Tampa Bay Lightning Top 10 Prospects Rankings October 2013

1. Jonathan Drouin, LW 2013 1st Round Pick (3rd Overall) Halifax QMJHL
2. Andrey Vasilevskiy, G 2012 1st Round Pick  Salavat Yulaev Ufa KHL (Russia)
3. Slater Koekkoeck, D 2012 1st Round Pick Windsor OHL
4. Nikita Kucherov, RW 2011 2nd Round Pick Syracuse AHL
5. Vladislav Namestnikov, C 2011 1st Round Pick Syracuse AHL
6. Adam Erne, RW 2013 2nd Round Pick Quebec QMJHL
7. Dylan Blujus, D 2012 2nd Round Pick North Bay OHL
8. Brian Hart, RW 2012 2nd Round Pick Harvard University
9. Tanner Richard, F 2012 3rd Round Pick Syracuse AHL
10. Cedric Paquette, C 2012 4th Round Pick Syracuse AHL

Tampa Bay Lightning Actual Opening Lineup with Line Combinations

Lineup

Lines:

Ryan Malone, Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis
Teddy Purcell, Alex Killorn, Valeri Filppula
Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Richard Panik
Pierre Cedric-Labrie, Nate Thompson, B.J. Crombeen

Defenseman Pairings:

Radko Gudas, Matt Carle
Andrej Sustr, Victor Hedman
Eric Brewer, Mark Barberio

Starting Goaltender: Anders Lindback Backup: Ben Bishop

Scratches: D Keith Aulie, D Sami Salo, C Tom Pyatt

Tampa Bay Opening Day Roster Set + Lineup Combinations

Tampa Bay's opening day roster is set. Many writers and fans of the Lightning feel 2010 1st round pick Brett Connolly has looked outstanding so they wonder why Connolly was sent down to Syracuse in the AHL. The Lightning's 3rd overall pick in the 2013 draft left wing Jonathan Drouin was sent back to his junior team Halifax (QMJHL).

The line combinations are expected to be (left wing/center/right wing left to right listed in order of lines):

Ryan Malone, Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis 
Alex Killorn, Valeri Filppula, Teddy Purcell
Richard Panik, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat
Tom Pyatt, Nate Thompson, B.J. Crombeen
13th forward could be Pierre Cedric Labrie but some of the 4th liners could move around

The defensive pairings listed in expected order (1st-3rd pairings) will be:

Victor Hedman,  Sami Salo
Matt Carle, Radko Gudas
Eric Brewer, Keith Aulie

Mark Barberio and Andrej Sustr are the 7th and 8th defensemen

Ben Bishop and Anders Lindback are the goaltenders.

Also, Defenseman Brian Lee is on injured reserve to start the season.

Tampa Bay Lightning Send Jonathan Drouin to his Junior Team

The Tampa Bay Lightning have assigned 2013 1st Round Pick (3rd overall pick) Jonathan Drouin to Halifax his junior team. I'm sure Halifax fans will be thrilled.

Tampa Bay Lightning Assigned 3 Players Back To Their Junior Teams and Several to AHL team

The Tampa Bay Lightning assigned LW Henri Ikonen to Kingston (OHL), D Slater Koekkoek to Windsor (OHL) and F Adam Erne to Quebec (QMJHL). They also sent Defensemen Charles Landry, Dan Milan, Joey Mormina, Nikita Nesterov, Drew Olson, Artem Sergeev and Luke Witkowski; Centers Brady Brassart, Max Langelier-Parent and Tanner Richard; Right Wings Eric Neilson, Carl Nielsen and Evan Rankin; Left Wing Danick Gauthier; and Goaltenders Cedrick Desjardins and Riku Helenius to Syracuse (AHL).

2013 NHL Draft Prospect Battle Drouin vs. Jones

The 2013 NHL Draft was considered one of the best drafts if not the best NHL draft since 2003. Did the Tampa Bay Lightning make the right selection with left wing Jonathan Drouin? You could have made an argument before the draft that Jonathan Drouin was the best prospect in the 2013 NHL Draft with his overall talent. Did the benefit of playing on the same line with 1st overall pick Nate Mackinnon outweigh Drouin's talent? Did Jonathan have one great breakout year that may have been somewhat of a fluke or is he just scratching the surface of his potential? The Lightning passed up one of the best defenseman to come into the draft, Seth Jones who went immediately after the Lightning selected Drouin.

More goes into how these players do than their statistics but you can follow the statistics of these three players here for fun to start.

3rd Overall Pick Left Wing Jonathan Drouin Tampa Bay Lightning


4th Overall Pick Defenseman Seth Jones Nashville Predators

2013 Draft Prospects Tracker

Bookmark this blog to track the Tampa Bay prospects and updated statistics for the upcoming season. Instead of looking up the players throughout the season, you can track their statistics here.
1st Round Pick Left Wing Jonathan Drouin - Drouin is playing for Halifax in the QMJHL in 2013-2014.

2nd Round Pick Left Wing Adam Erne - Erne will play for Quebec in the QMJHL in 2013-2014.

ADAM ERNE

5th Round Pick Goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis - Gudlevskis will play for Syracuse in the AHL in 2013-2014.

KRISTERS GUDLEVSKIS

6th Round Pick Forward Henri Ikonen - Ikonen will play for Kingston in the OHL in 2013-2014.

HENRI IKONEN

7th Round Pick Forward Saku Salminen - Saku will play for Jokerit in sm-liiga the top Finland Pro League.

SAKU SALMINEN

7th Round Pick Forward Joël Vermin - Vermin will play for Bern in the NLA in Switzerland Pro League in 2013-2014.

JOEL VERMIN