The trade deadline has come and gone, while there were a few trade conversations, nothing ended up materializing for the Tampa Bay Lightning. This means for the remainder of the season; they will be going with the lineup that has underperformed through 75% of the season. There are a few positives so far in this season, but very few.
With 19 games to go in the season, the Lightning will try and put together a little run to build on going into the offseason. It seems no matter what happens in these last few games, the Lightning will have a very high draft pick in the coming draft, that is filled with talent. Adding another elite talent, to this young roster bodes well for the future, but that is about the only positive that can be pulled from this season so far.
Goaltending has been average, which is not where it was expected to be, after investing in camps for the past several off seasons and signing Nedeljkovic to a 10-year deal just a couple seasons ago. Scoring has been an issue all season, the team is averaging just 2.3 goals a game. More was expected out of the entire forward group. The Lightning have given up 3.15 goals a game, is that a reflection of the defense, or is it more due to the team averaging less than a .90 save percentage from the goalie tandem? There are several changes that need to be made this offseason to make this team a playoff contender once again. There are only a couple of players that are on the last year of their contract, that the club isn’t likely to try and resign, so there are not many open roster spots to bring in impactful players.
12/4/2023 - 297 words
