Recently, Mathieu Darche, was hired as the New York Islanders’ general manager after spending six seasons in the Lightning’s front office as assistant general manager and director of hockey operations. Recently, Stacy Roest, who primarily headed the player development department as an assistant general manager and general manager of the AHL affiliate Syracuse, has parted ways with the organization.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman first reported the departure, and it was not clear whether the Roest left the organization or the Lightning let him go. Friedman speculated that Roest could be part of Darche’s front office with the Islanders or end up with his close friend, Ken Holland, who is the new general manager of the Los Angeles Kings.
While neither the Lightning nor the Crunch has made the news public, Roest’s bio has been removed from the Crunch website.
Either way, general manager Julien BriseBois has some vacancies to fill, which could allow him to reorganize the top of the hockey operations department as the Lightning come off three straight first-round playoff exits.
BriseBois and head coach Jon Cooper will also fill an assistant coach vacancy after Jeff Blashill took the head coaching job with the Chicago Blackhawks.
While it seems there is a lot to do in the offseason for the Lightning, these vacancies give the organization a chance to reorganize its structure in the hopes of wrestling away the Florida Panthers’ recent stranglehold of three-straight Stanley Cup Final appearances as the Eastern Conference representative.
Impact on Syracuse/Player Development
The Lightning have relied heavily on player development, especially after trading away many draft picks in recent years to upgrade at trade deadlines. The Lightning have prided themselves on developing mid-to-lower-round draft picks, such as Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde, and Brayden Point, to bolster their roster. That trend continued this season when they gave up some picks to reacquire Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Seattle Kraken.
The Lightning have many instances in which players from the Crunch have been called up and have made an impact at the NHL level. One of the biggest examples is Conor Geekie, who was acquired from the Utah Hockey Club (now named Utah Mammoth) along with J.J. Moser and some draft picks in exchange for Mikhail Sergachev. While Geekie started the season with the Lightning, the 20-year-old struggled in his first taste of the NHL and was sent down to Syracuse in February. However, after a couple of successful months with the Crunch, the Lightning recalled him, and he looked a lot more comfortable in an NHL sweater.
In addition to Geekie, Syracuse has played a role in the substantial growth of young players, particularly Gage Goncalves, Max Crozier, and Dylan Duke. Goncalves was recalled from Syracuse in February and spent most of the rest of the season on the Lightning roster, contributing 20 points in 60 games. Crozier was a frequent call-up to the Lightning, and Duke made great strides during his first professional season with the Crunch.
Are Changes Coming?
The tricky part of all this is the lack of information that comes from the Lightning, with Friedman mentioning that BriseBois and the Lightning are like a “vault” when it comes to information being shared or leaked from the organization. Friedman noted he believed there would be a number of people interested in working in the organization in some capacity. The reshaping of the front office could be determined by the experience the new hires can bring to the organization.
The Lightning will likely place a greater emphasis on developing their young talent while also expanding their free-agent recruiting efforts into Europe, particularly given the organization’s limited draft capital in the coming years. They have found success with European free agent Emil Lilleberg, who has provided the team with some depth on the blue line. They recently signed two other free agents from European leagues, which may be a signal that at least one of the new front office staff can help bolster the scouting and recruitment in that region.
It will be an interesting offseason in the front office of the Lightning. In addition to replacing two key members of the front office, new owners Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz are transitioning to take control of the team from Jeffrey Vinik in two seasons, which will likely make this summer more intriguing than previous years.
