#AskKrenner: All-Star break edition

I know we're all a bit biased, but which bolt(s) do you wish could also attend all star weekend?
From: randy (@mmirandyy)
As good as Brayden Point has been, I think the answer has to be Steven Stamkos.

The initial selection process had one player from each team selected. Each team consists of 11 All-Stars, leaving three spots open for two skaters and one goaltender. The final three players added for the Atlantic Division were Andrei Vasilevskiy, Auston Matthews and David Pastrnak.
Pastrnak ranks second in the NHL in goals and fourth in points, so he undoubtedly deserves his spot. With that being said, I think you could easily make an argument for Stamkos over Matthews, who recently suffered a knee sprain and was replaced on the roster by Florida's Aleksander Barkov.
With the event being held in Sunrise, adding another player from the Panthers roster makes sense, especially with the Lightning already having two representatives in Vasilevskiy and Nikita Kucherov.
Matthews is averaging 1.13 points per game this season. Barkov is averaging 1.12. Stamkos is averaging 1.19, good for fifth in the Atlantic Division and 17th in the NHL. All four Atlantic Division players with higher point per game averages (Kucherov, Pastrnak, Thompson, Tkachuk) are in the All-Star Game. If the selection was made purely on the player that is having the best season, I think Stamkos deserved the spot.
Stamkos has really flown under the radar this season, despite the major milestones he's hit. He's riding an 11-game point streak and stands alone with Connor McDavid as the only two players in the NHL to record multiple point streaks of 11 or more games. The Lightning captain has picked up points in 17 of his last 19 games and 30 of his last 34. He's pointed in 21 of 25 home games this season and has the fifth-best faceoff win percentage in the Atlantic Division.
To me, he deserves to be there and probably should have been selected over Matthews, but as previously mentioned, it makes sense to have another player from the Panthers attend the event with it being held in Sunrise. Either way, Stamkos deserves more recognition on a national level, especially with snipes like the one below.

Why did we waive Balcers?
From: Annaleise Linkenhoker (@The\Anna\24)
A few people were curious about why Rudy Balcers was placed on waivers. The reason is that Tampa Bay doesn't have enough cap space for him to be on the active roster right now.
According to CapFriendly, the Lightning have just shy of $720,000 worth of cap space available. Balcers carries a cap hit of $750,000.
Once his conditioning stint with the Syracuse Crunch was over, the Bolts had to make a move to be cap compliant. In order to do so, the team sent Nick Perbix down to Syracuse. This was a "paper transaction," meaning Perbix never traveled to Syracuse and was never expected to report to the Crunch or play games.
Perbix is currently waivers exempt, so the Lightning were able to send him down without worrying about another team claiming him. In doing so, the team freed up enough cap space to open a roster spot for Balcers, as it was required.
From there, the team sent Balcers down to Syracuse, as they currently do not have enough cap space to carry both Balcers and Perbix on the roster. Balcers is not waivers exempt, so he had to go on waivers in order to be sent to the AHL. Once that move was made, the Lightning were able to recall Perbix as Balcers' cap hit was no longer on the books. No team claimed Balcers off waivers, so he has been re-assigned to Syracuse and is on the Crunch roster. Perbix has been recalled and is back on Tampa Bay's roster.
To make a long answer short, the Lightning placed Balcers on waivers because they currently do not have enough cap space available to have him on the roster.
Who has stepped up to fill a role that has surprised you the most?
From: Taylor (@taylor07stewart)
The biggest surprise has definitely been Nick Perbix, but I think three players have been especially impactful with filling roles this year - Perbix, Ian Cole and Brandon Hagel.
To me, there was one big question going into the season - How will Tampa Bay deal with the departures of Ryan McDonagh, Ondrej Palat and Jan Rutta?
Perbix, Cole and Hagel have been big parts of the answer. I'm going to touch on Perbix's performance in another question, so we'll focus on Hagel and Cole for now.
For so many years, Palat was the straw that stirred the drink for the Lightning with his tenacity and forechecking, combined with his skill and ability to perform in big moments.
Hagel has been almost unbelievable with his strength on the forecheck, consistently causing the opposition to turn the puck over. He has incredible speed and never gives up on a play. He's tied with Mitch Marner for the most takeaways among all NHL skaters and has played in three less games than the Leafs forward. Among all NHL skaters with 40 or more games played this season, Hagel is the only one averaging over four takeaways per 60 minutes.
His speed also makes him a threat shorthanded. He leads the Bolts with nine shorthanded shots on goal and is one of two skaters to score a shorthanded goal this season. Nick Paul has the other shorthanded goal, an empty-net tally.

Offensively, Hagel has been exceptional. He has 41 points through 48 games with 19 goals and 22 assists. Among all Lightning skaters, Hagel ranks fourth in points, sixth in assists and is tied with Nikita Kucherov for the third-most goals. His plus-13 rating leads the team. He's been a huge part of the Lightning's success this season, and all at a $1.5 million cap hit.
Then, there's Cole, who signed with Tampa Bay this offseason for one year at a $3 million cap hit.
Among all Lightning defensemen last season, McDonagh ranked third in time on ice per game (22:27), racked up 26 points with four goals and 22 assists, and finished the year with a plus-15 rating, third among all Bolts D-men. A staple on the penalty kill, McDonagh led all Tampa Bay defensemen with 3:15 shorthanded time on ice per game and 137 blocked shots (5.15 BkS/60), while ranking second with 26 takeaways (0.97 TkA/60) and fourth with 96 hits (3.61 hits/60).
Keep in mind, McDonagh counted for $6.75 million against the salary cap.
Transition to this season and look at the performance of Cole. He ranks fourth on the team with 19:16 time on ice per game and is up to 14 points on the season with three goals and 11 helpers. His plus-12 rating is tied with Victor Hedman for the team lead among D-men.
On the penalty kill, Cole has been huge for the Lightning. He's averaging 2:44 shorthanded time on ice per game, trailing only Erik Cernak's 2:58. He's averaging 5.19 BkS/60, 1.45 TkA/60, and 4.63 hits/60, all higher than McDonagh averaged last season.
Per Natural Stat Trick, among all NHL defensemen with over 500 minutes of ice time this season, none have been better at limiting high-danger chances than Cole. With Cole on the ice at 5-on-5 this season, the Bolts are generating 62.59% of the high-danger scoring chances. No other defenseman in the NHL has a mark over 60%.
All defensemen in the top 10 for high-danger scoring chance percentage start their shifts in the offensive zone over 50% of the time. Cole starts in the offensive zone on just 39.5% of his shifts.
Cole has done a great job filling that left side on a pair with Cernak, a spot where McDonagh played for a good portion of his time in Tampa. Now, this answer is in no way meant to take anything away from McDonagh, who was a monumental leader and warrior for the Lightning throughout his time in Tampa, and a huge reason for the back-to-back Stanley Cup championships and three consecutive runs to the Final.
Losing McDonagh this offseason was a scary moment for the Lightning back end. I'm not sure if anyone could be doing a better job of taking on some of those responsibilities than Cole has throughout this season. And again, he's doing it for about 56% cheaper in terms of the salary cap. Don't forget, this is a guy who has already won the Stanley Cup twice in his career, and we've seen what that experience can do come playoff time.
Mikhail Sergachev also deserves some recognition for taking on more responsibility with McDonagh leaving. He's averaging more time on ice than he has over the course of his career and leads the team in blocked shots this season, something McDonagh did in each of the past four seasons.
what has your favorite moment this season been so far
From: Owen (@NickPaulGoat)
It's hard to pick just one, but I think just watching all the success Steven Stamkos has had has been a lot of fun. From the 1,000th point to the 500th goal, all of the recognition is so well deserved for a guy that has fought through a ridiculous amount of adversity throughout his career and also had an opportunity to enter unrestricted free agency and chose to stay in Tampa.
For everything he's accomplished on the ice, he's been just as great off the ice. I've never had a negative interaction with him and I think he should forever be remembered as one of the best athletes in Tampa Bay sports history. He still has a lot of hockey left in him, too, as evidenced by his play this season.
Honorable mention would be watching the ridiculous skill that Nikita Kucherov displays every single game. It seems like he does something completely incredible every period. He's so fun to watch.
What is your favourite goal so far this season?
From: Mr_SlyFoxx (@MrFrankenBeans)
I was going through some of the nicest goals scored by the Lightning through the first 48 games of the season. There are a lot, so it's hard to pick just one.
But, if I had to, I would pick Brayden Point's goal from the December 13 game vs. Seattle. Just filthy.

do you see Hagel staying on line 2 or moving back up into line 1?
From: Nikita Kucherov's Barracuda (@abarreboulet12)
This is a really good question. I think there will be different combinations throughout the rest of the season, but I would think the Hagel-Cirelli-Killorn trio will be together come playoff time.
That line was so good as a shutdown line during the postseason last year and you need that in the playoffs. Per Natural Stat Trick, when those three are on the ice at 5-on-5 this season, they're generating 63.4% of the high-danger scoring chances. Let's not forget, they've combined for some nice goals along the way as well.

The combination of Hagel-Point-Kucherov were generating 58.15% of the high-danger chances, so it's pretty close. For me, the bigger question is if you keep Hagel-Cirelli-Killorn together for the playoffs, what do the top three lines look like?
Do Cooper and the staff keep Stamkos-Point-Kucherov together as the top line with Colton-Paul-Maroon as the third line? Or do the Bolts go out and add at the trade deadline?
I really liked the top-six of Hagel-Point-Kucherov, Stamkos-Paul-Killorn, but I think Cirelli is the top shutdown center and both Killorn and Hagel have proven they can be very effective as wingers on the shutdown line. I also think the chemistry with Point and Kucherov has been so good and would like to see those two stick together.
It will be interesting to see if anything happens at the trade deadline and how all the lines shake up come playoff time. But to answer your question for the immediate future, I think we'll see more of Hagel-Point-Kucherov for sure, and the opponent/how the game is going could dictate how the lines are constructed.
What are they keys going into the 2nd half of the season for the bolts to win another cup?
From: Nick Paul is Gretzky 2.0 (@jason40327127)
Continuing to grow, staying healthy and improving on the road. The team has been on an upward trajectory for most of the season with a .556 points percentage in October, .654 in November, .769 in December and .692 in January.
There were times in the first month of the season that the on-ice product did not look like the Lightning hockey that Tampa Bay fans have grown accustomed to watching over the years, but Julien BriseBois even acknowledged that was to be expected, primarily on the back end.
"I think going in, we anticipated that there was going to be an adjustment period, because when you have had longstanding team members who played big minutes like Ryan McDonagh and Ondrej Palat and Jan Rutta, who'd been with us for a while, and they are no longer on the team, you are losing their skill set on the ice," said BriseBois. "Obviously, you're losing their influence on team dynamics, on and off the ice. But you're also losing their knowledge of their teammates and their teammates' knowledge of them.
"And what I mean by that is, once you have those reps over time, you are able to anticipate what your teammates are going to do on the ice and they're willing to read off of you as well, because they can anticipate what you're going to do. And that knowledge allows you to play at a faster pace. The speed of execution is greater because everyone's reading off each other. And you can't expedite that process.
"Now, we had all new players coming in and it kind of shuffled our D-pairs. And we were going to need time to build that knowledge base, so that we could trust each other on the ice and play fast. It took a period of time that was probably within the range of what we would have expected. Could have been faster. Could have been shorter. But I would say from about December on, we've really hit our stride there for a stretch and have been playing much better, because now guys kind of know each other.
"They know each other's tendencies. The new guys know where they fit in. The guys that are coming back know where these new players fit in and how to play with them, and we've been able to play with more pace and our quality of execution has gone up.
"We knew it was going to be an adjustment. It was an adjustment. And I'm glad I think those days are behind us now."
If you go back and look at the start of the regular season, the Bolts opened the season with these defense pairings: Hedman-Foote, Sergachev-Cernak, Fleury-Myers.
Once Ian Cole made his debut, we saw pairs of Hedman-Cernak, Sergachev-Perbix, Cole-Myers.
Since the return of Zach Bogosian, the D-pairs have been pretty steady with Hedman-Bogosian, Sergachev-Perbix, Cole-Cernak.
And as the year has gone along, those pairs have gained chemistry. We aren't seeing nearly as many turnovers in the defensive zone ending up right in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy's net. Breakouts are much cleaner than they were to start the year. You see plays like the Pierre-Edouard Bellemare goal against Los Angeles where Perbix is pinching up the boards and using his offensive instincts to make plays, something that we probably wouldn't have seen early on.

That was going to take time, but the Lightning are managing the puck much better and you can see the comfortability and cohesiveness continuing to grow on the ice.
Along with the obvious need to stay healthy, the Bolts have to improve on the road. I think they will. The Lightning had a .571 points percentage on the road in October, .500 in November, .500 in December, and .500 in January.
But here is why I think they will be better. Prior to the team leaving for a season-long, five game road trip in January, there was a clear focus on the fact that they needed to play better on the road. That was the mindset.
"We realize what our record is at home," said Steven Stamkos after a home win over Vancouver prior to the five-game trip. "We know what it is on the road. It needs to be better on the road."
From there, the Bolts rattled off three consecutive wins to start the trip before falling to Edmonton and Calgary and returning home. The loss to Edmonton came on the second half of a back-to-back with the Lightning arriving to the hotel at 3:30 a.m. that morning. While the result wasn't there in the end, Tampa Bay did fight back from two multi-goal deficits and got the game tied at three entering the third period.
In Calgary, the Bolts went 0-for-6 on the power play, which, to me, shouldn't be too concerning for a team that has the third best power play in the NHL at 26.7%.
The Lightning went into that trip knowing they needed to play better on the road and they did. I think that will continue throughout the second half, and it certainly will need to if the Bolts want to get to where they want to be.
How many future hall of famers do you think are on this current lightning roster?
From: matt (@OCPDesigns)
Six?
That sounds crazy, but in alphabetical order, I'd say Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Corey Perry, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Hall of Fame locks, in my opinion, are Hedman, Kucherov, Stamkos and Vasilevskiy. The numbers speak for themselves.
Then there is Perry, who should be in the top 100 for most games played in NHL history by the end of the season. He's got 414 goals (94th all-time) and 463 assists for 877 career points. At 190 career playoff games, he ranks 26th all-time in NHL history.
He's in the Triple Gold Club (Olympic Gold, World Championship Gold, Stanley Cup). He's won the Stanley Cup, the Hart Trophy, the Rocket Richard Trophy, World Juniors Gold Medal, World Cup gold Medal. Two-time First Team NHL All-Star.
He's won nearly everything you can win as a hockey player. I think he's a Hall of Famer.
Next is Point, who scored 35 goals through his first 60 career playoff games, good for the ninth-most in NHL history. The eight guys above him? Seven of them are Hall of Famers.
It's still too early to tell for Point, but he's on the right track.
In terms of Lightning franchise history, Point, who has 422 career points through 465 games, ranks fifth in goals (196), 10th in assists (226) and ninth in points (422). His 42 game-winning goals are tied with Nikita Kucherov for the fourth-most in franchise history.
Point has the two Cups on his resume and his 0.91 career point per game average is the fourth-highest among all third round picks in NHL history with over 450 games played. He's also been huge in the playoffs.
If he continues to play the way he has and can stay healthy, he'll be on his way to the Hall of Fame, especially if he keeps making plays like this.

Or this.

I could also see Point as a strong candidate to be the Lightning's next captain, but that's multiple years down the road.
We'll see what Mikhail Sergachev does with his career. He's still extremely young and already has the two Cups at just 24 years old. He's locked down long term, so when the sad day comes for Hedman to hang up the skates, he's very likely going to be the number one, franchise defenseman for Tampa Bay.
Sergachev is the only player in NHL history to have played 91 playoff games and won two Cups by the age of 24. He continues to climb the rankings for a multitude of categories in Lightning franchise history among defensemen.
He will soon have the fourth-most games played by a Tampa Bay defenseman and already ranks fifth in goals and fourth in both assists and points. Sergachev is still growing, but he has some really great tools and definitely has the desire to be the best.
It should be fun to watch where his career goes, but (right now) he has the longest way to go among all the other players listed in terms of making the Hall of Fame.
What do you think has perbix brought to our team, we struggled a little bit when he was out
From: Taylor (@taylor07stewart)
Stability.
Nick Perbix has come into the NHL and looked so calm on the back end for the Lightning. He doesn't panic with the puck. You don't see the unnecessary turnovers or plays that leave you scratching your head.
He's just been extremely steady and poised on the back end. His strong play even caught the Lightning's management team by surprise after a strong showing in training camp.
As the season has gone along, you've seen Perbix get more comfortable jumping into the rush and making plays in the offensive zone as well. His emergence has been a big, big reason for Tampa Bay's success this season.
Julien BriseBois did a great job expanding on Perbix's growth this season and the team's decision to sign him to a contract extension.
"I think we didn't discuss Nick Perbix much leading into the season because we didn't expect him to be here, if we're being candid," BriseBois explained. "Then, he had a really good training camp. Then, when in Syracuse, we had an injury opportunity to call him up, and he did really well and has been here since.
"What I see is his ability to adapt to the competition and make the adjustments to be an effective player. The skill set is really good, but the way he sees the game and the way he adapts to the level of competition has been really impressive. That's probably why he's been able to kind of expedite the timeline on becoming an NHL player.
"He went to Syracuse at the end of last season. You never know how players are going to adapt to that league. It's a very demanding league and the level of play, the pace - it's significantly greater than what you're going to see in college, and he adapted to that rather quickly.
"Then, he did a good job adapting to the level of play in training camp here. And since we've called him up, he's done a really good job adapting to the quality of play here.
"So, looking at the toolbox, looking at how good he's been at adapting to the pace and handling the pace, I think he's only going to get better. And that was the thought process behind locking him up.
"We have very limited cap space next season. We'll deal with next season, next season, but this was a player that we could see being an important player for us next season that we could lock up now at a cap number that worked for us, so we did."
do you think hagel will re-sign in Tampa?
From: Kevin (@KEVINLOVESHAGEL)
I think Brandon Hagel will re-sign with the Lightning, but it's way too early to tell. He still has another year left on his contract after this season, so even if the Bolts wanted to sign him to an extension right now, they couldn't. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of the 2023-24 season.
From everything I've seen, he really enjoys being in Tampa and has had a blast being a member of the organization. I know the Lightning would love to sign him. We'll just have to see if they are able to strike a deal. He's been such a huge pick-up for the team.
I asked Julien BriseBois about the team's desire to re-sign Hagel long term when we spoke a couple weeks ago.
"I would hope so," said BriseBois when asked if he foresees a long-term contract for Hagel. "I think, because he a restricted free agent in the summer of '24, he'll still be two years away from unrestricted free agency at that point. That gives us time to work with him and find solutions to be able to keep him long term, but we'll deal with that in due time.
"Right now, we're focused on this season. Let's make sure we don't leave anything on the table this year. Let's make sure we make the most of this opportunity and have no regrets when it's all said and done."