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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Lockdown Lightning. Hope all of you had a great weekend. Another Tampa Bay Lightning did. Practice has gone full underway at Lightning Training Camp, and they're getting ready for the first preseason game against the Carolina Hurricanes on September 24th. Today, we discuss a couple of key topics as the Lightning look to see what they can get out of Connor Gigi, and who will be helpful on the Lightning Power Play as we break down some of the Lightning's new faces in this game week episode of 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 to Lockdown Lightning. Josh Sperber here with you wanting to thank all of you who are watching and who are listening today for making Lockdown Lightning your first listen. Every day, we are part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. So let's talk about Connor Gigi. He has been a big name, getting thrown around really all sorts of circles in the Lightning off season as he was a key piece in the McHail Surgachev trade that did turn heads. We don't need to get into a whole lot of that, but Janis Moser is one of the new faces that we will be talking about later on as a lot of Lightning coaches were talking about some of the benefits of these new guys. And Connor Gigi, though he is projected to stay in the AHL with the Syracuse crunch. He was an AHL player last year. Gigi has eyes for the opening day roster for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He is the Lightning's top prospect. He is one of the top prospects in the NHL and is someone that the Lightning are very excited to have. He is a guy who has been getting a whole lot of praise from the coaches already mixing in with some of the first team players during practice over the weekend. And Gigi is pretty young, still about 20 years old, but he really praised the team chemistry of the Lightning, obviously getting to work with some of the younger guys that he had been playing with in the AHL and in the prospect camp and all the other young players at the Tampa Bay Lightning are moving along. But Connor Gigi may be the most important player in the Lightning's farm system. He was called a blue chip, a premium prospect. I mean, any high praise way to say that, that's how the Lightning GM, Julie, and Breeze Blah was talking about Connor Gigi and it's been similar with his head coaches as well. He tries to be a defensive center, but I'm looking at the center position. If you take a look at the Lightning's roster, it is pretty packed. I mean, of the younger prospects, there are some guys I think Gigi can take the spot of, but you look at the roster here and you add Brayden Point is going to be the line one center. Then you're going to have Luchlan Dining on a line. Isomont might feature in another one when he comes back from injury and Anthony Sorelli is going to be on a line. So it could be a matter of Zegmas Gergensen, who's had some more playing experience in the actual NHL, former first round draft pick by the Buffalo Sabres. Gergensen's will be competing for a spot at the center position as well. And he's a guy who could also move in on power play. So they may move him to a different forward position as well, but there's already a whole lot of centers ahead of Connor Gigi and that is going to be his primary position. You're going to want to play him at that spot. I mean, Connor Gigi has already talked about his ability to be a good defensive center, tries to be his own player, but tries to look at games of guys like Barkov and Copitar to try and improve his game as a solid all around center. He's six foot four over 200 pounds as well, so has good size, rocket of his shot. But right now his job is really just kind of enjoying the ride because this year or next year Connor Gigi is going to be on the opening day roster for the Tampa Bay Lightning. That is pretty much inevitable. But the fact that it's already a possibility this year is saying something about how well he's practiced. We're going to talk more about how good these practices have seemed to go according to the coaches in some of the press conferences a little bit later on today. But Connor Gigi has really been the star among a lot of these younger players in this Lightning training camp so far and it really does beg the question if sending him down to the AHL is going to be the right move. Obviously this is a young player untested and does not have any NHL experience just left. He's done solid when he's played in the AHL at a couple of different stops, but he still hasn't made that breakthrough and he's really playing like there's going to be a chance for him to make a breakthrough. He could end up on a low lightning line this season. That fourth line center position might seem open with Iceman on the injured list to start this season. Gays Gonzalez is a guy who's going to go for it. I think really if you're looking at the centers, three are pretty much set in stone Glendinnings going to get probably third or fourth line. Sorelli maybe the second line point is the first line center and then the fourth line center still up for grabs and Connor Gigi could absolutely grab it. I think he certainly has the talent. And the next part of this is I don't want to be taken as Connor Giki isn't can't get it done yet, but I think that the Tampa Bay Lightning would be smart to start their top prospect Connor Giki in the NHL in the AHL. So my vote would be to send geeky to Syracuse and here's why. Right now the Tampa Bay Lightning are still kind of figuring together most of their team. They're replacing Steven Stamkos, which I know is something I've been trying to down tone among myself and just about everyone, but that is still a big factor in the start of this season. You're missing a player who was a captain for double digit years and the long the player who has worn the Lightning jersey more seasons than anybody else in their NHL career. That's not an easy guy to complete to replace and as high as the coaches are speaking as highly as the coaches are speaking of the new guys like Gensil, like geeky, like JJ Moser. You still don't really know what they can bring to the table for a long term just based on a short sample size of these training camp practices. So for the only reason of Connor Giki being a guy who is young, he still has the option to play down in the NHL. It's certainly not going to hurt his confidence or anything like that. If the Lightning make this big trade firm and then don't instantly elevate him to the NHL, that's not the worry. Connor Giki is a guy who really seems like he's all about the team. The way he talks, the main thing he was talking about was his teammates was how to be a better team player was not trying to be like anyone else in the NHL, just trying to do his own thing and do what's best for the team. He's not going to be that top prospect, that big new face to the organization that's going to try and shake things up if he doesn't get the playing time that he wants. He's going to be patient, he realizes the kind of opportunity of coming to a team with a championship pedigree in a turnover sort of year. Lightning with a couple of new faces on this roster, and that has been the main focus of really every press conference that the players or coaches have spoke at in these first week of the NHL season. So the Lightning are really focused on integrating a lot of their new faces to their attack. They're talking about reshaping their power play entirely, which is something that we'll get to next after this segment, but as tempting as it would be to get Connor Giki into the NHL as early as possible and start getting him acclimated, I just think it's a little bit too soon because you don't want to bring a guy who is a new fish and who is really getting a lot of pressure. This is the Lightning's perhaps best prospect in, I don't even know how long, I mean, you don't see a lot of, you haven't seen a lot of Lightning players as prospects get the kind of hype that Connor Giki is getting. And you know, you're not seeing the whole Lightning made a big mistake by trading veteran defender, Mikhail Surtichev, solidifying this first line, everything you look at when you see Connor Giki and JJ Moser on the web is just positive feedback. JJ Moser could be a starter. He could be the first line defender next to Victor Hedman. Again, something that we'll talk about in the new faces segment later on today. He's a guy I think is going to go right up to the pros, but the last two seasons he's been in the, in the NHL, getting NHL minutes. Connor Giki has yet to make his NHL debut. I do think he will in the 2024-2025 season, but I wouldn't hold my breath about Connor Giki starting with the Lightning in 2024. I imagine that closer towards the end of the season, get at least a half of the year with the crunch, get his feet wet underneath him, get him to know some of the younger guys that he'll be coming up with in this Tampa Bay Lightning organization. But I think Connor Giki is going to stay in the NHL to start this season and at the earliest, get a January call up to the Tampa Bay Lightning. So 2025, we might see the Connor Giki show come to Tampa. Before that, I'm not too sure. Speaking of which, pre-2025, the Tampa Bay Lightning have been one of the best power play teams in the NHL. The loss of Stephen Stamkos kind of puts that into a little bit of disarray and it was a subject that was addressed by head coach John Cooper and assistant coach Jeff Halpern in some weekend press conferences after practice. When we come back, we're going to talk about the Lightning power play and how it's going to change after Stephen Stamkos' departure. Welcome back into lockdown lightning. Today's segment is sponsored by prize picks. You can win up to a hundred times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks. Prize pick is the best way to get action on sports in most states, including Florida, California, Texas and Georgia. You can download the prize picks app today and use code locked on NHL. That's locked on NHL, all one word, and get $50 instantly when you play just $5. That's code locked on NHL on prize picks to get $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed prize picks run your game. And that I think is a good segue into the Lightning's game, which in the last couple of years has certainly been the power play. Stephen Stamkos has been one of the best power play players in NHL history, particularly in terms of scoring. But Jeff Halper, the assistant coach who is responsible for running the Lightning power play, said that while Stamkos might be one of the best power play shooters of all time, Nikita Kucharov is the best power player of the best power play player of all time. Now I'm not going to go into a huge deep dive like that just to see how correct he was. Seeing Kucharov on the power play is, I mean, is enough. The guy has such incredible vision on the ice and that's something that Jeff Halperin alluded to as well, but he not only talked about Kucharov's ability to break down the penalty kill and find the right pass, get his timing right, something that he is huge on by the way, which we're going to get to in a second. But he also talked about his ability to shoot like Alex Ovechkin, like Stephen Stamkos. Maybe the two best power play scores in NHL history and Nikita Kucharov really seems to have the whole packet. Jeff Halperin said that the Lightning are going to shape their power play a different way. Hard to say who's really going to be coming in, but a couple of the new signings were already tabbed to help with that a little bit. Jake Genssel is a guy who I think is going to take a whole lot of the load that Stephen Stamkos had for the Tampa Bay Lightning in these last few years, just coming into that position, coming in on the full line and one of the bigger names that was acquired this off season and it's a big chance for him to be a breakout guy. He only has 21% of his career goals that have come on the power play. So as a power play shooter, he might not be the target man. He might not be the guy that the Lightning are going to go do to get that shot. Kucharov is going to be the quarterback, the field general, the point guard, however you want to say it, he is going to be directing traffic on that power play. Jeff Halperin said that he and his teammates have really been running the power play through Nikita Kucharov. A guy who's so excited about leading this power play, taking on more responsibility with the departure of Stamkos, the Lightning's assistant captain has been pushing for extra time on the power play during practice. Just trying to get the coaches to focus more time on that power play because Kucharov believes that under his leadership, that power play can evolve into one of the better ones. Coach John Cooper said that the goal is always to have a top five power play. The best teams in the NHL usually have the best power play or one of the best. And the Lightning had been that team in the last couple of seasons. They've been in that top five in the better part of the recent NHL. And Kucharov still believes that this team can do that. That is one thing that stayed so constant when you hear the coaches talk about this Tampa Bay Lightning team. The team chemistry already seems off the charts. The players are going hard from day one and just seem to be going harder as practice continues to go on. They have a lot of faith in some of these new players, but it's going to be the power play. That's going to be pretty big. Now, according to some of the articles that you can see online about some of these new Lightning acquisitions, Zamis Gergensen's and Cam Atkinson's were two guys that were specifically mentioned. Their power play skills were specifically mentioned when they were talking about ways that they could help the Lightning team. And that could be moving things around. Atkinson is projected as a second line winger. Gergensen's projected as a fourth line center for the Lightning, but that could shift around when it comes to the power play line. And the Lightning as of now don't really know who their key scores are going to be yet. It's really just going to be them trying to run their offense through that first line. Kucharov, Gensil, they're going to be the big players on this offense. I think Brayden Point can sneak in there. We talked about on Friday how Brayden Point I think is really due for a breakout season. It's certainly something that the Lightning need just to have that entire first line clicking on all cylinders of guys, Gensil aside, or have been with the Lightning for almost ten years each. Having those guys take a big step up, particularly on the power play, to help the Lightning's offense would be huge, just to have leaders on the team that are taking that extra step in an area that the Lightning are really scrambling to address, it seems, in this offseason. But, again, a lot of confidence on that power play, and Halperin says it is going to run through Kucharov. Him and the coaches have been talking to him just on just getting some advice, and that's not an uncommon thing. Halperin mentioned Victor Hedman and Stephen Stamkos as guys that they have leaned on in the past when they're going through tactics and things like that, just to kind of get the players' view of how it looks on the ice. Now everything seems to be going through Nikita Kucharov, and he's a guy who's been working extra hard this offseason, and I think he's going to play a big role for the Tampa Bay Lightning. We might talk about that a little bit later this week. Just stay tuned here on Lockton Lightning, but definitely think we're going to talk a little bit more about how important Nikita Kucharov is going to be to this Tampa Bay Lightning team in the upcoming season. And this team, I mean, one way is this power play, like we've been saying. He is going to be the architect of that power play already. He's working with the coaches to really help implement an entire system, and you can lean on an experienced assistant captain like that, coming off of the best season in his career, and just an overall, I mean, a triple digit point season, 100 assists, I mean, an incredible year for Nikita Kucharov, and even the coaching staff just appears just in awe of what he can do on the ice. So that power play especially is going to feature Nikita Kucharov, and we'll just see how some of these new guys slide in as the Lightning really losing their biggest power play producer. So they're going to just have to get some new guys to replace them. I think Jay Genssel is certainly someone they're going to try to get in that power play spot. Again, when we talk about the new faces for the Lightning in the last segment, it's something I'll elaborate on a little bit more, but the coaches are already really high on Jay Genssel. He really seems like he's mixing it up well with his new teammates, and trying to be a really active part in what the Tampa Bay Lightning do on offense. He wants to be their scoring target, especially with a guy like Nikita Kucharov serving him up just beautiful passes, you want to be the guy that that guy goes to for the shot. And Jay Genssel could have a breakout scoring season if it works out that that's just the way the Lightning use him, and he has some success at that. So keep an eye out for Jay Genssel on that power play. Obviously, he's going to be a big player to watch and someone that we'll be discussing here on lockdown Lightning all season long, but a big note on the Lightning power play is that Nikita Kucharov will really be in control about how that power play shapes up. I'll try to provide more analysis on that when the season gets started and we start seeing some Lightning power plays against some other teams. Now coming up, we are going to talk more about some of the new faces here in Tampa, who has been impressing, who is going to make an impact instantly in their first season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. I know this is a hockey podcast, but we don't let all UNFL fans know that you can start the season with a big return on fan tool, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats of your live play by play and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. Let's start it with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That is Fandal.com and we'll have updated odds for Lightning games over the course of the season. Final segment here on lockdown Lightning, Josh Sperber here with you as indeed is going to be the sponsor for our last segment and now we're going to talk about some of these new faces. A lot of guys that you have been hearing about, I'm kind of going to break down where I expect a lot of these guys to play in this Tampa Bay Lightning team. We got started on Jake Genssel Connor geeky a little bit as well. He's still not officially named to the NHL roster, Jake Genssel and JJ Moser have obviously been the two big names being tossed around during spring training as guys who were probably both going to appear on Tampa's first line. That's a left ski is obviously the starting goaltender, but Victor Hedman is expected to be joined by newcomer JJ Moser, the defender acquired in the McHale Surgachev trade. Back in July, he's expected to be on first line defense with Victor Hedman, but Victor Hedman and JJ Moser typically play the same side of defense. So it's going to be up to Moser to adjust to a new side and that's where he's been getting his ships for almost the majority of almost the entirety, I should say, of these spring training practices. And Coach Cooper said that he's trying to mix the guys up in different situations, alluding back to the power play here while we're really not sure where each guy is going to be. It has really become clear that JJ Moser has emerged as a starting defenseman. And initially, I would think that Ryan McDonough would be that choice, but splitting up the captains on different line, putting just Stanley Cup experience on the first and second line defense can really only help the team out. So I think that having Moser learn from a guy like Victor Hedman could down the road pay big dividends for the Tampa Bay Lightning, especially since Moser's now becoming a really ambidextrous defenseman. And Coach Cooper has said how these guys have just not seen tired and you can really see the hunger and the new guys and the guys who have returned for duty for the Tampa Bay Lightning. But obviously, Moser was singled out playing his offside on defense, but still making a huge impact and really looking like he can take a starter role for that Tampa Bay Lightning. And even less shocking twist, Jake Genssel is expected to come in at first line in the left wing and he's someone who came here because he is just excited about this lightning team. Obviously, he was traded here, but he's just excited about he in his introductory press conference, he said that the lightning all know how to win and he just always feels like there's a chance to win with Tampa because of its winning pedigree that Tampa has just won those two Stanley Cups in the past five years. He'll have a solid core with Brandon Hagel, Nikita Kutcher, operating point. But obviously, the big loss of Stephen Stamkos is where Genssel is going to have to prove himself because he's been a solid NHL player for a while, but he's now getting the chance to really be a high role player, even when he was on that line playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin on the Pittsburgh Penguins, those two guys are going to take up a lot of the offensive attention. And Genssel really just wasn't able to create enough space, but now it's going to be Genssel that's going to be targeted. Nikita Kutcherov's first option may just be Jake Genssel. They're really going to try and push him into that big role. It seems like he's already starting to try and be a team leader as he mixes up with his teammates. And of course, JJ Moser, we talked about a guy who is rising quickly up the rankings for these lightning coaches. They're really liking what they're seeing out of him. Emil Lilleberg is another guy, a youngster completing for roster spots at a cup of coffee with a lightning at the end of last season and signed a two-way contract at the beginning of this year for two seasons. So he's expected to get on maybe the third line of lightning defense, but that's a pretty crowded defensive unit to get through. The first two lines seem pretty certain. Eric Sernack and Ryan McDonough are going to resume their partnership from those Stanley Cup years. Janis Moser and Victor Hedman obviously on line one. And then line three is where, I mean, there's just a whole bunch of guys who I think could take that position. I think Lilleberg could fight for a spot on that third line, but I mean, Radish, Pervick, Franklin, Carlisle, they're just so many top quality defenders on this Tampa Bay Lightning roster. That's going to make it difficult for Lilleberg to make an instant impact, but he's someone that I have my eye on. Another guy, Zemgis Gergensen's, is really at a make or break year. He was the 14th overall pick in 2012 and has carved out a pretty solid career with mainly the Buffalo Sabres where he spent the first 10 years of his career. But his highest season in terms of plus minus came in 2015 to 16 at zero. He is never top 30 points and that came in his second year as a pro in just 61 games. He's also never played a full NHL season. So he's a guy who's got a lot of experience and he's still the most successful player from Lafayette to make it to the NHL. I has drafted Latvian and I mean, that says enough, just being that guy who really just has the hopes of his country on his back could just give him an extra bit of an edge as you know, he was a good kind of rotational player, it seems, for Buffalo averages about 14 minutes of ice time over his 10 year career. And I think he just needs to have a turnaround season, but putting him on that third or fourth line is center. Maybe adding him to the power play as well as he was a guy who was tabbed to be a solid power play option that we as only scored 11 power play points, five of them goals with no goals on the power play since 2022 for Gurgen since as well, he's a guy who's still supposed to be a power play option, but he just kind of needs to prove it for the Tampa Bay Lightning. So he's got a lot to prove as he's really fighting for a spot. And one guy that I'm really interested in, he just hearing anything about is Lucas Svenjkowski, he was another guy acquired in a trade, not for all that much over the course of the season or in the off season, but he's 22 years old, fourth rounder by Pittsburgh in 2020 and still hasn't made it up past the AHL. Last year, he split time between the AHL and Wilk and Scran Wilk's bar with a wheeling nailers playing 30 games and scoring 16 goals in wheeling, totaling plus 12 in 49 games in the minor leagues. And you know, they traded Ben and MacArthur for them at the end of June. And he's just another developing center prospects, not really making any huge noise on the top prospects. I'm curious to see what the Lightning do with him. I expect him to go to the AHL, but he was another guy that Tampa required in the off season. And I mean, we'll see when, if or if and when he gets his opportunity to get back up with the big club. But in terms of off season acquisitions, it looks like Jay Genssel is kind of a weight in C, but JJ Moser seems like the guy who is going to have the biggest impact on of these new acquisitions for the Tampa Bay Lightning, because you're putting a new guy, a player brand new into that first line. You're doing the same thing with Genssel there. And I think there's enough expectations on him, but JJ Moser, very young and getting his, I believe his first, first line job. So that is something that I am going to be watching. His partnership with Victor Hedman is going to be crucial. And some of the coaches talked about all these new faces. The word eager, I can't even count how many times John Cooper used that word in his most recent press conference from Saturday. There's a whole group of team, that's one of the, that's why I have the benefit of new faces on there, not just to show that JJ Moser, Jay Genssel really need to make the most impact in their starting roles, but having these new faces, especially after losing a franchise legend can be big for the Tampa Bay Lightning, because, you know, not, not a lot of teams are expecting all that much from me. They have been good enough recently that they have the respect. People aren't going to write them off, but people are not going to be as scared of the Tampa Bay Lightning. And these new guys might take some exception to that. And John Cooper, Jeff Halperin, both praised the work ethic of these guys, that it's just been hard work, hard work, hard work at every single Tampa Bay Lightning practice. And they are certainly very excited for this team in the upcoming, coming season. And the way that this team is practicing how hard they're going and how quickly things really seem to be moving along, getting some of these new players adjusted to their new team. And in some cases, their new roles, it seems like there's a pretty underratedly exciting outlook for the Tampa Bay Lightning in this upcoming season. And these new faces are going to be a big driver of that with two new players likely to be in Tampa's starting lineup come opening day. But those will have to be discussed later in the week. I want to thank all of you for tuning in to locked on lightning. I appreciate you making locked on lightning your first listen today. Now, if you're interested in more locked on NHL confident, look no further content, look no further than locked on NHL where the local experts keep you updated daily on all the biggest storylines ahead of the upcoming season. Make sure to find locked on NHL on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Tune in tomorrow for another episode of locked on lightning. I'm Josh Sperber. I want to thank all of you for tuning in and we've got a big week ahead of us lightning fans go bolts and let's get ready for the start of the season. You're locked on lightning your daily podcast on the Tampa Bay Lightning part of the locked on podcast network your team every day a prime member. You can listen to this locked on podcast ad free on Amazon music download the Amazon music app today!
