Elliotte Friedman believes the Lightning need to bolster their offense

Michaël Petit
Elliotte Friedman believes the Lightning need to bolster their offense
Credit: capture d'écran X

The Tampa Bay Lightning gave the Montreal Canadiens a run for their money in the first round of the playoffs.

It was a very physical and intense series, to say the least.

Jakub Dobes was excellent in this series. Could the Lightning use some offensive help? It's a fair question.

With Brayden Point frequently injured, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Elliotte Friedman floated the idea in an episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast.

The team is aging quietly but surely, and it wouldn't be crazy to add a little offensive punch, just to give Brayden Point a breather.

He's playing a lot of minutes, and that's perfectly fine, because he's excellent.

Anthony Cirelli isn't a bad top-6 center, but is it time for Tampa Bay to make a change?

Personally, one name comes to mind: Mason McTavish.

He's had a disappointing season and has even been healthy-scratched.

Obviously, he has potential, but he also has a $7 million-a-season contract for five more seasons.

However, as we learned two days ago, the payroll is set to rise from $95.5 million to $104 million next year, which will give Julien BriseBois some wiggle room to improve his team.

A guy like McTavish might need a change of scenery, and playing for a team like Tampa Bay would be a great fit.

The price tag for acquiring the Ducks forward shouldn't be too high given this disappointing season, and it's up to the Bolts to take advantage of that.

Logically, they'd have to give up a contract in return, and Anaheim has several million dollars of cap space to spare.

Additionally, Oliver Bjorkstrand's contract ($5.4 million) expires on July 1, and it will cost less if he is re-signed.

There's certainly a way for Tampa Bay to make it work with McTavish.

The price to acquire McTavish is hard to pin down, but it's worth looking into.


In a nutshell

– Roman Kantserov dominated the KHL this season with 36 goals and 64 points in 63 games.

– Interesting.

– Wow.

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