Yesterday, we listed out five reasons for hope for the Tampa Bay Lightning heading into the 2023-24 season. This is still a talented roster, and with a full offseason of rest, the boys in blue should be geared up and ready to go.
But, it isn’t all sunshine and roses for the Bolts heading into the new season, and there are some potential red flags ahead of the new campaign.
The following are five reasons to be concerned about the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2023-24 season.
Tampa Bay Lightning Reasons For Concern: Third-line scoring
The third line for any team is what ultimately makes or breaks a team. The teams that make the playoffs and advance far have just enough goal-scoring out of the unit to propel their team over the finish line should the top two lines not produce.
For teams on the outside looking in, their third lines are usually scrappy but fail to produce a goal-scoring punch.
The potential third line for the Tampa Bay Lightning could go either way.
Right now, the third line will probably be Nicholas Paul, Tanner Jeannot, and Alex Barré-Boulet. This has the potential to be a very physical line that could wake up the echos of the Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde, and Barclay Goodrow line if it can find a hint of a scoring touch.
But if Jeannot only scores six goals again for the season, Paul only scores one goal between January 18 and the end of the season, and Barré-Boulet doesn’t carry his goal-scoring over from Syracuse to the big club, this line could very quickly be the definition of a grinder line with no goal-scoring ability.