Alan Wells joins the show to discuss the Tampa Bay Lightning, how they can fight off the downswing phase of the cycle successful NHL teams go through, and how they can finally get over the hump and shed the mantle of being the team that always falls just short in the postseason.

In this episode we get to the succession plan from Steve Yzerman to Julien BriseBois (6:00), Ryan McDonagh's bounceback season (12:20), squeezing the most out of Mikhail Sergachev (19:20), the new phase of Steven Stamkos' career and a potential move to the wing (26:00), how to keep your window for contention open (45:12), and the jockeying for position in the Atlantic Division (55:20). 

Sponsoring today’s show is SeatGeek, which is making it easier than ever before to buy and sell sports and concert tickets. They’re giving our listeners a $20 rebate off of their first purchase. All you have to do is download the free SeatGeek app and enter the promo code PDO to get started.

Also sponsoring today's show is PuckPedia. It's the ultimate resource for hockey fans, containing salary cap information, basic and advanced stats, draft and transaction history, news feeds, game previews, and injury updates. It's also the exclusive home of the Agent Leaderboard, which shows who the top agents are and lists which players they represent. Regardless of what you're looking for, it's got it, which means that you no longer need to be switching between multiple different sites in the pursuit of information. 

One final note: a reminder that we’re hosting a daily fantasy listener league contest over at FanDuel every Thursday this season. While you wait for the next opportunity to play to come around, go over to fanduel.com/PDO and tell them we’ve sent you. They’ll hook you up with a bonus $5 to play with after your first deposit, which will surely come in handy throughout the year. See you there!

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership

If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.