John Gove: Lightning Round: Slater Koekkoek

Hopefully they let him play. Now that he can't be sent to Syracuse without waivers they can either play him or sit him. If he sits thats the end of the road for him in a Bolts uniform.

I would assume he will be playing since Bolts only have 6 Dmen currently listed on the roster and it is a 1 way contract as you said.. Hopefully he is the 4th Dman. I dont think Girardi or Sustr are good enough for that spot.

Good signing.

Here is what I think is going to happen in regards to our defense situation right now.

Current lightning defense :

Hedman (shoots left)
Stralman (right)
Coburn (left)
Sustr (right)
Dotchin (right) (not waiver exempt)
Koekkoek (left) (not waiver exempt)
Girardi (right)
Sergachev (left) (waiver exempt)

I think the odd man out here is Sustr. Teams are desperate for decent right-handed defensemen. The big names are mostly locked up now and teams are looking for depth signings and to fill #6/7 roles. Sustr could be that guy. Young, cheap cap hit on a one year contract, and can play 2nd pairing minutes and PK. You could do a lot better, but you could do worse also.

If somebody gets sent back down, it's Sergachev. He will literally have to blow the doors off the team to stay on the roster. At best, he plays 30-35 games and Yzerman doesn't have to upgrade the conditional pick swap in the deal. Sergachev is waiver exempt.

Sending Koekkoek or Dotchin down to Syracuse risks having them claimed on waivers, so your three "show me" defensemen are : Sustr, Koekkoek, and Dotchin. Sustr has had his chance to "show me", and he didn't. What you see is what you get with him, so that's why I have him on the bubble.

One of them might be gone (Sustr) before the season starts and none are untouchable for trade purposes if the price and situation is right.

Also in keeping with Yzerman's plan of being frugal with cap money with an eye towards Kucherov and Vasy's new contacts down the line, Sustr is the odd man out salary-wise. Even though his new contract is short and cheap enough to make it more attractive in a trade, Dotchin or Koekkoek would be cheaper against the cap than Sustr. You can make a pretty good argument that Dotchin or Koekkoek would be no worse than Sustr in those same minutes played.

I see Sustr getting dumped, possibly for a 3rd or 4th round pick and prospect.

That tightens up your defense a bit in terms of personnel.

Yzerman is hoping that Girardi will have at least one good season left in him and he wants a shot-blocking pylon on the ice to provide "leadership" and "grit" - I disagree, but that seems to be what Cooper and Yzerman are going for. So, you gotta stick him in the top 4 or 5. This also means you may have to break up Hedman and Stralman because one of them will have to carry Girardi around. And I am not sure if they make Girardi play on his off side, as Coburn has been known to do on occasion.

So, you have some variation of this (all things being equal) :

Hedman - Dotchin/Koekkoek/Sergachev
Girardi - Stralman
Coburn - Dotchin/Koekkoek/Sergachev

Sustr

I have trouble putting together 3 solid pairings using this mixture because Dotchin, Sergachev, and Koekkoek have small sample sizes to project. And the inclusion of the Girardi pylon needlessly complicates things. Without Girardi, you have less vagueness.

Hedman - Stralman
Coburn - Koekkoek
Sergachev - Dotchin


If you play with Girardi, then you alternate Hedman and Stralman on the PK, and have one of them do the heavy lifting for Girardi on the PK.

Pray we see a final good renaissance season or two for Girardi - best case scenario, he might provide some value. Although, I don't think I would bet good money on that.

One small thing....if we somehow moved sustr for a third that would more than a steal. He's hardly worth a 7th.

Dotchin extended 2 years, one way deal.

One small thing....if we somehow moved sustr for a third that would more than a steal. He's hardly worth a 7th.
- BoltsFan1993

At this point, if someone offered us a 7th and a bag of pucks, I would take it.

I would take "future considerations" and a salary dump with no pick coming back.

That would free up some more cap for future use.

Poor Stralman, he gets away from New York where he was under appreciated and gets away from Girardi.

Now, after a few seasons of being spoiled rotten playing alongside Hedman, he suddenly looks up and see Girardi slogging his way to Tampa. Now, Stralman is going to get Girardi chained to him like some Ghost of Rangers Past.

I think Yzerman is trying to emulate his dominate Cup winning days in Detroit. He is trying to assemble very similar pieces. And why not? It worked in Detroit then and it worked for him with Team Canada. So, Yzerman's crystal ball says we "need" Girardi for some unknown reasons I certainly disagree with.

I think Yzerman is hoping that Girardi can become a shot-blocking PK mentor to the young rookies and an experienced voice in the locker room during a long playoff run. Girardi is going to fill the role (ostensibly) on defense that Kunitz was brought in to do with the forward group. With the exception being, Kunitz has a little more left in the tank (hopefully) than Girardi and a better pedigree.

Yzerman has at least one, if not two or three elite level Russian players already - Kucherov has certainly proved he is elite. Vasy has elite ceiling, but remains to be seen. Sergachev, Namestnikov, Volkov, Lipanov, Putin, Yeltsin, Gorbachev... He is obviously trying to assemble an all Russian dominate 2nd line.

Stamkos is the Yzerman and he centers the top line with trusty wing man Kucherov.

The Russians are the supporting cast who fill in throughout the top-9 where needed or fill out an entire 2nd line when called for.

The Triplets (now Palat-Johnson-Point) are the "Pick your Poison" 2nd/3rd line that has scoring punch.

A couple of gritty vets on a shutdown/4th line in Callahan and Kunitz, with a speedster thrown in.

This line up, without too many further additions, is a serious contender if it stays healthy.

Can you see Stralman's tears as he gets shackled to that ball and chain Girardi?

Dotchin extended 2 years, one way deal.
- Cloud

Where did you see that???

Where did you see that???
- omatty44

https://twitter.com/TBTim...status/882280376110120964

Poor Stralman, he gets away from New York where he was under appreciated and gets away from Girardi.

Now, after a few seasons of being spoiled rotten playing alongside Hedman, he suddenly looks up and see Girardi slogging his way to Tampa. Now, Stralman is going to get Girardi chained to him like some Ghost of Rangers Past.

I think Yzerman is trying to emulate his dominate Cup winning days in Detroit. He is trying to assemble very similar pieces. And why not? It worked in Detroit then and it worked for him with Team Canada. So, Yzerman's crystal ball says we "need" Girardi for some unknown reasons I certainly disagree with.

I think Yzerman is hoping that Girardi can become a shot-blocking PK mentor to the young rookies and an experienced voice in the locker room during a long playoff run. Girardi is going to fill the role (ostensibly) on defense that Kunitz was brought in to do with the forward group. With the exception being, Kunitz has a little more left in the tank (hopefully) than Girardi and a better pedigree.

Yzerman has at least one, if not two or three elite level Russian players already - Kucherov has certainly proved he is elite. Vasy has elite ceiling, but remains to be seen. Sergachev, Namestnikov, Volkov, Lipanov, Putin, Yeltsin, Gorbachev... He is obviously trying to assemble an all Russian dominate 2nd line.

Stamkos is the Yzerman and he centers the top line with trusty wing man Kucherov.

The Russians are the supporting cast who fill in throughout the top-9 where needed or fill out an entire 2nd line when called for.

The Triplets (now Palat-Johnson-Point) are the "Pick your Poison" 2nd/3rd line that has scoring punch.

A couple of gritty vets on a shutdown/4th line in Callahan and Kunitz, with a speedster thrown in.

This line up, without too many further additions, is a serious contender if it stays healthy.
- GalacticStone

Hopefully SY gets Putin under an ELC since he is a scoring machine.

https://www.usatoday.com/...ring-goals-nhl/101518442/

Underhill will need to work with him on his skating.

Yeltsin is currently unavailable for eternity. Gorbachev is too old and Georgian not Russian.

Hopefully SY gets Putin under an ELC since he is a scoring machine.

https://www.usatoday.com/...ring-goals-nhl/101518442/

Underhill will need to work with him on his skating.

Yeltsin is currently unavailable for eternity. Gorbachev is too old and Georgian not Russian.
- Leafsandbolts

I think Putin is ready to make the jump straight into the NHL.

Confirmation. Dotchin and Peca resigned.

https://www.nhl.com/light...-jake-dotchin/c-290289988

https://www.nhl.com/light...year-contract/c-290294406

Fun with Numbers:

McDavid 12.5M after taxes equals $6.53M per year per cap friendly. Even if he takes the signing

Stamkos 8.5M after taxes equals $5.78M per year per cap friendly, Stamkos actually took all his money in signing bonuses and based on Florida law the signing bonus is taxed less and lockout proof. I was told by an accountant friend his true take on Stamkos 8yr-68M deal is $5.91-5.97M per year.

Its crazy how much taxes from each region can affect the take home of the player.

Fun with Numbers:

McDavid 12.5M after taxes equals $6.53M per year per cap friendly. Even if he takes the signing

Stamkos 8.5M after taxes equals $5.78M per year per cap friendly, Stamkos actually took all his money in signing bonuses and based on Florida law the signing bonus is taxed less and lockout proof. I was told by an accountant friend his true take on Stamkos 8yr-68M deal is $5.91-5.97M per year.

Its crazy how much taxes from each region can affect the take home of the player.
- stammerman

That is awesome!!! I remember reading an article about Stamkos's contract, and they did comparisons with Toronto, Buffalo, Tampa etc. The Bolts have a HUGH advantage.......which makes you wonder why we still had to pay Giardi $3 Mill a year