The Tampa Bay Lightning are inevitable. As the dust settles on the team’s Game 5 victory en route to back-to-back Stanley Cup wins less than 10 months apart, that fact is all I can think about.
In fact, it’s been a prevailing thought of mine since the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs began, but Wednesday’s win solidified it in stone for me.
The Lightning are a great hockey team. There’s a reason they’ve won back-to-back Stanley Cups, and the prevailing one is that they’re just so good and have been for some time. Back in 2019, the Lightning tied the NHL’s record for the most wins in a regular season (62). The year after? They won their franchise’s second Stanley Cup after a pandemic-shortened season in a playoff bubble. And this year? Back-to-back Stanley Cup wins to usher in hockey’s newest dynasty.
Tampa Bay is the complete package of a modern hockey team: they’re fast, they have talent up and down the lineup, their passing is a dazzling display, and their finishing ability is second-to-none.
Oh, and if all that fails, they have a goaltender who posted shutouts in his last five series-clinching games to back them up.
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How did the Lightning even get to this position in the first place? Incredibly smart and savvy roster construction from former general manager Steve Yzerman and current general manager Julien BriseBois.
Let’s discuss the elephant in the room first: Nikita Kucherov.
I have no problem with what the Lightning did with Kucherov, who was injured for the entire regular season and therefore was not counted against Tampa Bay’s cap as a part of Long Term Injured Reserve. Kucherov, however, was clearly game ready a few weeks before the season ended — though the Lightning would insist otherwise — and had he stepped on the ice to play in the regular season, his hefty cap hit would have put Tampa Bay in violation of the salary cap.
Is it a bit of a dishonest thing to do? Yes. And yet it is perfectly legal by NHL standards.
Honestly, all hockey GMs should aspire to be as crafty as BriseBois and the Lightning front office have been here in constructing their team. A flat salary cap should have inspired NHL GMs to get creative in their ways to build a contender, and the Lightning have been the clear frontrunner in this regard, even dating back to Yzerman’s time with this team.
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The Lightning’s big names in Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, and Andrei Vasilevskiy make up the heart of this Tampa Bay team — on ice and on the salary cap. And yet, it’s the team’s additions and signings down the lineup and on the margins which make this Lightning team so fascinating from a roster construction standpoint.
Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman are rightfully touted as the Lightning’s savviest moves. Both were acquired at the 2020 trade deadline as Tampa Bay was loading up for their first Stanley Cup Final win, each costing at least a first round pick and a prospect, a meager price to pay for the depth they provide. Goodrow and Coleman both have put up at least 20 points in their first full seasons with Tampa Bay this past regular season and combined make up less than $3 million of the team’s cap.
It would take a miracle and a half for the Lightning to bring back both Goodrow and Coleman at what they’re set to be worth this offseason as unrestricted free agents. Still, both did their jobs to the letter and then some with Tampa Bay, helping them win two straight Stanley Cups in the process.
Over the last few seasons, the Lightning have been able to get Brayden Point to take a hometown discount with a criminally underrated $6.75 million cap hit. They snuck Tyler Johnson through waivers knowing the cap-strapped teams wouldn’t be able to claim him in the pandemic shortened season. And finally, the Lightning were able to nab the best defenseman available at the trade deadline — David Savard — in a three-way trade that cost them three draft picks, yet saved them from paying 75 percent of his salary.
I honestly can’t remember a more well-thought out hockey roster than this Tampa Bay one. The majority of the team’s core pieces stayed intact through a flat cap, and through smart roster construction that exploited a major loophole in the NHL’s rules, the Lightning are at the top of the hockey world for yet another year.
Over the past two postseasons, the Lightning had a goal differential of +50, never lost two games in a row and were only pushed to the brink of elimination once
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) July 8, 2021
And yet, in the fallout of the end of the 2020-21 NHL season, I am a bit saddened that this iteration of the Lightning dynasty will likely have to come to an end by next season. BriseBois can’t keep Kucherov’s $9.5 million cap hit off the books for yet another year, Goodrow and Coleman will rightfully get paid their dues elsewhere in free agency, and NHL GMs will likely be a little bit wiser to the Lightning’s crafty trade deals. Maybe.
Even still, it’s been a blast to watch this Lightning team methodically pick apart their opponents in the playoffs the last two seasons. Hockey fans have witnessed something truly special with this Tampa Bay team, culminating in a dominant, masterful Stanley Cup Final victory and a modern NHL dynasty for the ages.
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