Atlantic Division offseason review: Tampa Bay Lightning (featuring @loserpoints)

I would grade the Bolts offseason as a B. The Kucherov extension was A+ but the McDonagh move brings the grade back down a little. The fanbase is definitely relieved that we don’t have to go through Stammergeddon 2.0. But giving McDonagh that much money a year early is too a big of a risk for me to overlook. He’ll be thirty by the time that extension kicks in and his results have declined over the last few years. The team could have waited until next summer to see how he played in Tampa this year. Instead they overpaid for his over 30 seasons and will likely see that contract get pretty bad at some point. Just a matter of when. If they get four good seasons out of him, that’s probably fine. If it’s three or less, that’s an ugly deal.

I would grade the Leafs offseason as “Go away I’m tired of hearing about it.” Or an A- I guess. Whatever. I’m not quite as high on Tavares as some seem to be. His defensie results were bad in New York and yes, the Isles were a tire fire but I’m not ready to completely ignore Tavares’ results because of that. He’s joining a team that was already an offensive powerhouse with questionable defense so seeing what they look like with another start in that profile will be interesting. The move that I would be most excited about as a Leafs fan is the hiring of Kyle Dubas as the GM. His hiring shows that the organization is thinking the right way in terms of how to build their front office. And he already showed with his hirings this summer that he’s going to take full advantage of the financial strength at his disposal to surround himself with the best people possible.

I think the window is open for at least another 3-4 years. That would take this core group to their late 20s and early 30s. They’ll have some challenges as more players come up to free agency and need extensions but I don’t see them falling off any time soon. As much as I complain about the Callahan deal and now, to a lesser extent, the McDonagh deal, they’ve done a good job of managing the cap overall. I expect that to continue. They’ve also been able to find high end talent cheaply either via low-round draft picks, undrafted free agents, or undervalued NHLers. If they can continue to do that, they should be able to stay afloat until age inevitably slows them and forces a rebuild.