases you have, Genssel, you have can Atkinson, there are some of the youngsters that they might be trying to get into this from Orlando, but can Atkinson probably be a second liner? I'd imagine have true of lining up on the right, Genssel on the left and then Brayden point in center on that first line and that's going to be pretty solid, but I mean, how deep do the lightning go past that? You know, again, this is just a lot of guys that you're not seeing a whole lot in higher bird situations and it's kind of going to be somewhat of a rebuilding year for the Tampa Bay Lightning. You the crux of this team that is very young, the key to Kucharov is obviously to keep player on offense. He's only 31 years old. Of course, I've asked Alepski expected to be healthier this year, having a, you know, closer to a whole season of him will be crucial for the lightning. It was very easy to see how better they played with Vas Alepski in goal in 2023 and 2024 in that season and having a full season of him would be massive for the Tampa Bay Lightning. So having him in goal will certainly help, but then it's the offense that that's going to need a step up. I think Victor Hedman is going to get kind of a lot more challenge and should have a lot higher expectations from the lightning fan because especially with Stampedco's gone. Now he's the senior man on the top, he's the top dog, he's the guy that I think is going to end up being the captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Again, we're going to go into later in the segment, but I think that his leadership, his leadership is going to be counted on a lot heavier than it has been in the past. You've had Stampedco's been there, done it all, so was Hedman. I mean, he's been there for such a, I mean, for such a long time, Stampedco's was a 10-year captain. Might not get 10 years out of Hedman as he's 33. The second oldest player on the Lightning roster, or third oldest, if you, you're including Ryan Dunna as well, and I think Hedman, McDonough, could be the Lightning's first line on defense as well. I mean, obviously a household name for the Tampa Bay Lightning, he's been there to me his 15th season, I think this season, and I think that his leadership is going to prove pretty crucial for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and that's something that we're going to get to when we turn the keys as we turn the page into the next segment of locked on Lightning. But first, we are going to hear from our sponsors over at Fandoor. You've heard us talk a lot about Fandoor America's number one sports book. Well, we have something a little different for you. Now, through September 22nd, that is a week from yesterday, all Fandoor customers came that $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. 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I want to hear some of your takes. I'm new to the area. I'm new to this lightning scene. I want to hear from you guys, the fans, about what you want to see going on in this locked on podcast. What expectations that you guys have for me? We kind of got it starting on just looking at the keys to this Tampa Bay Lightning season. Of course, key number one is going to be how they move on from Stephen Sanfco. Some of this we've kind of talked about a little bit. It just means I think in some ways that Nikita Kucharov is going to be charged with just a lot more handling the offense. You're going to see the puck in his stick a whole lot more, and that I think is going to be a massive benefit for lightning fans. He really, Kucharov, really took the keys from Stephen Sanfco's in terms of lighting offense over the course of the season, 44 goals, 100 assists. He's had triple digit points now for the fourth time as a Tampa Bay Lightning coming in this season, and he has just been incredible. I think the assist numbers might take a bit of a drop with Sanfco's not there to pass to, but Nikita Kucharov, then a workhorse, he missed one game over his last two seasons where he combined, for a total of 157 points, 163 assists, 74 goals for Nikita Kucharov. I think a key for him is going to be scoring the puck a little bit more. Kucharov is going to have the puck in his stick more than anyone else on this lightning team, but I think he's just going to have to ramp it up in terms of leadership to try and help the lightning get further than they need to go, especially on younger teams like the lightning are in a lot of ways, especially on teams that are going through a bit of a transition like the lightning absolutely are, again, with the loss of Stephen Sanfco's. That is going to take a big hit on the lightning offense this season. There's no way around that. You lose one of your all-time great franchise players, future hockey Hall of Famer. We can keep on lauding Stephen Sanfco's, but I'm going to let the lockdown predator show take a stab at that one because he certainly deserves his accolades. I'm not trying to say the lightning are going to completely move on from Stephen Sanfco's in terms of his memory because that's certainly not going to be the case. But one thing they actually have to move on from is his goal scoring ability and Sanfco's the second on the lightning in goal school last year, Brayden Point was third. He's another guy who I think is going to have to step up and someone that we're going to talk about when we talk about potential lightning captains later on in this episode. But something the lightnings did really well in the off-season was get some guys with experience. I talked about Ryan McDonough, a guy who has a whole lot of experience with the lightning already. I've been with the lightning for a couple of years before he joined. Before he joined Nashville, again, not in the Stephen Sanfco's trade, but it's just the new acquisitions coming from Nashville after that stamco's he trade. He was with the lightning for their Stanley Cup runs five seasons with Tampa from 2017 ending in 2022. In the last two seasons, he has missed fewer than 20 games and made over four years since four of the Nashville Predators, a guy with combined plus minus of 31 over two seasons. He's never had a negative season since he began with the New York Rangers back in 2010, and Ryan McDonough is going to be keyed for a couple of reasons. As I mentioned, the experience with the lightning coming into that, I think him bringing that experience with Tampa, he has been with Tampa's head coach, John Cooper, before obviously Cooper was the coach during the Stanley Cup runs, during the president's trophy season in 2018-2019, the best season record-wise in lightning history. McDonough was there for those. He was there for a lot of the highs of the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise, and hopefully this year isn't one of the lows, and because of him, it might not be. Leela Berg is a guy that I think is also going to be key. Emilia Leela Berg got a younger defender expected to take on a bigger role in the lightning rotation this season, but it's one of these guys, these guys pairing with Victor Hedman. At line one defense, I would say is going to be Hedman and McDonough. I like that as a first line, because it's two guys who have worked together before, two guys who have won Stanley Cups together, and it's a good tone setting kind of line, but I mean, how good can Ryan McDonough be at 35 years old? New team again, late in his career. You don't know how much more hockey he has left, frankly, so incorporating him back into that lightning system is definitely crucial, and I think really the faster he readjust, the quicker everything else is going to kind of snap forward for that defense, because you've got a couple of guys that have been around for a little bit, Darren Radish has been around for a minute, is just one of the guys, JJ Mozer, someone that they're really going to be trying to integrate to this new squad, one of their new off-season acquisitions, and that Mikhail Surgicov, Surgachab trade is going to be a hit for the lightning at first, but the lightning did that by going younger. They traded Surgachab for younger guys, guys with a little bit less of an injury history, JJ Mozer replacing him defensive-wise and getting a young counter geeky at four work. Those are two guys that I think are going to be key, because a lot of people, a lot of people in the inner circle with a lightning, high-level brass, whatever you want to talk about it, fans as well were really thinking about the duo of Mikhail Surgachab and Victor Hedman at defense for a long, long time at the front of the Tampaan lightning. That was kind of a rough trade that happened early in July, and really kind of changed the way you might look at this lightning team. You look at a team that has Victor Hedman and Mikhail Surgachab behind a team that just lost their second best offensive player of last season, and one of their best players of all time in Steven Stamkos. You look at adding one new frontline defender to that mix, and it could get a little bit chaotic. Having Ryan McDonough back there shoring up the defense on that first line with Hedman, I think is going to be crucial for the lightning as they adjust to life without Steven Stamkos trying to beef up their defense, and then kind of make some room for JJ Moser to eventually get on that first line, because he's a guy who I think is going to need some development. Lea Lemon is also a guy that is going to need some development, so they're kind of developing. Those two guys, maybe in their second line, one of them to join Victor Hedman in his next four years after he has signed is after his new contract, and I think it's going to be, I think it could be good. I think McDonough there, McDonough defense is really going to help out. We'll see how good JJ Moser can get as well. Some of these new acquisitions can certainly be keys as well for the lightning. I think seeing how well Connor geeky is going to do in his new league, maybe getting an increased role, having a guy like Nikita Kucharov just set everyone up and talked about him being such a big key. His passing propensity is always big, but he'll need some goals as well, but he'll also have to just kind of set everyone else. A lot more responsibility on Victor Hedman as a leader and as Nikita Kucharov on the offensive stalwart of this Tampa Bay Lightning team. So we've talked about Victor Hedman, we've talked about Nikita Kucharov. These are two guys that I'm sure many of you guys are kind of throwing in the ring when we talk about who the next Lightning captain is going to be. When we come back, I'll give you my thoughts on the big three for the Lightning this season and we will be back. A big thank you to our sponsors Josh Sperber here on locked on Lightning and next up and the final segment in my first show here on locked on Lightning is about who will be the captain. It's typical for most teams to have three captains in total, two alternates and of course the big man with the sea, Stephen Tamko is one of the NHL's longest tenured captains. His rough as captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning lasted from 2014 until 2024, of course, when he was picked up by the Nashville Predators in free agency, Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche, Jamie Ben of the Dallas Stars and of course, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the only three captains with equal or longer tenure than the Stephen Samko's on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Right now the Lightning are one of five teams without a captain excluding the Utah Hockey Club who still has named their first captain. So six total but I think we're going to give Utah a pass on this one. It is typical for teams around the NHL to use guys that have been there for a while and the Lightning especially like to use players that have been there for their whole career. If we look at that there are really it seems to be a really easy three for the Tampa Bay Lightning in terms of naming their new captain. Victor Hedman and Akita Kuchara were the alternate captains for Stephen Samko's last year. I don't think that's going to change for Nikita Kuchara. I think last year was a fantastic season last two years it's been great but I really like putting Victor Hedman at captain. He's been the longest tenured Lightning. He was there he served he's the only member of the Tampa Bay Lightning who played without Stephen Samko's as his captain before. So you know I think it's just a no brainer slam dunk to have a guy who is one of the faces the franchise an all-time great Stanley Cup winner with the team he's been through it all with these Tampa Bay light with these Tampa Bay Lightning guys and I think Victor Hedman had been coming in as the Lightning captain is an absolute slam dunk. I have a feeling you guys don't really want don't really want to disagree with me on that but of course make sure to go and look back with me on Twitter when it comes to any disagreements you may have you can also comment on the YouTube video if that is where you are listening as well. So I think Victor Hedman seems to be the easy choice for the captain I would be shocked for a whole lot of reasons if Nikita Kuchara have lost his role as an alternate captain. He was first player draft advantage on all-star game last year maybe the best offensive player in the entire league a huge reason the Lightning had the success they did in 2023/2024 or in that season so I think Nikita Kuchara as an alternate captain will be good. I like Hedman there instead of Nikita personally in general soccer hockey whatever sports app captains I've always been more on the side of putting defenders in the more prominent positions not to say that Kuchara doesn't deserve an alternate captain spot because he does he absolutely leads the offense and I think that's going to be doubly true with Stephen Stamkos now out of the picture I want to bring too much up about losing stammer but I mean Nikita Kuchara is going to be the quarterback of the offense now you know we talked about his thesis goals we don't need to go through his stats his role is the offensive quarterback is solidified no matter what letter is on the front of his jersey there will be a CRNA but no matter what letter is on the front of Nikita Kuchara of jersey he is going to have an important role when it comes to leadership. I've always liked using defenders or goalkeepers as captains the goalie thing in hockey is a bit different I know they don't love having goalie captains only five goalie captains and I do think Andre Basiletski does deserve a C or an A on his jersey but with the whole rule being a little different for goalies I'm not sure if that is going to happen a third option would be Brayden point might I think is the more likely option as the number three he is certainly someone that is going to have to take a bigger role on this lightning offense may be elevated into more of a role into a bigger role than he's had in the past. So that is something that's certainly something to think about I think Connor geeky might be a guy to think about down the role in what kind of road in this role he's just 20 years old and like they're really going to use him for kind of development purposes set maybe third or fourth line center for geeky Brayden point I expect to be the first line center for the Tampa Bay Lightning he was their third round pick in 2014 so he missed that criteria of spending his whole career with a lightning he has been with a lightning during the two Stanley Cup seasons and what I think is the biggest part is just the fact that he was healthy this year in 2021 and 2022 he played 56 and 66 games he has played over 80 games now three times in his lightning career doing it in each of the last two seasons 90 points with 46 goals and 44 assists for the lightning last season I think Brayden point is going to be the choice to slide in as the assistant as the the second alternate captain after the key to Kucharov but captain rules aside I would really like to see Andre Vaz and left Steve in in that role I mean he's just the kind of guy that the players will feel more comfortable with when he is in goal you look at I once a couple lightning games last season one where Kucharov wasn't in goal and the lightning got spent and then the other one where he was in goal is first game back they won like four to one or five to two I forget the exact score but you could just tell it was a different lightning team this is coming on the heels of a big loss by I think six goals and then they come back and beat Dallas by a pretty significant margin in Vasilevsky's first game back in goal after starting last year with an injury and when you have a guy who has that kind of effect on your team when you have that guy that just comes into the net and brings a boost to your guys that is the kind of person that you want representing your club that is the kind of person that you want leading your your team out onto the ice and you know there might be some some loops to jump through and some red tape in terms of making goalies captains but it's happened before Roberto Luongo famously a captain of the Canadians they just had an extra alternate captain and there is still a possibility to have three alternate captains regulation is two and I think that there is definitely an alternate world where you have the third alternate captain being Andre Vasilevsky I think what is most likely going to be the scenario for the Tampa Bay Lightning Victor Hedman is gonna be named captain I think that is all but official at this point I I don't see I really don't see the lightnings going any other way with that captain position I would be again genuinely shocked if Nikita Kucharov had to take the A off of his jersey Brayden point and Andre Vasilevsky in my opinion would be the two best candidates to be elevated to that more leadership role on the Tampa Bay Lightning and I think with the just history of goalie captains in the NHL it's more likely that it's gonna end up being head minute at the captain Kucharov and point at the assistant captain I would like to see Andre Vasilevsky get that third A to put on his shirt he is going to be the primary goalie for the Lightning this season a healthy Andre Vasilevsky which will mean we see very little of the Tampa Bay Lightning backups and I think that that is certainly a good thing for Tampa Bay they just play better when he's in there the team trusts him he's been with the Lightning for so long Stanley Cup winning goalie all of that I think it would be good for the Lightning to really commit to their goalie and show the fans that just because we lost even Sam goes we still have guys we still have club legends here on this team and we still have guys that we have been developing we have had on this roster we have had at Emily Arena in front of you so my pick for the Lightning's captains would be the captain Victor Hedman and the final and the two assistant captains at Nikita Kucharov Brayden point but the third I think should be Andre Vasilevsky so that is going to be it thank you for making lockdown Lightning your first listen today now for your second listen go find locked on NHL where the local experts keep you updated daily on all the biggest storylines ahead of the 2024 2025 season make sure to find locked on NHL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts well everyone this was my first show don't rip me too hard in the comments section but definitely feel free to connect with me on on X I'm at Josh underscores further and make sure to like subscribe and follow locked on Lightning on all of our social media platforms and make sure to hit that subscribe button here on YouTube as well once again my name is Josh Berber I want to give you a big thanks for tuning in to my first show and thanks for making locked on Lightning your show every day I will see you tomorrow back on lockdown Lightning a prime members you can 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