Mailbag: Stadium Series between Bruins, Lightning will be unique to Tampa

NHL.com's weekly Over the Boards mailbag is in full swing this season. Every week, senior writer Dan Rosen sifts through your questions sent to him on X and answers them.

To participate in future mailbags, send your questions to @drosennhl on X and use #OvertheBoards.

Why do outdoor hockey in Florida without the Lightning and Panthers playing each other? Doesn't having two such games within 30 days undercut the uniqueness of both? Why pick teams that have combined for 12 outdoor games as the visitors over more infrequent participants? -- @IronCaniac

Though having the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning playing against each other in an outdoor game makes sense when considering the rivalry, it would take away from having each team host its own outdoor game. Both organizations deserve to host an outdoor game. In fact, every NHL franchise deserves to host its own outdoor game. All but four teams will have hosted or at least played an outdoor game in their home market once the Lightning play the Boston Bruins in the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS). The Utah Mammoth will cut the list down to three (Vegas Golden Knights, Montreal Canadiens, Anaheim Ducks) when they host the 2027 Winter Classic at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah. The New York Islanders hosted two when they were the home team against the New York Rangers at Yankee Stadium in 2014 and MetLife Stadium in 2024. The Ducks were the visitors at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, which is not their home market.

Beyond the fact that the Panthers and Lightning each get to host outdoor games, bringing in teams from outside Florida like the Bruins and Rangers, the Panthers' opponent in the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic, adds to the storyline of both outdoor games. You get the new, warm weather, modern day NHL against the Original Six era from the north. That was clearly on display at the Winter Classic with the field divided, one half being the Miami beach setting and the other half being a cold, wintry setting where the NHL actually made it snow (fake snow).

Each outdoor game is unique to the market it is in. The NHL will make the Stadium Series game unique to Tampa, which is why it is centered around Gasparilla Weekend. You can't get more unique to Tampa than the Gasparilla Pirate Fest. It is the city's signature event.

Anaheim got off to a great start and then struggled. They are now playing well without some key pieces. Do they stay patient with the rebuild and stand pat, or add at the deadline in an attempt to get their young talent some playoff experience? -- @JackYoung4660

The latter, especially if the Ducks can acquire a defenseman who has some term left on his contract. That would improve their back end now and give them the cushion to soften a blow if Jacob Trouba or Radko Gudas don't re-sign. Both are pending UFAs.

The Ducks may not be ready to make a run to the Stanley Cup Final, but you never know unless you get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They're in the mix, emboldened by a seven-game winning streak that ended with a 7-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. That came after a nine-game skid (0-8-1), so they clearly can run hot and cold, but the winning streak got them back into the mix and they're going to get center Leo Carlsson back eventually, likely at full capacity after the Olympic break.

Anaheim has the cap space and the draft capital to improve the team. The time is right to do it. The young players have taken the step the Ducks were hoping they would and rewarding them with a boost before the deadline for the final hard push through March and April sends a message of belief into the team and creates opportunity.

Win or lose, getting into the playoffs and playing one of the behemoths of the Western Conference would be beneficial. The Ducks could pull the upset, but at the very least they would see what it takes. It's the first step toward playoff success.

The San Jose Sharks went in this direction by acquiring forward Kiefer Sherwood from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 19. The Ducks are armed with cap space and all of their picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, plus their first-round pick and three selections in the second round of the 2027 NHL Draft. The time is right to use some of that draft capital to make a push now.

Two questions: Is Chris Drury capable of leading a new rebuild for the Rangers? Do you see them trading Alexis Lafreniere? -- @ComicbookMy

Drury, it appears, will get the chance to prove he's capable of leading a roster retool. That's the word the Rangers are using instead of rebuild, and it makes sense because they're not tearing it down to the studs. They're taking some of what they already have, including goalie Igor Shesterkin, defensemen Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov, and forwards Mika Zibanejad, J.T. Miller, Gabe Perreault, Will Cuylle, Noah Laba and possibly Lafreniere and Vincent Trocheck, and retooling the roster around that core. Drury has never done this as an NHL general manager so I can't definitively answer if he's capable of leading this Rangers' roster retool, but owner James Dolan reiterated his trust in Drury during an interview on WFAN radio in New York on Jan. 5. Drury would not have publicly announced the roster retool that has already started without Dolan's approval, but we'll learn more about how the Rangers plan to go about the retool over the next several weeks and months, and then it will take some years before determining if it was successful.

As for trading Lafreniere, it is something the Rangers will likely and should entertain. It makes sense to trade him if the Rangers are going to acquire a player in his early-to-mid-20s with NHL experience and the potential for a high upside in return. That's what they have in Lafreniere, but he's in his sixth season in New York and it feels like a change-of-scenery move could be helpful to both him and the Rangers. Lafreniere is in the first season of a seven-year, $52.15 million contract (average annual value of $7.45 million) that he signed Oct. 25, 2024, after what appeared to be a breakout 2023-24 season, when he had 28 goals and 57 points in 82 games and then 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in 16 playoff games. He has 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 53 games this season after getting 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 82 games last season. The regression is concerning but he's 24 years old, so he still has a high upside.

What type of return should be expected in the Artemi Panarin trade? -- @Sosy10Joey

Sportsnet reported Saturday that the Rangers are looking at a similar return to what the New York Islanders got from the Colorado Avalanche for center Brock Nelson on March 6, 2025. The key pieces were forward Calum Ritchie, who was the No. 27 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, a first-round pick in either the 2026 or 2027 draft, and a conditional third-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft (the terms of this condition were not met).

Nelson was traded as a pending unrestricted free agent who had a modified no-trade clause. Panarin will be traded as a pending UFA with a full no-movement clause, which takes some of the Rangers' leverage away. If Panarin's list of teams is long enough, the Rangers can work the terms of the trade more to their advantage by playing teams against each other to boost the return. If the list has one or two teams, it limits their negotiating power. The Nelson trade sounds like the starting point, which makes sense because the Rangers want to get younger without sacrificing the ability to compete for the playoffs next season. If they can get a top prospect similar to Ritchie, it would help them as soon as next season. Getting a first-round pick is beneficial because they can use it in the draft to select a prospect or as part of a trade that lands them an impact NHL player who can help them as soon as next season. The Rangers already have two first-round picks in the 2026 draft.

Early in the season, people said the Predators needed to blow it up and start over. Now they're a few points out of a playoff spot. What should they do at the deadline? -- @punmasterrifkin

The Nashville Predators signed forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, and defenseman Brady Skjei, on July 1, 2024, with the expectation of being a playoff team right away and at least for a few years. They did not meet those expectations last season. They have a chance this season. They should stay the course and see if they can get there, and if they can do some damage when they're in. They know as well as any team in the League the importance of just getting in. They did that in 2017 and ended up in the Stanley Cup Final, so it can be done.

If we're being totally fair and honest, the Predators are not as good as the Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars or Edmonton Oilers, so their chances of advancing in the playoffs aren't great. They weren't as good as the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017, and yet they won the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round in a four-game sweep. That they're not as good in the regular season as the Avalanche, Wild, Stars, Golden Knights or Oilers doesn't matter. Every single one of the Predators' impact players from Stamkos to Marchessault, Filip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly, Roman Josi, Skjei and goalie Juuse Saros are signed beyond this season. They're not pending UFAs who the Predators have to make decisions on, so keep them, go for it, see if they can get in, ride it and then reevaluate in the offseason.

The one thing the Predators should not do is trade prospects or high draft picks for rental players. They're not in that category. That's reserved for teams like the Avalanche, Wild, Stars, Oilers and Golden Knights. If the Predators can get a depth player on an expiring contract for a mid-round pick or a middle-level prospect, that's fine. They have 16 picks in rounds 2-5 of the next two drafts, but it doesn't make sense for them to trade significant parts of their future for an immediate fix.