"The Bolts Window to win the Cup is Still Open"

0:00What's going on everybody and welcome to the struck by lightning podcast hosted here by Sam Cohen. Very excited for lightning hockey to be back. Very excited to be bringing you more lightning coverage from the 957 W D A E network. The bolts are back. We're fired up about it. I'm extremely excited about the season ahead. We're going to have a little preview of the season. We'll be having weekly episodes breaking down prior games and looking forward to some games in the future as well. Stats facts, Sammy stats, whatever you need, you'll find it right here on the struck by lightning podcast fired up to be doing it this year and very excited for the season that we have ahead of us. Now the lightning looking to advance past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in five years. It has been four consecutive first round exits for the Tampa Bay lightning after losing in the Stanley Cup final.

1:00Now it's also really quick to forget that, you know, before that it was back to the Stanley Cup champions that were the Tampa Bay lightning. Now the team is drastically different than it was then and you know what, it's different than it was last season. You look just right off the top as we get ready for the season to key losses for the Tampa Bay lightning. They both go north to Toronto that being Nick Paul and Darren radish, Darren radish, a guy who came and broke onto the scene last year. He had never scored more than 37 points in a season. And then last year in 73 games, the guy explodes for 70 points. Now a lot of that was Victor headman and his absence, but the according to all sources and the source himself, the captain, Victor headman, he says he's back and he feels better than he ever has. So what will we really be missing? We will see hopefully the captain back to full stride. We will see heady to what we all know and love. And hopefully he can return to form, but Darren radish, a key loss for the lightning.

2:03Now again, he got a huge payday. I'm glad the lightning didn't pay it. It's a lot of money and a lot of years for a guy that really has only produced for one season in his NHL career. Now you could play devil's advocate and say, well, Sam, he got better each and every year and he's slowly progressed and got better and better and better. And then look where he got last year, but we will see if things continue for him up in Toronto for the Maple Leafs. And then you've got Nick Paul, a guy who's been a grinder for this team, a focal point. Now did miss quite a few games last year, only played in 51 games, had 15 points and he was dash 15 in the plus minus column. So what, what will we miss from Nick Paul? Now I'm a Nick Paul guy. I love the grit. Grind always seem to come up with a big four check and a big goal when you needed it. But again, missed a lot of games last year was minus 15 on the plus minus. So what will they really be missing? And then when you looked at what they brought into replace that, how about John Carlson, a super vet in the league, 36 years old, so a little long in the tooth, but you're talking

3:08about a guy who has done nothing but produce, produce, produce throughout his entire career. Last year between Washington and Anaheim, the guy had 60 points. So there's most of your production that you would have gotten from Darren Radish last season. He's a proven vet in this league, a guy who just gets the job done. He's a workhorse, averages across his career just south of 24 minutes on the ice per game. So a guy who can kill penalties, he can run the power play unit. He can do a lot of different things for this bolts roster. So I'm very excited to see one John Carlson in a lightning uniform. And then you bring in Ilya Mikhail over from the Chicago black hawks. Now he's not a guy who's going to put up goddy point numbers. Only had 36 last year with the black hawks in 77 games. But what he does bring to the top six unit is a ridiculous amount of speed. He brings ridiculous penalty killing abilities.

4:11If you ask me, he's probably a top five penalty killer in the league. And that's something that the lightning really struggled with last year. So who knows you put him on a line with Nikita Kutrov and Braden point and all of a sudden, you might be looking at a lot better point production. Now who knows again, I don't think he was necessarily brought here as a focal point score. He's a defender. He's a grinder. It brings depth to that top line. If he's up there with point Kutrov, which it projects that he will be up there, it brings some much needed defense to that unit. So we will see what Mikhail does for this unit. And again, those were the two acquisitions. He had Ville as well. Harkins, a one year deal who he has shined throughout the preseason and training camp. Looks like we might see him on the second or third line as well. So a lot of things to be excited about with this lightning team, especially when you factor in the fact, it's been four consecutive seasons now that they have been bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

5:13So very excited. And then on defense, JJ Moser was great last year. It looks like he'll probably be paired with John Carlson. And then I'm guessing the second pair will be Victor head went headman with Charles Dosto or Chuckie, as I like to call him. And those are good top two deep pair lines. And then you have Eric Ternack and MacDonough on as the third pairing. So they have options. They have depth. Now the team as a whole, they are getting older as a unit. Some people want to say that their windows closing anytime you have the best coach in the NHL to me in John Cooper. I think you always have a chance. You then factor in that, oh, yeah. They have the big cat Andre Vazalevsky still in net. I like our chances any year. But all season long, we'll have interviews from the locker room. We'll have preseason or we'll have pre game predictions. We'll have pre game interviews, post game interviews, maybe some interviews with the guys.

6:15And when I mean the guys, I mean, maybe a little John Cooper and JBB, Julian breeze, blah, the general manager as well. We're going to have all sorts of coverage here as we get through this 2026, 2027 season. Struck by lightning, very excited about this opportunity, excited to talk and share more bull talky on the 957 airways were fired up for a tremendous season. And when you look at last season, it was a story of two halves. And in the first half, that was almost a story of two halves. Now we had the Olympics last year for the first time in a while and going into the Olympics, the Tampa Bay Lightning were foreign away, the best team in hockey. They just seemingly couldn't lose and that was a stretch after starting the year in which it felt like they couldn't win a game. Vazzy struggled early. There was a lot of defensive woes. So there were big time question marks. And one of those really big question marks was the power play unit.

7:15They struggled in the latter half of the year, putting the puck in the net on the power play. They struggled in the in the playoffs against Montreal. They, I mean, they dominated game seven and just couldn't get anything going, even though I mean, they dominated the shots, the time of possessions, the face offs, every metric that you could possibly look at and say, OK, if we win those, we will win the hockey game. And unfortunately, that's how the puck bounces sometimes. And the Canadians took advantage of it and they move on. And now we know they didn't go far because the Carolina hurricanes were the Stanley Cup champions, but you're talking about a team that finished first in the ease or third in the East, my apologies. In overall, the overall standing second in the Atlantic behind Buffalo. And if it weren't for a disaster of second half, I mean, they were foreign away, the best team in hockey for a good probably month stretch. We had a lot of amazing moments last year as well. John Cooper wins the Jack Adams.

8:15Nikita Kutcheroff wins the MVP. Andre Vasilesky wins the Vesna. You had the outdoor game at Raymond James Stadium, which was just truly one of the coolest sporting moments that I have ever been a part of. I've been very fortunate and blessed to attend some really cool moments, some really cool games. But that was right up there at the top. It was but cold here in Tampa Bay when the game happened. You had Andre Vasilesky dropping the gloves. You had the ridiculous comeback in the third period and then to win it, John Cooper looking like Tony Montana for the game. It was just an awesome event. Truly an awesome season. If you take out the first round playoff exit, which is a very hard thing to take out, but looking at the season as a hold. There was ups and downs. There was a roller coaster. And it was just a lot of fun. And I think with the offseason acquisitions they've made, especially with John Carlson, who I think will be the new quarterback of the first power play unit.

9:15There's a lot of things to be excited for, bolts fans. And I'm fired up. We'll be here along the entire 2026 season. 27 season. As I mentioned, we'll have interviews from the locker room. We'll have pregame post game. We'll have everything you need. Previews recaps. Everything you need to know when it comes to Tampa Bay hockey, I'll be over at practices, getting information, getting some interviews as well. So your home for bolts coverage this 2026 27 season. It is the struck by lightning podcast. I'm Sam Cohen and everyone. Let's go bolts. We got a great season ahead. I'm very optimistic. And I think even though this team's a little long in the tooth, I think they're going to surprise some people. Stick along. We'll have more episodes each and every week of the Tampa Bay lightning season. Power Slap 23 is live and free on YouTube on Thursday, September 17th. Data White is bringing power slaps to Texas for the first time on the campus of Texas Tech University to massive title fights. Headline the card, including slap fighting legend Wolverine.

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