After the franchise jettison their 3rd general manager in 4 years, Tampa Bay ownership decided to face reality and bring in someone who knows what the fuck they are doing. Unfortunately that person was unavailable so they once again took whoever wanted the job.
The new guy (remains anonymous) has signaled that the Bolts will be once again looking to compete this upcoming GVFHL season. That is most likely a mistake. This team is thin on depth, picks and prospects. They have multiple players on the final year of their contract including dmen Bfuglien, Vatanen and Daley as well as forward wing Dadonov. The team also announced it was resigning pending UFA Claude Giroux 4 more years. While he still has some gas in the tank, he can run out anytime so his cap hit of $8+ million will be an anchor at some point.
So far the new guy has been pretty quiet, word on the street is he is awaiting UFA to fill some massive holes on D but there is talks that he has been dangling PO Joseph, Logan Brown and Sam Bennett in order to add some veteran talent. Whether those talks go anywhere remains a question mark but one thing is for sure, the bolts should be rebuilding and not pushing all-in, it’s a mistake the franchise will rue for years to come.