SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow became all too conversant in Florida's wild weather conditions during his time with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“Throughout COVID, every day at three o'clock I would sit on the balcony and watch the thunderstorm last for about 15 minutes, then I would move on through the day and it would be sunny again,” Goodrow said.
But Goodrow has never experienced a hurricane, let alone an enormous one like Hurricane Milton, which brought as much as 15 feet of storm surge across the Tampa-St. Petersburg area because it impacts the region.
On Tuesday, Hurricane Milton was upgraded to a Category 5 storm because it raged northeast within the Gulf of Mexico. The potentially catastrophic storm is predicted to make landfall on Florida's west coast late Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane with winds between 111 and 129 miles per hour.
Milton's arrival in Florida comes lower than two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the southeastern United States, killing no less than 230 people. As of Tuesday evening, nearly 90,000 customers in North Carolina and 46,000 in Georgia remained without power.
Officials fear that debris left from the destruction of Helene could turn into projectiles as Milton wreaks havoc in doubly affected areas.
“It’s actually back-to-back,” Goodrow said. “I watched the news last night and it’s crazy. The rubble and everything hasn't even been removed from the last one. Now there's an even bigger one coming, so it's sad.
“You always hope that there will be a reversal and that it won’t be as bad as people fear.”
As a part of an enormous evacuation in the realm, each the Lightning and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have already left the realm. The Lightning traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday night and the Buccaneers left for New Orleans on Tuesday. The Lightning open their road season on Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes and the Buccaneers play the Saints on Sunday.
As of Tuesday evening, the Lightning's home opener on Saturday against Carolina was still on this system.
After landfall, Milton is predicted to cross the Florida panhandle and dump as much as 18 inches of rain before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean Thursday afternoon.
The undrafted Goodrow spent the primary five-plus years of his skilled profession with the Sharks organization, playing 268 games for the NHL team before being traded to Tampa Bay in February 2020. Before being traded, he won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning in July 2021 to the New York Rangers, who then signed him to a six-year, $21.85 million contract.
However, the Rangers placed Goodrow on waivers as a part of a salary cap deal in late June, something the forward reportedly only became aware of recently. The following day, the Sharks, one in all the 15 teams Goodrow had on his no-trade list, claimed him.
Goodrow said firstly of coaching camp that he desired to put this drama behind him and added Tuesday that he was looking forward to the beginning of the season. It looks like he'll start Thursday's season opener against the St. Louis Blues on a line with Alexander Wennberg, his former Rangers teammate, and Luke Kunin.
“It’s been over for a while,” Goodrow said. “I'm happy to be here and it's been fun getting to know all the guys here. It’s a really good combination of young guys and some older guys and I think we’re going to prove a lot of people wrong this year and it’s going to be fun.”
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