Visiting the Office Of...Justin Hill

Welcome once again to "Visiting the Office Of...", an interview series brought to you by the Elite Hockey Experience.

In this edition we had a chat with Justin Hill, whose Tampa Bay Lightning are sitting first overall through the first half of 2018-19.

Enjoy!

So Justin, you have been in the EHE since Day One. How did you originally get involved with the league?

Well Kyle, I first want to say, thank you for taking the time to interview me.

As for how I got involved, commissioner Lacy contacted me during the initial stages of him setting up the Elite Hockey Experience. Kevin was a fellow GM in a different sim league that I was apart of at the time.

I was extremely happy to receive the invitation since the league we were in was going down hill fast so I was happy to become apart of another league.

What was it like to take part in the EHE Inaugural Draft? If you could go back in time, would you do anything differently?

It was really exciting to be apart of it for sure. I went into the draft with the thought of grabbing solid players that were still younger in age. It was hard in my mind because there were so many options for every pick. So many players I wanted to take that I lost out on because I was a round too late.

If I could go back, knowing that this season could be my very first time making the playoffs, I would have tried to draft the youngest team possible with the most potential. It would have been more fun to see the progression of those young players over these past years then watching my team fight for the 1st overall pick with older players.

In general, what's your philosophy when it comes to building a winning team? For example: do you value speed and skill, or do you like "throwback" type players? Do you believe it's critical to focus on one certain position?

Well Kyle, this is a funny question because clearly whatever my philosophy has been, hasn’t worked until this year ha.

But talking about this year, I felt it was important to kind of follow the “New” NHL. As in a good skating and puck moving defensive group with a mixture of pure skill up front like Huberdeau, Point, Radulov and Teravainen. This year I thought it was going to be important to sprinkle in some veteran leadership. That’s why we signed Justin Williams and Andy Greene this offseason to help mentor a relatively young team.

As for focusing on 1 position, I think goaltending is a very important position. Other then signing Antti Niemi after the first season to a ridiculous contract, we were unable to dress a true starter at the position until last year when we made the trade for Roberto Luongo. This year is proof of his importance with the stat line has been putting up. 

What about building a whole organization? You have a history of showing up to the entry draft with extra picks, for example, so presumably that's something you see as a priority.

I am a strong believer in building through the draft. And that doesn’t just mean letting those players develop after you draft them. It depends on where your team is at. If you are going for the championship, then you can use those players that you have been drafting, to acquire pieces to help you win it all.

You recently used a franchise tag to lock up Alexander Radulov; can you comment on what he means to your team now and moving forward?

Alex is one of the backbones to our offense. He’s a fun guy to have around in the dressing room, always joking, and making everyone feel comfortable.

We thought it was important for us to show him some loyalty in giving him the tag since he is the one that agreed to sign with us as a FA when he returned from Russia.

He may not lead our team in points but he will always give 110% effort, which is a great example for our young guys.

You made some pretty big mid-season additions to your team in 2017-18, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to get them into the playoffs. What went wrong?

Honestly I am not sure Kyle, it was an extremely frustrating year last year. I moved out a number young pieces to try and give the fans in Tampa something to cheer about for the first time. Clearly it didn’t work out.

When I think about it, I wonder if I didn’t focus enough on making deals for top tier players, instead focusing on more depth guys like Foligno and Ladd.

It is what it is though Kyle, hopefully this year is different.

Speaking of which, it sure looks like the Lightning are on their way to their first-ever playoff appearance this year. What has been the difference from last season?

I think a lot of it is that some of our guys have really matured and taken that next step. Point, Kadri, Huberdeau upfront have all had great years so far, and of course, the ageless one, Luongo has been playing lights out.

Can we expect to see more big moves in Tampa heading into the deadline, or is this a classic case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

As I am answering this question, we actually just acquired Ryan McDonough from The New York Rangers. That move we believe solidifies our back end.

The one part of our team that was struggling was our PK. Ryan will help out in that aspect of our team with the top DF rating on the team now at 90.

As for anymore large impact deals, I don’t see that happening but anything is possible.

Down on the farm, the Syracuse Crunch are in the mix for a playoff spot after missing out the last two seasons. Are you eager to get your AHL team get back into the postseason?

For sure, we believe that a winning environment is the best way to build success and stability throughout the organization.

Our goal is for the players in Syracuse to be successful when they are called upon to join the big club, so along with our coaching staff, winning is a great way to make sure that happens.

Which trade have you pulled off that you're most proud of?

I would have to say way back on March 8th of 2017 when I move Brendan Gallagher to LA for Teuvo Teravainen, Jake DeBrusk and a 3rd round pick.

Any trades you wish you could take back?

The clear winner here was a deal last year with Detroit. In our quest to make the playoffs for the first time, we moved Sam Steel, Alex Tuch, and Steve Santini for Sami Vatanen and a 5th round pick.

What advice would you give to a GM just starting out in the EHE?

Take at least a month before making any sort of changes to your team. There will always be teams that try to pull fast ones on new GM’s so take your time before jumping on a deal.

Also feel free to ask fellow GM’s their opinion of a deal.

To a certain degree you're probably not looking beyond this season, but if you did, where would you see your team three years from now?

I see us in a very similar position. The teams key contributors are either locked up long term, or RFA’s still.

The post that could be a struggle is in net. Luongo is 39 and not getting younger, he is also a UFA after this year. There is also the upcoming expansion draft which will no doubt have an effect on our team, as well as every other team in the league.

Previous entries in the series;

Travis Fleming, Vancouver Canucks (February 2019)

Duran Size, Montreal Canadiens (January 2019)

Cisco Valle, Detroit Red Wings (January 2019)

Shaun Stephens, St. Louis Blues (December 2018)