Opening comments
“I can start with a few comments on our season thus far. I think when we analyze our first half by looking at expected goals for and goals against on a per game basis, we should have more standing points than we do at this juncture, so I would expect that to correct over a larger sample size. At the same time, I don't think we've played up to our potential yet, certainly not on a consistent basis. We haven't been able to put all the pieces together at one time over a sustained period of time.
“But I believe in these players and I believe in this coaching staff, and I think this group has the potential to accomplish great things this season. And we're starting to see signs of it turning and some positive momentum building here. If we look at the last month in particular, kind of going back one month here, it started with the three games before the Christmas break. The team won all three games and two of those games gave up only one goal. On the third game, big character win coming back from two goals down against Vegas. So, we got some positive momentum going into the break and then the break kind of halted our momentum a little bit, unfortunately. But since the calendars turned to 2024, all the pieces are starting to come together at once. We're scoring goals. Other than the Boston game, we've done a really good job keeping the puck out of our net. And both our special teams are producing really well thus far this month.
“So, when we look back now, we've won five of seven and in the last month we've won eight of 12. So, a lot of positive signs. Every year with new players and changes, it takes time for everything to start to come together and gel and I think we’re building that cohesiveness now and we've got some positive momentum going into the second half of the season.
“Every year, every team gets to write the story of its season. And I think this team has the potential to write a really great ending to the season for itself here, but we're going to need everyone to bring their best to the rink every day. We’re going to need the contributions of every single person. I've heard some of our players recently mention that, for us, the playoffs have already started. And that's the mindset we're going to have to bring to the rink every game and, if we do that, we're going to set ourselves up to be successful and that's the focus of everyone. Management, coaches, players – everyone is focused on us having a successful season and making the most of this opportunity.
“So, I think it's going to be an exciting second half of the season. It has set itself up to be pretty exciting. Every game is going to be very meaningful. It’s going to be challenging, but it presents a great opportunity for our group to prove itself up to the challenge. And if we embrace the grind and secure a playoff spot, we can go into the playoffs being battle-ready because we will have battled our way in.
“So, that's the NHL team.
“I can bring you up to speed a little bit on some of the back of house stuff because we have a lot of good people that are not necessarily public facing but they do great work for us and we've seen some of the dividends of their hard work this season. If we go back, less than a year ago, Emil Lilleberg and Waltteri Merela weren't part of our organization. And now they're two of our best prospects, two of our best young players. And that's the fruit of the labor of our European scouts, Jamie Pushor, who is Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel, and John Rosso. They find those players for us. Declan Carlile got to play his first NHL game. He was also the fruit of some of our amateur scouts working with Jamie Pushor to find amateur free agents to bring into our pipeline.
“Our amateur scouts again, they've been doing such a good job for us for so long. We look at Max Crozier getting his first game and doing really well and now being called up again. Jack Thompson getting his first game. Gage Goncalves getting his first game. We don't have a lot of high picks, so our scouts have to hit on some of those mid-round to later picks. They’ve proven that time and time again, they can do that, with Al Murray leading the group and now John Rosso leading the group starting this season. We just had our mid-year meetings last week. I loved the energy and the interaction with the group. They're really excited about making selections in June and putting our list together and that’s well on its way.
“Our pro scouts again keep doing a good job finding players for us. And our analytics department keeps pushing the envelope and getting us more and more quantity of data and quality of the data they provide us to help us make decisions. A lot of good things going on that the public doesn't necessarily see, but I would like to acknowledge those people.
“I just got back from Syracuse. I was there to watch them play yesterday. For a long time now, we've had a really good development program in Syracuse and the new coaching staff are continuing that tradition. Joel Bouchard and his staff are doing a fabulous job. Again, I love the energy there. Love that we keep finding ways to help our players reach their potential and when they have the potential to be NHL players, they become NHL players and they help us win games in Tampa. Because of injuries this year, we've had more opportunities to call up players and different players and they've all come up and they've helped us win games. All of that is trending in the right direction and bodes well for the future of the franchise.
“We are also in the midst of our 11th full sellout season, longest streak in the league. Fan support is so important to us and we saw a really good example of that on December 31, where I think the fans should have gotten the first star that night because they really pulled us into the fight and gave our players the energy we needed to come back from two goals down and pick up a big win.”
On evaluation process with getting all the players up from the AHL this season
“The benefits are multiple. First of all, they come in because we need them to help us win the game that night and they've done a really good job doing that. So that’s one, they help the Tampa Bay Lightning win hockey games. That's first and foremost what we're about. Two, it's a great development opportunity. They should all come back from that experience further along in their development because now they kind of know what to expect. It's a confidence builder and, at same time, it might be an eye opener. The combination of those two things gives them proper perspective and, hopefully, hope. The opportunity is there. If they keep working at it, they can grab that opportunity and have a really good life being an NHL hockey player.
“So, it's helping us win. It's helping the development of those players. It's also us getting a chance to see what they can do. When we recalled Emil Lilleberg, for example, we didn't necessarily expect him to be here as long as he has been, but he's been doing well and there's been no reason to send him back yet. So, he gets to stay in the lineup and help us win games in the meantime.
“So, it's kind of threefold, I guess. It's helping us win, helping those players along their development and us getting a chance to see what they can do at this juncture. And in the last few years, we haven't had a lot of injuries. We haven't had a lot of opportunities to recall guys. And maybe some of our players were more ready than we thought, but they just weren't given the opportunity.”
On how he approaches the trade deadline
“I think our focus right now is on being successful this season and getting into the playoffs. That's where our focus is and right now, at the micro level, our focus is on winning Thursday's game against Minnesota. That's what we need to do. We need to be focused on the task at hand every day and hopefully if we do that and we do a good job, we certainly have what it takes, I think in terms of personnel, to be successful when it's all said and done.
“The trade deadline, every year, every day actually, you're looking for ways to improve your odds of being successful. As a general manager, you're looking for opportunities to take advantage of and threats to mitigate. That's a 365 day a year endeavor. The difference being that around the trade deadline, there are more opportunities out there because you end up with more teams that are making players available. But we're always on the lookout for opportunities to improve our chances of being successful and this trade deadline is not different.
“The one thing I would say, just to get it out there, because I know as we get close to the deadline, it's a popular and interesting and a frequent topic. ‘Who's going to get traded? Who won't get traded?’ Steven Stamkos isn't getting traded. You can all write that. Steven Stamkos is not getting traded, so we can put that one to bed. If anyone was speculating on that, that's not going to change between now and the deadline under any circumstances.”
On if he envisions Steven Stamkos being with the Lightning after this season
“Yes. Like I said all along, after the season, we're going to sit down and we're going to evaluate where we are as a team and where Steven is, and we'll see how we can make all the parts work together.”
On how Steven Stamkos being the face of the franchise for so long factors into the negotiation process
“It obviously factors in.”
On Joel Bouchard in Syracuse
“I know Joel going back a long, long time. I've seen him coach at the junior level. I’ve seen him coach at the American League level in the past. He brings incredible enthusiasm to the rink every day, and it's contagious. That was one of the things that attracted me to him when we brought him in, is I knew he was going to bring that enthusiasm and that's an important ingredient sometimes in team success and in individual player development. So, he's lived up to my expectations in that regard. And probably even exceeded my expectations.”
On Isaac Howard at the IIHF World Junior Championship
“It was nice to see him score goals. I communicated with him afterwards. Actually, I'm seeing him play this weekend, Friday and Saturday, so looking forward to that. I haven't seen him in person yet this year, so looking forward to that. Michigan State’s playing Michigan, so I get to see Dylan Duke and Isaac Howard, two of our prospects, and look forward to chatting with them after the game. Great to see USA win the World Junior gold medal. Great to see Isaac win it and play such an important role on that team. So, really positive development, I think, in his career and now he can look forward to the next challenge.”
On help from the salary cap going up
“It would make it very difficult if it wasn't going up that much. Obviously, we've been planning on it going up. As we've been signing players to contracts the last few years, we kind of knew what to expect. We knew what the projections were, so it's certainly going to provide us with some flexibility. But as you mentioned earlier in our little fireside chat here, we have some big contracts that need to be addressed as well this coming year, as well as the following year, so we're going to we're going to be using every dollar of that cap space I expect.”
On what’s been different with Nikita Kucherov this year
“It's been an evolution and it’s not just this year. It's been every year, adding to his various ways that he can contribute to us winning. Over the last few years, he's really improved his play away from the puck. He is an underrated defensive forward. He is an excellent defensive forward.
“If you just look at what he's doing out there when he doesn't have the puck, he's doing a lot of good things to help us get the puck back. He's phenomenal at helping us break out the puck too. When we're hemmed into our zone for a while, if the puck ends up on his stick, usually we break out clean. And the other area where he's really stepped up, I think, gradually but certainly taken a big step I think this year was in the leadership department. He's one of the key leaders on our team now. That's why Coop put the A on his jersey and every day he is finding different ways to help pull our group forward.”
On Nikita Kucherov potentially being more valuable for the team this year than in 2018-19
“I think he's probably better at everything today than he was back then. Obviously, he's one of the best players in the world. Every night, I'm glad he's wearing our jersey and not the other team’s jersey.”
