Tampa Bay Lightning Headlines And News Around The NHL
As the sun rises on another beautiful day here in Hockey Paradise, we take a closer look at some of the top Tampa Bay Lightning Headlines and News from around the NHL.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to another beautiful day here in the Bolts Nation. As we mark another day off the calendar, we find ourselves that much closer to the first official puck drop of the 2016-17 Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey season.
For those of you like us here at Bolts By The Bay who are keeping track of the days, we are now just 69 days away from the start of the regular season. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen…we are just over two months away from having our favorite Boys in Blue back out on the ice.
Unfortunately, there are still some lingering questions looming off in the darkness. One of those aforementioned questions revolves around the Restricted Free Agent status of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s leading goal scorer in the 2015-16 season, Nikita Kucherov.
Tampa Bay Lightning
As we have mentioned before, Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman feels confident he can get a deal completed before the start of the season. While some people in the Bolts Nation may not be as confident right this moment, we believe in Yzerman and his ability to get the job done.
While we continue to push through the pains of the off-season, let’s take a closer look at some of the top Tampa Bay Lightning headlines making their way around the Bolts Nation as well as some of the top news from around the National Hockey League.
We are getting closer and closer to the start of the regular season. As you can imagine, this means many fans are gearing up their fantasy hockey teams so they can destroy the competition. Of course, building the team to rule them all involves a lot of research. Bolts By The Bay Staff Writer William Clewis takes a closer look at the Fantasy Hockey Ratings for the month of August. (Bolts By The Bay)
In just over a month, the latest version of the popular hockey video game series, NHL 17, will be released nationwide. Of course, it’s always nice to know a little bit about what you’re buying before you shell out your hard-earned money for a game. Bolts By The Bay Staff Writer Chase Kimball has gained early access to the game and has given his first impressions on the Hockey Ultimate Team. (Bolts By The Bay)
When a player experiences a rather serious injury, they sometimes have minor issues when they return to the ice. Unfortunately, this has become the case with one of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s most valuable players, Lightning center Tyler Johnson. A series of injuries last season seemed to put the brakes on a player whose name can usually be found at the top of the list when it comes to goals and overall points.
Our friends over at Raw Charge have taken a closer look at 26-year-old Spokane native and what he’ll need to do if he wants to get back in the driver’s seat and rejoin the Lightning’s inner core. (Raw Charge)
Much like every season past, there are going to be some changes on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s main roster in the coming season. As most Lightning fans know by now, Steve Yzerman has always preferred to look inside when it comes to filling holes in the Lightning lineup. Judging by what we have seen thus far, there is a chance there will be an opening for someone on the defensive side of things to get their moment to shine.
There is one player, in particular, the Lightning may be looking towards when it comes to filling the aforementioned hole. Syracuse Crunch defenseman Slater Koekkoek may have only played in nine regular-season games and 10 postseason games with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but in the time he did take the ice with the Bolts, he certainly made an impression. (Tampa Bay Lightning)
News From Around The National Hockey League
When most people think of international tournaments and ice hockey in the same sentence, the normal go-to tournament would be the Winter Olympic Games. This makes the next tidbit of information all that much more interesting. It would seem as if ice hockey got its Olympic start in a rather odd season.
The sport of ice hockey made its Olympic debut in 1920 at the Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. It wasn’t until four years later when ice hockey would make the move to the Winter Olympic Games. As we get closer to the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio, NHL.com columnist Dave Stubbs takes a closer look at the sports Olympic roots. (NHL.com)
Getting the National Hockey League to award a franchise to a city is no easy task. Just ask Tampa Bay Lightning founder Phil Esposito. As most of you know by now, the NHL has awarded a franchise to the city of Las Vegas. After the conclusion of the 2016-17 season, there will be a little bit of chaos in the league as the NHL Expansion Draft will allow the new franchise to pick and choose players from the other 30 teams in the league.
The interesting part of this whole ordeal is putting together the cast of characters on the ice may prove to be the easy part. Before the newly-awarded franchise can put together their team on the ice, General Manager George McPhee has to put together his front office staff. Sports Illustrated author Alex Prewitt takes a closer look at the process and how things are shaping up in Sin City. (SI.com)
must read: NHL 17 First Impressions: Hockey Ultimate Team
While not everyone in the world is a fan of the fantastic sport of hockey, there are a few names throughout history that even the most lackadaisical hockey fan would recognize. One of those players’ names is the Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky.
It has been said many times before that fame comes with a price. This can mean a plethora of things both related and unrelated to the player himself. In this case, it comes not at his expense, but at the great expense of a super fan.
ESPN Senior Sports Writer Darren Rovell takes a look at a fan, who elected to remain anonymous, who recently purchased a Wayne Gretzky rookie card for a whopping $465,000. According to Rovell, this is a record in the hockey card industry. (ESPN.com)
On every team, there are one or two players who are considered to be the cornerstone of the team in their respective position. When taking a look at the Tampa Bay Lightning, one of those players would be Lightning defenseman, Victor Hedman. On the offensive side of things, you would be looking at someone like captain Steven Stamkos or Nikita Kucherov.
As the 2016-17 season approaches, it’s time to start taking a look at our opponents and who those players may be so the Lightning lineup can formulate a plan to get the upper hand on them when they faceoff at center ice over the course of the season. Mike Brennan, Staff Writer over at our friends at Blackhawk Up, has taken a closer look at defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and how he could be the defensive key for the Blackhawks. (Blackhawk Up)
Next: Tampa Bay Lightning: Fantasy Hockey Rankings for August
As we mentioned before, with each and every passing day we get closer and closer to the start of the 2016-17 season. Then, it’ll be time for Tampa Bay Lightning fans to throw on their favorite jersey, paint their faces blue, and create more Thunder than ever before for their favorite hockey team.