Hi there im planning to come down and see a game sometime this season as an away fan on my quest to see a game at every NHL arena, have a few questions. What are the best sections in terms of view (know some arenas in the 300 level can have obscured views). Does the arena offer any pre game tours or anything. Also what are some spots around that youd recommend for a pre game meal/drink. Thank you for your time

Only think he's 36 years old now but he looked very good for Anaheim during the playoffs.

I’m very curious to see who is going to make this team. I would like JBB to try and get a top 6 fwd but it seems unlikely at this point. Internal competition is a good thing, but there are so many players fighting for a spot in the lineup.

By my count there are 20 forwards who could make the team. With the bubble players being Viel, Geekie, Harkens, Rautiainen, Oreilly, Duke, Abruzzese, Sabourin and Pelletier.

With 10 dman who could make the team with bubble players being Lilleberg, Groshev, Crozier and Santini

And 3 goalies trying to be the backup. Johansson, Hildeby and Sogaard. Pretty sure we’re trying to trade Johansson though.

And this doesn’t account for any other players that might come out of nowhere and grab a spot such as James or D’Astous last season.

Has it ever been reported what happened to him? Whatever it was, has he recovered? It seems to be the biggest question in the offseason and unless I missed it has been radio silence.

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Hockey authentic does great work. Thought I’d share If anyone is still looking.

We all assume that Kuch wants to stay with the team and that the reason he hasn’t been extended yet is because they’re just working out the numbers, but has anyone thought that maybe Kuch doesn’t want to be a part of the franchise anymore?

If it’s truly about winning another cup wouldn’t he want to go to a team that’s more likely to reach their peak now like Montreal, Carolina, etc? We’re still chasing the run of 2020-22. Realistically, I don’t see us winning the cup again with this core. If you look back in history there’s not many instances of teams having a crazy run of winning multiple cups and then coming back 5 years later and winning it again.

My guess is he probably wants to see how the season plays out, which he completely deserves that right. Money isn’t the issue, I’m sure. He wants to go somewhere where he can win. Is Tampa that team?

Man. Carlsson at 18M. Now Bedard at 15M x 5. Salaries took a huge jump up since that offer sheet. I think it really screwed us. How much can we afford to pay Kuch and still put a team on the ice around him?

It’s official. We can officially start counting down the days till Lightning hockey returns: October 1st, 2026 — 77 days away.

Let’s take a closer look at the Lightning’s brand new 84-game schedule as we wait.

Opening Night:

The Tampa Bay Lightning will begin their season on the road facing the New York Rangers. Over the past ten seasons, the Lightning have started their season away from home just twice — this year will mark the third instance.

This will also be just the third time the Lightning have played the Rangers to begin the season. The other two seasons in which these two teams faced off as their opening matchup were 2008-09 (in TB — NYR 2, TBL 1) & 2022-23 (in NY — NYR 1, TBL 0).

Home Opener:

Two days later, on October 3rd, the Lightning will play their first game on home ice against the Washington Capitals. The Lightning played their home opener against the Capitals in 2012-13, which is the only instance of that happening in franchise history. The final score was 6-3 in favor of the Bolts.

Back-To-Backs:

The Lightning have thirteen back-to-backs this year. Of those twenty-six games, only eight are against divisional opponents.

Eight of the thirteen back-to-backs feature two road games; only one back-to-back contains both home games.

Here are the list of back-to-backs:

10/23-10/24: Both games on the road (@COL/@UTAH).

11/7-11/8: Both games on the road (@MIN/@WPG)

11/11-11/12: Both games on the road (@BUF/@CBJ)

11/27-11/28: One game on the road, the other at home (vs OTT/@FLA)

12/12-12/13: One game on at home, the other on the road (vs PIT/@STL)

12/19-12/20: Both games on the road (@TOR/@DET)

12/28-12/29: One game on the road, the other at home (@CAR/vs NSH)

2/2-2/3: Both games on the road (@PIT/@PHI)

2/12-2/23: Both games at home (vs DAL/vs COL)

2/27-2/28: One game on the road, the other at home (@CAR/vs UTAH)

3/5-3/6: Both games on the road (@ANA/@SJS)

3/17-3/18: Both games on the road (@TOR/@MTL)

4/5-4/6: Both games on the road (@BUF/@NJD)

For comparison, here is what each of our Atlantic Division rival’s back-to-back schedule looks like:

Florida Panthers: Fourteen back-to-backs, eight with both games on the road.

Montreal Canadiens: Ten back-to-backs, three with both games on the road.

Boston Bruins: Fourteen back-to-backs, eight with both games on the road.

Ottawa Senators: Fourteen back-to-backs, seven with both games on the road.

Detroit Red Wings: Twelve back-to-backs, four with both games on the road.

Buffalo Sabres: Thirteen back-to-backs, three with both games on the road.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Eleven back-to-backs, three with both games on the road.

Number Of Games By Month:

September: 0 games

October: 13 games || 6 home, 7 road

November: 13 games || 8 home, 5 road

December: 15 games || 7 home, 8 road

January: 12 games || 5 home, 7 road

February: 11 games || 7 home, 4 road

March: 14 games || 6 home, 8 road

April: 6 games || 3 home, 3 road

Division Games:

With the NHL’s new 84-game schedule, the Lightning will now play each divisional opponent four times, two games at home, two games on the road. Here are the dates for each matchup within the division (final matchup in BOLD).

Florida Panthers: (11/28, 12/26, 2/16, 3/23)

Montreal Canadiens: (12/2, 12/31, 3/18, 4/8)

Boston Bruins: (12/10, 1/18, 4/3, 4/10)

Ottawa Senators: (11/27, 12/5, 1/16, 3/20)

Detroit Red Wings: (11/3, 11/14, 12/20, 1/23)

Buffalo Sabres: (11/11, 11/22, 1/2, 4/5)

Toronto Maple Leafs: (12/19, 2/20, 3/17, 3/30)

Holiday Matchups:

• Halloween (Oct. 31st): The Lightning will play the Nashville Predators (road) at 2pm.

• New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31st): The Lightning will play the Montreal Canadiens (home) at 2pm.

• St. Patrick’s Day (Mar. 17th): The Lightning will play the Toronto Maples (road) at 7:30pm.

Reunion Matchups:

• November 5th vs Chicago Blackhawks: Ilya Mikheyev

• December 19th at Toronto Maple Leafs: Nick Paul, Darren Raddysh, & Dennis Hildeby

• February 18th vs Anaheim Ducks: John Carlson & Jeffrey Viel.

• February 20th vs Toronto Maple Leafs: Darren Raddysh & Nick Paul visit home

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Pretty hilarious. When he gets to the scripted part about playing the Panthers the day after Christmas because everyone knows Santa doesn’t come to Sunrise, he notes he has a joke…but “it’s not for you guys” - I guess it’s not a clean joke 😂🤣😂🤣🤣🤣

Here are the results from the form I posted yesterday, thanks to everyone who participated we had just over 100 responses.

I don't really see him as a quitter...

Keefe spent three seasons with Tampa playing 125 NHL games. MacLean used to be his assistant with the Marlies, where they won the Calder Cup back in 2018. Good luck, MacLean!

I have zero interest in MMA but this is hilarious!

Feel like laine could be the guy to have his career revitalized in Tampa idk

What is Kuch gonna cost us?