During the Tampa Bay Lightning Game at Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida, December 3, 2016, Photo: Wayne Masut
With the departure of the longest tenured Tampa Bay Lightning player it seems as good a time as any to examine our draft classes from Alex Killorn’s draft year forward. I started with 2007 in my last article and moving on to 2013 now!
2013 NHL Draft
The Tampa bay Lightning had six draft selections in this draft. Four of the six played games in the NHL. Fifth round pick, Kristers Gudlevskis, only worked his way into three games. Seventh round selection, Joel Vermin, made it into 24 games. The real contributors were Jonathan Drouin at third overall and Adam Erne at 33rd overall. Drouin made the big league first. He also played more games and scored more points with the Bolts and overall than Erne. Both eventually traded. All the way around Drouin was the most impactful player this draft, just maybe not in the way we all expected. Acquiring Mikhail Sergachev one for one ended up being a huge win.
During the Tampa Bay Lightning Game at Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida, November 23, 2016, Photo: Wayne Masut
2014 NHL Draft
The following year Tampa got back up to seven draft picks. No fifth rounder and two second round picks. Only three of these seven draftees made the NHL. The first round pick, Anthony Deangelo, made it with the Phoenix Coyotes promptly after he was traded to them. Brayden Point, our third round pick obviously has done well. Ben Thomas, our fourth round selection played in five games with the Lightning. Deangelo and Point both made their NHL debuts in the 2016-17 season. Point has recording more games and points and hasn’t been bought out even once! Deangelo’s trade return did manage to create part of a package that brought Ryan McDonagh to Tampa Bay, though. The Bolts second round pick was Dominik Masin, whose rights just expired this summer.
During the Tampa Bay Lightning Game at Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida, November 3, 2016, Photo: Wayne Masut
2015 NHL Draft
In 2015, Tampa had a huge haul of nine draft picks all on day two of the draft which is rounds two through seven. This is a personal favorite as I was able to attend and see the draftees walking around the arena after being selected. Four of the nine players the Bolts selected have played NHL games. All four are still under NHL contract. The Lightning’s second third round pick, Anthony Cirelli made the NHL first and has played the most games and recorded the most points!
The second fourth round pick, Mathieu Joseph, has the next most and is now with the Ottawa Senators. Second round selection Mitchell Stephens has somehow only played 72 games. He missed time with injury and had trouble getting back into the lineup afterwards. The other fourth round selection, Joanne Tammela, really impressed me in his first camp. Then had a major knee injury that significantly hurt his development during most of his contract. Tampa’s last pick of this draft was in the sixth round. They chose Bokondji Imama and traded him to the Los Angeles Kings before his rights expired and he’s played nine games with them.
2016 NHL Draft
2016 provided the Lightning with an even larger pool of choices with 10. The first six are all in the NHL. Unfortunately, none of which are with the Lightning any longer. Each of them were traded away which has worked out well for Tampa so far so maybe not that unfortunate. Brett Howden was the first round pick and has played the most games. He also played a part in acquiring Ryan McDonagh. The next pick was the second round selection we acquired for Anthony Deangelo. They chose Libor Hajek who I thought showed good defensive skills. He was also part of that same package for McDonagh. He is a free agent right now. At the start of free agency, I had hoped they’d bring him back in, but there are too many defenders already under contract with more experience.
The next two selections by the Lightning were for Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh in the second round. They were traded as a pair to the Chicago Blackhawks as part of a package for Brandon Hagel. The next round the Bolts chose Connor Ingram who was later traded to the Nashville Predators for a seventh round pick. The last hit in this draft has played the most games for the Lightning with 190 and has the most points of all their choices. Tampa recently traded Ross Colton to the Colorado Avalanche for the 37th overall pick in this most recent NHL Entry Draft. A cap casualty as he signed a new deal worth 4 million for the next four years.
2017 NHL Draft
As we get closer to present, more of these players will just be coming into their careers. That is the case here where many of these guys are just starting out. Tampa had six picks in 2017 and five of them have played in the NHL now. The Lightnings first choice was Callen Foote at 14th overall and was a reach as he wasn’t expected to go until the end of the round. Of the selections that year he has played the most games in the NHL. He was traded to Nashville last season for newly re-signed forward Tanner Jeannot in a package with a lot of picks.
The next round the Bolts took Alexander Volkov who showed some promise initially and then was traded to the Anaheim Ducks shortly after. In the sixth round, they took Nick Perbix who locked down a starting role this season. He impressed me in his first camp as well. In 72 less games, he has one more point than Cal Foote and the same amount of goals. 11 picks later they chose Cole Guttman who chose to join the Blackhawks organization after he finished college. He got called up last year and has 6 points in 14 games. The round after that they chose Samuel Walker who was garnering a lot of attention at development camps his last few years in the Tampa system. He also left after college. He instead chose the Minnesota Wild and got called up last year to play nine games where he scored two points.
What comes next
More recent drafts! I will be looking at the years following these next so come back to TheScrumSports.com to read more!
