J.J. Moser Keeps the Lightning Electric, and His Next Stop is Milan
Once toiling in the obscurity of the Arizona desert, J.J. Moser has become an integral part of one of the NHL’s model organizations in Tampa Bay.
More than a plug-and-play piece, Moser, 25, has become a key to the Lightning’s penurious play in the neutral zone and kept their defense corps afloat amid a rash of injuries. Moser has excelled in creating dense structure and erasing mistakes when it breaks down alike, earning the trust and esteem of his coaches and teammates.
He started the year playing his offside opposite top defender Victor Hedman, but he filled Hedman’s No. 1 spot as he recovered from elbow surgery. Without other veterans like Ryan McDonagh, Moser and partner Darren Raddysh have become a surprise smash at the Bolts’ top pairing.
“The name of the game is adjusting. Every team has injuries; every team has its own struggle. And I think, yeah, it’s just about whoever can adjust the best, and I think that is what we have done,” Moser said in an exclusive interview with R.org. “We have stayed on pace, even though we had a couple of injuries. And, yeah, there’s been opportunities for some, and adjustments for others. I think it has been going pretty well.”
Over the summer, Moser changed trainers and took firmer control of his offseason preparation, which led to results in more ways than one.
“I changed my summer off-ice routine. When you come into the league, you’re more looking up to other guys that already have been doing it, so you kind of (mimic) them,” Moser said. “I felt like it was time to start building my own stuff, to get more ownership and say, ‘all right, if this doesn’t work, it’s, it’s on me. It’s not just doing what everyone else does.’ But then you have more opportunity to do it exactly the way you want it. So that’s been very exciting, and I think it paid off.”
It paid off in the form of a fresh eight-year, $54 million extension. GM Julien BriseBois’s latest savvy move turned core piece –– following the path of players like Canadian Olympians Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, and Brayden Point –– said the process of extending was very straightforward.
“It was kind of a quick process. It was kind of clear from the start the way they would handle the situation, that we were either gonna find [common ground with] each other or we were gonna put it away and revisit it after the season, just to not affect you too much with the season with ongoing negotiations for months and months,” said Moser, adding that he had plenty of motivation to stick around.
“It’s easy to sign in an organization that handles their people so well, from top to bottom. It’s just a class organization with so many people that are just class people. So it was super easy to kind of want to stay here. And then it was just about, yeah, finding a number. There were just a couple of back-and-forth [exchanges]. And then at one point, you’re like, all right, this is a good opportunity, and you’ve got to seize it when you can.”
Praise for Cooper, Kucherov
On the day Jon Cooper became just the fifth coach to guide one franchise through 1,000 or more regular-season games, Moser lauded his leadership.
“‘Coop’ does an unreal job to value every player for what he brings, and that gives you the feeling that you want to pay that back. You want to offer your best every night and give whatever you have,” Moser said. “He has been very good in leading the players, feeling the group and knowing what we need. It’s been a very, very pleasant experience with him.”
Transitioning from one of the NHL’s least stable franchises, the Arizona Coyotes (now the Utah Mammoth), to one of its exemplary clubs in Tampa following the Mikhail Sergachev deal two summers ago has also exposed the modern defender to one of the most creative offensive forces in the league, winger Nikita Kucherov.
“When you get the chance to watch him everyday in practice, you see all these little details that are hard to imagine looking at them from the outside. You see him doing great things and making these so-called blind passes that are not really blind at all,” said Moser of Kucherov. “You’re like, ‘wait, how is that possible?’ And then you come into the team, and you work with him, and you see it on a daily basis. Then you realize, ‘oh, hey, all right. It all makes sense now, because he works in that every single day.’”
Olympics Excitement
Not only has Moser developed into a valued asset for a Bolts bunch that won three conference crowns at the outset of the decade and has sought to refresh its competitive window, but he will be an integral part of the Swiss side in neighboring Italy this February. Switzerland has won silver four times at the World Championships since 2013, including each of the last two tournaments. Yet the Swiss have not medaled at the Olympics since taking bronze in 1928 and 1948, two instances in which they were the host nation at St. Moritz.
“It’s amazing to have it that close to home, and already it’s amazing to just have all the NHL guys playing in a tournament, best on best. I’m very excited for the whole thing,” Moser said. “We’re excited to see what we can do, especially with the good results in the last international tournaments. I think I know it’s a little bit different with all North American players coming, but yeah, we’re very excited to just compete with the best and see where we’re at.”
Among the best will be a league-high 10 Lightning teammates. That’s all the more remarkable since Kucherov and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy would have skated for Russia if not for the ban on the Russian and Belarusian selections at these games. Moser said he was proud of his teammates and that he was looking forward to the on-ice dynamic facing them as opponents.
“If you can play against your teammates, it’s not only fun but always interesting, because you know their tendencies, but they know your tendencies, too,” Moser said. “Seeing how that goes is certainly very interesting. It’s going to be cool to have that many guys going there and sharing that experience.”