Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Are The Tampa Bay Lightning STILL Stanley Cup Contenders?? | BB Clips

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

Boomer, Pinder and Rhett preview the Tampa Bay Lightning heading into the 2026-27 season and ask whether this veteran core still has another serious Stanley Cup run left in it. Tampa remains loaded at the top with Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel and Andrei Vasilevskiy, but after four straight first-round playoff exits, simply being great during the regular season isn’t good enough anymore. The guys break down the addition of John Carlson, Victor Hedman’s return, some of the changes around the roster and whether Tampa can finally turn another strong regular season into playoff success. The talent is obviously still there, but with this core getting older and the Atlantic looking extremely competitive, how many more chances does this version of the Lightning have to make another run at the Cup?Video Link: https://youtu.be/ZLCrEzx4uy8#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #tampabaylightning CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We'll move to Tampa Bay. They had an interesting offseason. They lose Darren Radish, but it was a sign in trade. And then they go spend that money on John Carlson, who got traded to Anaheim at the deadline, if you remember. Washington got a first for that. And then, yeah, Tampa got him for just cash. Not bad at all.

They also add Ilya McKeyev, a sneaky little lad. He's been effective at times. Bjork Strand gone. Nick Paul is out. He went to Toronto. And they finally have gotten established backup, they think rather than Eunice Johansson or Jerry Johansson, as Nudels calls him, who was like a 12-star to year guy behind Vasilevsky,

can Dennis Hildeby, who looked tantalizing at times in Toronto, give a little more of the 1B or a 2 where you don't need Vasilevsky 60 plus times this year. It's a nice lineup. They're good. It's a nice lineup. I think they need to make something. So I'm trying to find a Peter Marr way of saying this. There's too many guys with their feet up.

And I don't even mean feet up. There's too many retirement moments. Carlson being one of them. What's Hadman going to be? Is he interested in the big question? Committing or competing? I don't care. He's been amazing.

It's probably a hall of favor, but I don't know what he's going to be. Off ice issues kept having. These guys have been good for a long time. They've won. I just don't see enough youth to drive them with excitement. You know what I mean? Like sometimes you need a kid to come in there.

and go, holy shit, this is fun, let's play. Yep, yep, that's fair. Braden Point, who we love. Tough year last year. Tough year last year. It was injured, 63 games, 18 goals and 50 points. So under a point per game. Now, he's a superstar, don't get me wrong.

But he had 42 goals, 46 goals, 51 goals. He's now turning 30. Bounce back here for him. Need it. If all those guys are healthy, they're obviously still a very good team. I just, you kind of had some thoughts. and we played the clip at the end of the postseason of Vasilevsky reacting to comments

made by John Cooper. Yeah. And what was the, I even forget what the gist of it was like, oh, we're blaming bounces. We're learning about it every year. Like,

no, we need to be just be better. Yeah, it was. And they did, they allowed eight shots and lost a game seven of Montreal or something stupid like that. I get it.

The hockey guys didn't smile on them. But Vaselowski's point was like, we're done with excuses. We've been out in the first round, like three or four years in a row. And yes, you have to play, you know,

the Florida and all that. But he was done with, excuses. Well, he was, that, that band has been together, that chorus, headman, Vasilevsky, Point, Kuturov, and John Cooper. How much longer? Who's, who's next to go? Can they, not to say there's anything going on, but at some point, it's just time for some guys to have a bit of a change. Hadman did not play down the stretch, off-ice issues, what those were

or not our business, but if he's healthy and playing, they're better. This is the last. AJ Moser as well, which is a nice ad for Surgichiev. And, you know, John Carlson is still very good at what he does. Kutrov in his final year of his contract at 9.5. Big money, what's he make? The only thing is he's 33. Well, so the tri-share, who cares?

But it's still going to eat a ton of cap. Yeah, he's been in the heart and Art Ross trophy conversations. Do you win the heart last year? A decade. Like you won the heart last year. It's just these crazy. Can't trade his ass. I don't like this.

team because as a g i might have a hard time with it because it's it's easy to fall in love with them yeah and think they're great it's also i've watched this band played this set yeah can i build over and over and over and over are you one goal better if you have headman for that whole montreal series because almost all those games are i don't think it's even that though like it would have helped no shit yeah thanks for stating the obvious i'm just saying that the band has played the same song a lot. I feel like they need something new and a spark. That's kind of where I fall in a little bit too.

I understand what you're saying. It just feels like that's oversimplifying it a little bit. You know, Stabcoast left and that was the first one. That was a brave move. Yeah, and it was a good one. They picked up a jacks. But I don't think, but I still think that they added a veteran guy that's won instead of where's those guys won cups when they were how long ago?

six years ago now? They were kids. So they were playing with mid-20s to 30s now. Yeah, it's different. It is. There's actually science behind it. Yeah, there's aging curves. There's lifestyle curves.

Who was it back in the day? Mario Andretti or somebody was chasing down a race car driver. And it was a kid versus a veteran. And the kid said at the end of the race after he won, he goes, I knew I could take him on that corner because he's married now. I'm not joking. I'm not actually joking. He was like, he's got a wife and a kid, and I knew he wouldn't be as risk taking as I could be. It's not a slight. It's reality. Yeah. Everybody else there is signed. It's another four years for point. Gensel is signed long term

haggle and all that. But to your point, I wonder, two year deal for Carlson, three for headman. But yeah, like you say, it's not to say it's Chicago, but it's as the GM, you've done so much for the franchise. How loyal are we? And they showed us Stavkoast. They let him go. But are you going to pay for service that's already been served? Or are you able to move on?

They made the call on Radish, too. That wasn't the easy move. The easy move was just giving the money. I think they'd be thrilled with Radish out with a return on the side and hurt and Carlson Inn. Yeah, that'd be different than Kuturov. Yeah. Yeah.