Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov needs to spend some time with the Syracuse Crunch in order to get his game back on track.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have struggled greatly as of late. There are many reasons that contribute to this situation; however, there is one particular area of the game that has struggled a little more than others. This would be the Lightning’s defense.
Being completely honest, a lot of the team’s struggles have been centered around the ridiculous amount of injuries the Lightning have been forced to deal with as of late. At the same time, this is not the first time the Lightning have been down this road, and as much as Lightning fans would like to deny it, it won’t be the last.
It seems as if every time the Tampa Bay Lightning drop a game, whether it was a predominantly well-played game or not, people are always looking for someone to blame. A majority of the time, that honor is placed on the goaltender. The thing is, no one man makes a particular team.
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At the same time, in order for a team to remain successful, each member of the team has to have a certain level of cohesion with the other players on the ice. When this cohesion is hindered in any way, it leads to a series of miscues that can ultimately sink even the most elite team’s ship.
Right now, there are a couple of players who could use a little extra oil in their cogs, but for the purpose of this particular article, we are going to discuss just one, Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov.
As much as we have grown to like Nesterov over the course of his time with the Lightning, right now, Nesterov could truly benefit from a little time with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.
This “conditioning” assignment, if you will, doesn’t necessarily need to be for the remainder of the season; however, given the issues the Lightning have been dealing with as of late, every single player needs to be on top of their game and we’re just not seeing this from Nikita Nesterov right now.
When it comes to hits, Nikita Nesterov is right up there with the best defensemen on the team. In the 22 games the 23-year-old Russian defenseman has laid out a total of 33 hits. This puts Nesterov in third place on the team in terms of hits. His 1.5 hits per game places him in second place on the team in that respect.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the matter of blocked shots, Nesterov finds himself much closer to the bottom of the list than the top. Nesterov has blocked a mere 14 shots in the 22 games he’s played this season. This equals out to around .6 blocked shots per games.
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Slater Koekkoek, who has played two fewer games than Nesterov this season, has brought home 19 blocked shots, placing him one spot higher than Nesterov in this respect. However, when you look at the blocked shots per game, a different story plays out.
One of the biggest things plaguing the Russian defenseman this season is turnovers. It not so much the amount of turnovers that concerns some as much as it is the moment in which these turnovers occur.
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The Lightning have had entirely too many turnovers in the defensive zone this season and Nesterov happens to be one of the names heard over and over again on the broadcast.
Does this mean that Nikita Nesterov is a bad defenseman? Absolutely not. If there wasn’t some form of talent within him, he wouldn’t have spent the last two-plus seasons with the team. At the same time, sometimes a player just needs to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. The best place to do this is the AHL.
Unfortunately, there are a few things prohibiting this from happening. The first, and essentially most obvious, is the pure lack of players the Lightning have at their disposal right now. With all the injuries the team has been dealing with, they pretty much need all hands on deck every single game.
The second is Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper. Coach Cooper seems to see something in Nikita Nesterov the fans here in the Bolts Nation do not. This has led to defensemen like Slater Koekkoek sitting on the sidelines as fans throw their hands up in the air looking for answers.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have a tough challenge in front of them. On Tuesday night, the Lightning will head back into the Amalie Arena to take on a rather familiar foe…the Detroit Red Wings. It will be interesting to see how the team responds after falling 3-2 to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
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Maybe, just maybe, Nikita Nesterov will prove everyone wrong and play a terrific game on Tuesday night. This would be the best possible outcome for everyone involved. If not, maybe it’s time for a short vacation to Syracuse to get his game back to where it once was. Only time will tell how this adventure plays out.