#AskKrenner: Offseason edition

#askkrenner assuming Jeannot signs… let's see your projected starting lineup for this year (From: Tommy Kowalski CPT, CFL2, SPS, FNS, YFS @traintopshelf)

Hagel-Point-Kucherov
Stamkos-Cirelli-Sheary
Jeannot-Paul-Eyssimont
Brown-Glendening-Archibald

Hedman-Perbix
Sergachev-Raddysh
De Haan-Cernak

Vasilevskiy
Johansson

#askkrenner who do you think is gonna take the "A" that killorn had? (From: eva @not_tonycirelli)

I think it will be Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov wearing the A's this season. If there ends up being any kind of rotation between home and away games, my sleeper picks to nab an A would be Brayden Point and Mikhail Sergachev.

What should we have as realistic expectations for this season as a fan? #AskKrenner (From: Off-season Marty @martin\\14)

I think expectations should pretty much be the same as they always are. We've heard coaches, players, and members of the front office speak about this over the years.

The first goal is to get into the playoffs. Get into the tournament. From there, it's really anybody's game, especially in the modern NHL.

This past year is a perfect example. What percentage of analysts, fans, or even team staffs across the NHL, thought the Panthers could actually beat Boston, let alone go all the way to the Stanley Cup Final?

It's all about getting in first and going from there. I know a lot of Lightning fans feel uneasy with this year's departures, particularly Ross Colton and Alex Killorn.

But, with that being said, look at the core. Tampa Bay still has a legitimate top-five, superstar talent in the league in Nikita Kucherov, whose chemistry with Brayden Point somehow continues to grow stronger with every game.

They still have Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev, Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and, maybe the most important in my mind, Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Can we actually list more than five teams that have a stronger core than the Lightning from front to back, and at all three position groups? They'll miss the secondary scoring of Killorn and Colton. They'll miss the locker room presence of Pat Maroon and Corey Perry.

But, at the end of the day, they still have a really, really talented group of players and, with the additions in free agency, they are both faster and younger heading into the upcoming season.

It's not going to be easy. It never is. But I don't think anyone can look up and down Tampa Bay's roster and say they aren't a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Their window remains open right now, and they're looking to capitalize.

#askkrenner could we see Raddysh playing full time with the bolts again or back in Syracuse (From: cam @camloveshagel38)

Darren Raddysh nearly made Tampa Bay's Opening Night roster out of Training Camp last season, but just barely missed the cut. Once he got called up to the NHL at the beginning of March, he didn't look back. I thought he played extremely well, particularly in the postseason on a pair with Mikhail Sergachev.

Despite missing the last 20 games of Syracuse's season after he got called up, Raddysh still finished third among all AHL defensemen and fourth among all Crunch skaters in points.

Similar to Nick Perbix, he was a pleasant surprise on the Lightning's back end and seemed to get better and better with each passing game. Add in the fact that he probably has the most offensive upside of any defenseman that the Bolts have on the right side, and it seems pretty likely that he'll have the opportunity to be an everyday NHL player.

By the end of Tampa Bay's series vs. Toronto, he ranked second among all Bolts skaters in time on ice per game at 25:13. When Julien BriseBois spoke with the media in his final availability of the season, he had plenty of good things to say about the 27-year-old defenseman.

"Credit mostly goes to Darren," said BriseBois when speaking on Raddysh's development throughout the year. "He bought into the program, did a lot of extra work on his skating, worked on his strength. Came into pro hockey as a quarterback-type, power-play specialist coming out of junior and has turned himself into a reliable two-way really good defensive defenseman at the NHL level.

"So that's a really good success story for our development program and certainly helps us because he signed for next season at a very reasonable cap number that helps our cap situation a little bit."

On the first day of free agency, BriseBois said outright that he expects Raddysh to be one of seven defensemen on the Opening Night roster for the Lightning.

With a cap hit of just $762,500 next season, I think it makes all the sense in the world to have him as one of your six defensemen dressed and in the lineup on Opening Night at AMALIE Arena.

gimme your kuch 2023-24 point prediction #AskKrenner (From: Thedrick @honestTBfan)

Before the start of last season, I predicted 121 points with 43 goals and 78 assists. Kucherov went on to finish the year with 113 points, scoring 30 goals and adding an insane 83 helpers.

As others have noted on Twitter, Kucherov has been working his tail off all summer long, skating anywhere from five to six days a week with hardly any time off. This isn't out of the ordinary for Kucherov, but he's completely healthy and has even more time this summer to work on perfecting his craft following the Lightning's first round exit in late April.

I've said this since I started covering the Bolts. Fans should really cherish watching this guy play hockey in a Lightning jersey, especially during these prime years. He's a future Hall of Famer and very much has the potential to go down as the best player to ever play for Tampa Bay.

With that being said, I'm predicting 123 points. He'll score 37 goals and add 86 assists.

Additionally, I'm really excited to share that I've been working on a story about the great 86, so keep your eyes peeled for that over the next couple of weeks.

#AskKrenner Who do we have backing up Vasy next year? (From: Art Vandelay @Vandelay_Export)

Tampa Bay signed Jonas Johansson to a two-year, one-way deal on the first day of free agency at a team friendly cap hit of $775,000, so expect him to be Andrei Vasilevskiy's backup for the next two seasons, assuming everything goes well.

Following the signing, BriseBois spoke to the media and said, "We signed Jonas Johansson to a two-year contract to be our backup goaltender. Jonas is still a young goalie, who we feel has untapped potential. We are excited to get to work with him."

Johansson is a big guy at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, and was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres with the first pick of the third round at the 2014 NHL Draft. The Gavle, Sweden native has limited experience at the NHL level with 35 career games between Buffalo, Colorado and Florida. In total, he's posted a record of 11-13-4 with an .887 save percentage and one shutout.

"He has tremendous size," BriseBois added. "He has some NHL experience. He's actually put up really good numbers when he's had the opportunity to play in the NHL over the years.

"Obviously, cap space is in consideration for that position, and to be able to lock up our backup goaltender for what is the league minimum over the next two years is of great value to us from a cap management standpoint.

"To bring in a still relatively young goaltender that has that size and that track record at the NHL level, and come in for that cap number, we feel will provide us tremendous value for the next two years."

At the AHL level, Johansson has appeared in 69 career games and recorded a 39-21-8 record with a .911 save percentage, including a 14-9-2 record with a .920 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average in 26 games with the Colorado Eagles last season. He was named an AHL All-Star during the 2019-20 campaign.

The Lightning like the potential they see in Johansson, who was ranked second among all European goaltender prospects by NHL Central Scouting entering the 2014 NHL Draft.

For the most part, the Bolts have had backup goaltenders maintain a save percentage around that .900 mark over the past few seasons. It was a small sample size, but in his three NHL appearances last season with Colorado, Johansson posted a .932 save percentage and 2.10 goals against average with 68 saves on 73 shots against.

Tampa Bay will hope he's able to pick up where he left off at the start of 2023-24.

#AskKrenner Who stood out to you the most in development camp and who do you think has a good shot at a roster spot this year or in the near future? (From: autumn @sportswautumn)

There were a lot of good signs for the Lightning at this year's Development Camp.

As I've mentioned previously, I thought Waltteri Merelä was excellent, but he also had the advantage of being the oldest player in attendance. His ability to protect the puck with his size was noticeable, as was his vision on the ice. But the number one thing with him, in my opinion, was his shot. He has a legitimate NHL-caliber shot that's hard, accurate, and gets on goalies quick with his release. I'll be excited to see what he can do once main camp rolls around.

Another player that really stuck out was Jayson Shaugabay, who Tampa Bay traded up to select in the fourth round of this year's draft.

Shaugabay was an absolute stud at Warroad High School in Minnesota this past year during his senior season, scoring 33 goals and adding 63 assists for a ridiculous 96 points in just 31 games. He passed his third cousin, TJ Oshie, en route to becoming Warroad's all-time leading scorer. Shortly after, he was named Minnesota's Mr. Hockey as the most outstanding senior high school boys' hockey player in the entire state. Some previous recipients of the award include Nick Bjugstad, Nick Leddy, Ryan McDonagh, and others.

Still just 18, it will be a little while before Shaugabay looks to make his pro debut, but his skill really stuck out at Development Camp, especially as one of the youngest players in attendance. He is really smooth with the puck and has great hands that allowed him to make some pretty unbelievable passes during the 3-on-3 tournament. His hockey IQ on the offensive side looks to be really strong as well. I'm excited to see how he continues to develop.

He'll play in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers and is committed to play college hockey at University of Minnesota-Duluth.

That's just two guys, but there were plenty of others that performed well and stuck out.

After a really strong second half to his first AHL season last year, Lucas Edmonds looked like a completely different player than his first Development Camp in 2022. He was one of the more dominant, composed players on the ice and finished the 3-on-3 tournament near the top of the leaderboard for goals.

Ilya Usau was also very impressive after his first year in the AHL last season and looked to be scoring at will during some moments.

Dylan Duke looks better every time I see him play. He seems like he is consistently finding ways to get that much stronger, that much faster, and that much more competitive. He'll play a big role at University of Michigan this year. His brother, Tyler, who is a defenseman transferring to Michigan this season as a sophomore, got an invite to camp and also performed well.

Gage Goncalves looked really strong as well. He was quick to make decisions and really shifty with the puck, allowing him to generate a ton of high-danger scoring chances.

Eamon Powell continues to develop and has some really good offensive instincts paired with a terrific set of hands. He'll captain Boston College this season as a senior.

I also thought Alex Gagne, Tampa Bay's sixth-round pick in 2021 showed some nice flashes. He's a big guy at 6-foot-3, 207 pounds, and looks like he has some really good tools to work with as a left-shot defenseman.

Maxim Groshev, the Lightning's third-round pick in 2020, got stronger as camp went on and showed some serious skill. It should be fun to watch his development moving forward as well.

Not sure if any of these guys will be on the Opening Night roster, but if it does happen, I'd look for it to be Merelä or Goncalves.

When will Niko Huuhtanen get signed, and when do you expect him to make his Syracuse and/or Tampa debut? #GoBolts #AskKrenner (From: J @JHockeyFan)

A lot of people have asked about Huuhtanen and, unfortunately, I don't have any update on his status in terms of signing with Tampa Bay and making his pro debut in North America.

I will say that he was another guy who showed some flashes at Development Camp, particularly with his shot, which will undoubtedly be his best weapon moving forward, along with his size at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds.

With all the departures should we expect to advance beyond the 1st round of the Playoffs? (From: AE5 @cla51678409)

I'm not sure if there is any fan base out there that can just expect to advance beyond the First Round. In all reality, it's one of the toughest rounds a team will face on the run to a Stanley Cup.

Every team is amped for the postseason going into the First Round. The speed, physicality and intensity all ramp up and no one is just going to roll over and die.

Can the Lightning make it out of the first round? Absolutely they can. I still 100% consider them a very legitimate Stanley Cup contender. With that being said, I think the expectation should be to make the playoffs and see what happens from there. The league is just so good, and any team that makes it to the postseason has a chance to hoist the Cup in June.