Thanksgiving Snapshot: Lightning’s Depth is King

In the National Hockey League, the (American) Thanksgiving holiday has traditionally been seen as a time to fairly evaluate where a franchise is headed in its season.

For the Lightning, today is a day to be thankful for many things, including their fifth consecutive victory (5-1 over Calgary) on Wednesday, which kept them atop the Atlantic Division with a 14-7-2 (30 points) record. However, what Tampa Bay fans should be most thankful for is the foresight and evaluation skill of General Manager Julien BriseBois, as well as the coaching staffs, both in Tampa and Syracuse.

The Lightning have been decimated by injuries through the first one-third of this season, yet all the team has done through the adversity is win 13 of its last 16 games, which is a seismic testament to the depth that BriseBois has accumulated over the past six months.

“There are some guys in this locker room that you may not know,” veteran forward Brandon Hagel said following a win over Philadelphia on Monday. “But, they will know who they are by the end of the year, because they have been doing an incredible job.”

Of the 29 players that Tampa Bay has utilized this season already, only five (Jake Guentzel, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde, Emil Lilleberg, and Gage Goncalves) have played in all 23 games. Each of those players is helping the Lightning today because BriseBois (and the coaches) saw their ability to do so. However, the contributions have come from just about every player that veteran coach Jon Cooper has given an opportunity to.

“Do we have a lot of big-name players out of our lineup?” Cooper posed recently. “There is no question. But the players who are filling in, they showed us stuff in (training) camp.”

Of the five goals scored against the Flames on Wednesday, a couple came from defensive newcomers Declan Carlile and Charle-Edouard D’Astous, both of whom started the season in Syracuse.

D’Astous (16 games) joins rookie forwards Dominc James (14 games) and Curtis Douglas (17 games), as well as young forward Jack Finley (nine games), among several others, as players who were brought up to fill a hole created by injury, but are making a case for themselves from a long-term perspective.

“As much as, at times, they may think ‘When somebody else comes back, I may go back down,'” Cooper said, “they are not thinking that. They are thinking, ‘I am going to continue to play here and be a part of this.'”

D’Astous is playing over 17 minutes per game and has amassed seven points in his 16 games. His solid play, along with the ever-growing game of veteran forward Darren Raddysh (seven points in the last six games) has created an eventual logjam on the back end for Cooper when players such as Victor Hedman, Erik Cernak, and Ryan McDonagh all get healthy and are able to return.

“These guys are making a great case for being a part of this team,” Cooper said. “If not right now, but in the future.”

The front end situation won’t be any easier for the leadership to sort out in terms of playing time.

James, who has battled injuries, as well, has burst onto the scene and made talk of former Lightning top draft pick Isaac Howard disappear completely.

Two things occurred on Wednesday that are indicative of just how deep the forwards are on this team.

One, veteran center (and struggling), Brayden Point, didn’t play for the second time this season due to injury, yet the Lightning scored five goals (four in the opening 10 minutes). And two, Bjorkstrand, who has scored 20 goals six times in his career, was relegated to the fourth line.

The return of veteran Nick Paul has added to the cluster of talent up front, as has the resurgence of veteran Zemgus Girgensons, who also scored a goal against the Flames.

Add to this that Goncalves will eventually find his level of play that he had over the final months of last season, Point and Bjorkstrand won’t continue to struggle to the degree that they have so far this season, and the lineup for each game is going to become one of the more challenging tasks that Cooper has to think about.

“I give the veteran guys a lot of credit for making everybody feel comfortable, who hasn’t been here the whole year,” Cooper said. “The young guys are seizing the opportunity.

“It’s been fun to watch.”