Sam Hitchcock: Three Takeaways from Lightning's Trouncing of Panthers

My biggest takeaway from these preseason games is how all of our top forward prospects are relentless and not afraid to go and battle at the front of the net. Cirelli, Volkov, Joseph, Stephens, Raddysh, Katchouk all drive to the net hard and are really good when they get there. Very encouraging. A lot of prospects are afraid to go to the net and even if they do, they get dominated. I am not worried about the Lightning forward depth at all. Very impressive! This could be the hardest round of cuts we've seen since Panik left. All deserving to be in the NHL.


Clarification: Cirelli, Volkov, Jospeh and Stephens all deserving to be the NHL. Raddysh and Katchouk, while very impressive, need to work on positioning and moving without the puck in my opinion.

I still maintain the dream, especially now that GM Steve Yzerman stepped down, that the Lightning come to their senses and stop playing Dan Girardi. Girardi is a sunk cost, so they should just cut their losses and stop pretending he will get better.

Erik Cernak pushes my dream closer to reality. Cernak was acquired in the Ben Bishop trade with Los Angeles, and the fact that he was targeted by the Lightning’s excellent scouting department is comforting. Cernak appears to have adequate mobility to retrieve the puck in his own zone and can help the Lightning maintain possession with requisite pinches up the boards. He has a heavy shot, and adds a little size and physicality. I don’t know if he is the solution, but if he soaks up Girardi’s ice time and is less mechanical and ham-fisted than the recently ousted Jake Dotchin, the Lightning will have more offensive-zone time.

+1000.

Bench Girardi and make him a coaching assistant for the young d-men. He has no business being on the ice. Any of Koekkoek, Masin, or Cernak should be able to absorb the majority of Girardi's icetime, and the spread the rest around.

+1000.

Bench Girardi and make him a coaching assistant for the young d-men. He has no business being on the ice. Any of Koekkoek, Masin, or Cernak should be able to absorb the majority of Girardi's icetime, and the spread the rest around.
- GalacticStone

I've been very impressed with Cernak. It's going to be very difficult to send him down as he seems more NHL ready than Sergachev was last year. That being said, if the coaches wanted to start the year with Girardi, then Cernak has to be sent down so he can get the playing time he needs to keep developing. If Girardi doesn't work out, its nice to know that the Lightning have Cernak and will not have to trade for his replacement.

At the very least, I feel comfortable that of our 3 expiring defensemen (Girardi, Coburn and Stralman) Cernak will be able to replace one of them next year. I do not feel the same way about Masin and Koekkoek's performance this preason.

Like what im seeing here, a guy like Cernak could be a very effective player in todays NHL. Looking forward to seeing the guys tomorrow.

And to se Europe take home the Ryder

I've been very impressed with Cernak. It's going to be very difficult to send him down as he seems more NHL ready than Sergachev was last year. That being said, if the coaches wanted to start the year with Girardi, then Cernak has to be sent down so he can get the playing time he needs to keep developing. If Girardi doesn't work out, its nice to know that the Lightning have Cernak and will not have to trade for his replacement.

At the very least, I feel comfortable that of our 3 expiring defensemen (Girardi, Coburn and Stralman) Cernak will be able to replace one of them next year. I do not feel the same way about Masin and Koekkoek's performance this preason.
- LightningMcKing

We can probably bring back Stralman on a good deal.