My Previous season, including all roster changes, can be found here:

http://www.operationsports.com/Bloop...026-27-season/

Heading into this season, the top 6 forwards, top 4 d-men and goalies all remain the same. The changes come in the form of my 3rd line wingers and 3rd d-pairing.

Casey Borer, Noah Nelson and Mikhail Konichev's holdout has forced us to rely on some even greener rookies like Charlie Langfeld, Bill Murray and Larry Liffiton. Jonathan Gelech is also making his NHL debut this season, but at 24 years old, is mature enough already to make a seamless entrance into the league.

With a "Franchise" player available in this years draft, managements isn't so concerned about our lack of high end prospects now, especially with youngsters like Langfeld and Nicholls in place already in the NHL.

Starting Line-up:

Depth Chart - 2027-28
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LW	Dwayne Boos (92)	Dimitri Svitov (90)	Charlie Langfeld (83)	Shannon Ranger (80)
C	Gene Pauls (89)	Alex Galchenyuk (93)	Jimmy Coleman (85)	Jarrod Scatchard (83)
RW	Danny Erskine (89)	Logan Nicholls (83)	Bill Murray (83)	Nicholas Baptiste (83)
D #1	Kenton Helgesen (93)	Jerry Berry (87)	Larry Liffiton (82)
D #2	Jeremy Tanabe (90)	Riley Guenther (99)	Johnathan Gelech (82)
G	Jared Henderson (92)	Walter Purinton (81)

Depth Chart:

Tampa Bay Lightning 2027-28
#	CENTERS	AGE	HT	WT	SHOT	BIRTH PLACE
94	Alex Galchenyuk (PLY)	33	6'2"	201 lbs	93	USA (C-,C-,C-)
48	Gene Pauls (SNP)	28	6'2"	203 lbs	89	Canada (C-,C,C-)
52	Jimmy Coleman (TWF)	24	6'2"	212 lbs	85	Canada (C,B-,C)
12	Jarrod Scatchard (TWF)	31	6'2"	203 lbs	83	USA (C,C,C)
#	LEFT WINGS	AGE	HT	WT	SHOT	BIRTH PLACE
20	Dwayne Boos (PLY)	30	5'9"	184 lbs	92	Canada (C-,C,C)
93	Dimitri Svitov (SNP)	29	6'1"	193 lbs	90	Russia (C,C,C)
45	Charlie Langfeld (SNP)	24	6'3"	200 lbs	83	USA (B-,B-,B)
11	Shannon Ranger (PWF)	29	6'2"	229 lbs	80	USA (C,C-,C)
83	Francis Rowe (TWF)	22	6'2"	217 lbs	80	USA (B-,B,B-)
#	RIGHT WINGS	AGE	HT	WT	SHOT	BIRTH PLACE
47	Danny Erskine (SNP)	27	6'2"	201 lbs	89	Canada (C,C,C)
23	Logan Nicholls (SNP)	23	6'2"	186 lbs	83	Canada (A-,C,B)
71	Bill Murray (PWF)	20	6'2"	228 lbs	83	Canada (B,B-,B)
14	Nicholas Baptiste (PWF)	32	6'6"	204 lbs	83	Canada (C-,C,C,)
55	Stu Nolan (SNP)	23	6'2"	204 lbs	80	Canada (C,C,C)
#	DEFENSE	AGE	HT	WT	SHOT	BIRTH PLACE
2	Riley Guenther (DFD)	33	6'1"	189 lbs	99	Canada (C,C,C)
3	Kenton Helgesen (DFD)	33	6'3"	198 lbs	93	Canada (C-,C-,C-)
44	Jeremy Tanabe (TWD)	35	6'2"	206 lbs	90	USA (C-,D,C-)
9	Jerry Berry (TWD)	25	6'2"	203 lbs	87	USA (C,B-,C)
4	Johnathan Gelech (DFD)	24	6'3"	211 lbs	82	USA (A-,B,C)
10	Larry Liffiton (DFD)	22	6'2"	197 lbs	82	Canada (A-,A-,A)
#	GOALIES	AGE	HT	WT	SHOT	BIRTH PLACE
32	Jared Henderson (BUT)	31	6'2"	200 lbs	92	Canada (C-,C,C)
30	Walter Purinton (HYB)	25	6'1"	198 lbs	81	Switzerland (B-,C,C)

Prospects and AHL Depth:

Tampa Bay Lightning 2027-28 (Prospects and Depth)
#	CENTERS	AGE	HT	WT	SHOT	BIRTH PLACE
88	Vince Fortier (SNP)	21	5'10"	177 lbs	83	Canada (B,A,B)
92	Nick Aronson (PWF)	26	6'6"	252 lbs	81	Canada (C,C,B-)
66	Rich Macmurchy (SNP)	20	6'3"	210 lbs	75	Canada (B-,B,B-)
#	RIGHT WINGS	AGE	HT	WT	SHOT	BIRTH PLACE
87	Francois Caron (TWF)	23	6'5"	220 lbs	77	Canada (B-,B-,B)
60	Evan Connelly (SNP)	20	6'2"	202 lbs	76	Canada (B,C-,B-)
#	DEFENSE	AGE	HT	WT	SHOT	BIRTH PLACE
67	Barry Carlson (TWD)	21	6'2"	204 lbs	79	USA (B,B,C)
16	Tomas Kronwall (DFD)	22	6'6"	221 lbs	77	Sweden (C,B,B)
53	Gary Stephenson (TWD)	20	6'1"	194 lbs	77	Canada (A-,B-,A)
#	GOALIES	AGE	HT	WT	SHOT	BIRTH PLACE
31	Kim Kronwall (HYB)	23	6'4"	220 lbs	79	Sweden (B-,C,A-)

Transactions:

TB Claims LW Chance Braid off waivers from CAR.

Trade Deadline:

To Winnipeg Jets:
LW - Chance Braid

To Tampa Bay Lightning:
D - Sheldon Spezza

Analysis:
A little defensive depth heading into the playoffs. We are comfortable with our forward core and the depth we have up front, so this moves really shores up our biggest weakness; defensive depth.

END OF REGULAR SEASON:

Record: 56-22-4 (1st in NHL)
3.76 Goals For Per Game (1st in NHL)
2.51 Goals Against Per Game (3rd in NHL)
24.8% Powerplay Efficiency (1st in NHL)
81.4% Penalty Kill Efficiency (22nd in NHL)

Tampa Bay Lightning Stats - 2027-28
Skaters	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	GW	PIM	SOG	SPCT
Dwayne Boos	82	12	81	93	50	2	48
Dimitri Svitov	82	30	49	79	28	2	68
Alex Galchenyuk	65	23	56	79	25	5	46
Gene Pauls	72	42	27	69	37	6	12
Logan Nicholls	82	36	31	67	28	5	28
Jeremy Tanabe	82	16	47	63	40	4	76
Riley Guenther	82	8	49	57	45	0	98
Danny Erskine	66	23	31	54	31	6	8
Bill Murray	82	13	28	41	3	3	6
Jerry Berry	82	8	29	37	39	2	97
Charlie Langfeld	82	20	14	34	-1	3	10
Kenton Helgesen	77	6	21	27	39	1	72
Nicholas Baptiste	82	13	13	26	21	4	45
Jimmy Coleman	81	10	16	26	12	2	51
Shannon Ranger	82	10	12	22	23	1	36
Jarrod Scatchard	70	11	10	21	24	1	54
Larry Liffiton	82	4	12	16	24	1	69
Stu Nolan	23	7	9	16	8	1	8
Vincent Fortier	19	7	4	11	5	2	4
Johnathan Gelech	47	2	7	9	20	0	27
Goalies	GP	W	L	T	GAA	TOI	SV	SV%	SHO
Jared Henderson	70	48	14		2.06			.924	5
Walter Purinton	20	7	7		3.81			.864	1

PLAYOFFS:

Starting on the IR is Goalie, Jared Henderson, who was injured in the 81st game of the regular season. A difficult obstacle to overcome, given Purinton's poor regular season performance.

Round 1 vs. Montreal Canadiens

Game 1: 3-4 Loss.
Game 2: 2-3 Loss.
Game 3: 2-1 Win.
(Langfeld injured; Rowe in.)
Game 4: 4-2 Win.
Game 5: 3-4 Loss.
(Henderson in)
Game 6: 4-2 Win.
Game 7: 2-4 Loss.

4-3 Series Loss.

Well, not much to say, we got off to a bad start in the series with Henderson out, and when he was able to return, albeit injured, he wasn't playing to the same caliber as the regular season. Some big questions needing to be answered in the offseason, especially with a franchise center available in the draft, as well as many top defensive prospects.

OFFSEASON: