There is going to be some competition for spots up front. Podkolzin and Di Giuseppe will def make strong cases and probably others.

Surprisingly, not terrible, but not a real contender. Might be able to make playoffs in the Pacific if vibes are good. I imagine Hronek would be Hughes' partner naturally and don't think Joshua is a good fit in the top-6. Maybe give Podkolzin a shot in that spot. Is Pearson even healthy?

the heat is on

Ian Cole is 1rd you got issues

Like combos are weird but team is looking better than last

Y’all hate on him but his stats were surprisingly outstanding. Like his defense was top of the league good. Multiple analytical models show this. Also didn’t he play 3rd most minutes on your blue line?

Hronek and Hughes should be separated. Both offensively minded and would work well with a defensive minded partner. Soucy and Cole fit those roles

I don't think anyone else is a fit for Hughes. None of them are fit for top-pairing minutes. Hirose is the secondary scoring option if anything.

Ian Cole was 3rd among Tampa defensemen in TOI last season, looks like the Lightning got issues too. And when you factor in special teams, he will be behind Hughes and Hronek in ice time. He will finish season with 19-20 minutes ATOI. These are just 5v5 lines

We haven’t had a good fit since Tanev, but Hronek is not a great fit either as they are both good enough to drive their own line. Cole had the 3rd highest average time on ice for d men in Tampa and he is no stranger to big minutes so it makes the most sense for him to be paired with Hughes. Soucy has typically played less minutes but I think would do well with Hronek. Hirose is likely getting sheltered 3rd pair. Expectations are low as it is unfair to really expect much from him

Good luck

TB was 1&done in the playoffs. If that's Your aim mazoltov

Outside of taking penalties, he looks pretty good. Are you trying to tell me that the Bolts had defensive problems last season because Cole was your best defenseman. Hedman did have a rough year statistically

Not only does he take Way too many penalties he always took them at the worst ****ing times. You're using top down hickeys analytics they also had Phil Myers as TB best defenseman before being sent to Syracuse. Good luck with that garbage.

We just need him to be better than that for it to be considered an upgrade.

Edit: just looked, Myers had pretty mid analytics playing VERY sheltered minutes

Top down hockey isn’t the only model that shows this. I mean pretty much every analytical model shows that Cole was amazing defensively. Yeah he takes a lot of penalties, but that’s kind of his only major downside. We are used to it at this point. I mean just look at the Schenn chart