In doing the deep dive in the first three questions article for the Tampa Bay Lightning, some other questions popped up regarding what the newly revamped team will look like when it hits the ice for the 2024-25 season.
After acquiring Ryan McDonagh from the Nashville Predators, the Lighting also retooled their team by letting Steven Stamkos sign with the Predators while adding forwards Jake Guentzel (traded from Carolina Hurricanes), Cam Atkinson (one-year, $900,000 contract) and Zemgus Girgensons (three-year, $2.55 million contract; $850,000 average annual value) this offseason to join familiar faces Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli up front.
As training camp looms, there are still quite a few questions about the 2024-25 version of the Lightning.
Can Ryan McDonagh Solidify the Lightning Blue Line?
When the Lightning acquired McDonagh for his second stint with Tampa, the team clearly decided they needed to improve the defensive aspect of their blue line. Last season, they were the fifth-best team on the penalty kill but were 22nd in goals allowed at five-on-five. In bringing back McDonagh, the Lightning hope that he can become their best defensive defenseman like he was in his first stint with the team, with his plus/minus rating speaking to his overall impact. His best stretch came during the Lightning’s run to their second-straight Stanley Cup in the 2021 Playoffs, as he posted a league-best plus-18 rating in 23 games.
McDonagh recently revealed that he approached the Predators and requested that he return to Tampa. “It’s (Tampa) a very special place for me and my family,” McDonagh said. “Two of my kids were born there. Between that and winning, those were some big moments I had there. And it’s a great community. A great place to raise your kids and a great market to play hockey, with an organization that’s behind you. They’re always going to go for the Cup, so it’s fun to be a part of that again.”
Now, the question for the Lightning is whether this move will also produce the desired effects along their blue line.
Will the New Additions Provide More Support This Season?
One of the reasons why some of the changes were made in the offseason was to increase the support for those players who are not part of the “core” group. In acquiring Cam Atkinson, the Lightning are hoping to get a player who can post numbers similar to what he did in 2022-23 with the Philadelphia Flyers when he had 23 goals and 50 points. After some declining numbers in the past few seasons, they are hoping that the former All-Star can produce with projected linemates Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli.
The Lightning also hope that a change of scenery can help Girgensons. The Latvian native was selected No. 14 overall by the Sabres in the 2012 NHL Draft and has played his entire career in Western New York. Now playing in Tampa, Girgensons has a chance to do something that has alluded him his entire career—participate in the NHL playoffs. As more of a defensive-minded forward, he will be expected to impact the Lightning’s bottom-six forward group.
Where Will Lightning Fans Watch The Games?
In hoping to follow if all of these changes are going to work out for the Lightning, the question comes up as to how and where Lightning fans will be able to watch their team off the ice.
The Lightning are still under contract with Bally Sports to broadcast all non-nationally televised regular-season games, plus the first round of the playoffs, in 2024-25, and the team and network are preparing to broadcast the games. However, it remains to be seen whether Diamond Sports Group, which owns the Bally regional sports networks, can successfully reorganize out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
A dispute with Comcast has been the major problem in Diamond’s reorganization. Bally’s channels were pulled from Comcast’s Xfinity cable service in early May when Diamond couldn’t reach a new agreement with Comcast. This took away Diamond’s third-largest distributor. (XFinity isn‘t broadly available in Tampa Bay, servicing parts of Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota counties but not Pinellas or Pasco.)
This is the latest in a long list of distributors that have cut ties with Bally, including local cable providers such as Frontier (formerly Verizon) and streaming options like YouTubeTV and Hulu. Combine that with a BallySports+ direct-to-consumer app that has been criticized for its cost and functionality issues, and fans have had reasons to be dissatisfied with Bally. This has left Lightning fans in limbo about whether or when a firm plan for local broadcasting rights will happen.
General manager Julien BriseBois made many moves this offseason because he recognized that the Lightning were trending in the wrong direction. As a result, the busiest offseason in recent memory has left the fans with a long list of questions heading into the 2024-25 season. The team looks to shore up the shortcomings of the last two seasons’ early playoff exits and head toward a deep run in the playoffs.
