S19 - Lightning Spark Plug [WB2]

Tampa Florida -  The Lightning received a young influx during the last seasons. GM Ouellet let a few veterans go in return of a couple of young bucks and some early picks in the draft. Mixed with not so good performance on the ice that resulted in top 15 selections in recents drafts and old geezer going away, Tampa is rostering 10 players 26 and under in their Pro roster. Half of those were drafted by Ouellet and the rest came in the way of trades.

The first line , called the BTK Killers that consist of Brad Boyes (26), Travis Zajac (23)  and Ilya Kovalchuk (25) , are all under 26 years old and under control contractually with the team for a few years. On the 3rd line centerman Rich Peverley (26) and newly acquired LW Petr Kalus (21) completes the other players on offense still on the right side of the 20s. On the defensive side of the squad, Alexander Edler (22) and Jakub Kindl (21) anchors some of the young pups that will bolster the blue line in Tampa for the near futur. In net we have two drafts picks of Ouellet, with Jonathan Quick (22) and Michael Garnett (26). 

We also have in the AHL a few decent futur VHLer, that will start arriving quickly in the like of Sergei Kostitsyn (21), Jakub Petruzalek (23) and Jeff Schultz (22). When we look in the juniors, 2 players that are developing there are going to make a big impact on the Bolts but certainly in the entire league. The first one is super skater defensemen John Carlson picked at the 5th spot in this year draft. With a big body and smooth skating, Carlsy will create match up problems for opposing coaches during his career. In second place is a small guy from the province of Quebec named David Perron. Picked in last year draft, David will be thriving with Zajac and Kovalchuk. Even if his last season in the Juniors was just okay if we look at just the point productions but all his peripheral numbers are quite impressive. Ouellet really put his emphasis in this year draft in replenishing the defence side of the prospect pool with the addition of Carlsy, Marco Scandella, Luca Sbisa and last year 2nd round pick Brendan Smith. 

Tampa is still in possession of all of their 1st round selection in the next 5 years and 4 of their 5 second round selection. Maybe Tampa is not a power house like other franchises but the way they are built and run, we could play party crashers in every season…… if the scoring came come to life !

WC - 446