Paying a goalie that much also flies in the face of “smart money,” yet Vasilevskiy’s been an ace for the Lightning. Before, he was making just $3.5M per year. The Lightning really only started paying Vasilevskiy big money ($9.5M cap hit) this season. That’s because, if you get it right and that goalie develops reasonably quickly, you can save money. Generally speaking, the “smart money” is not on picking a goalie in the first round, but it worked out in a big way for Tampa Bay. If you want to follow some of the most interesting Lightning-related team-building debates, follow the career of Andrei Vasilevskiy.ĭuring a time when teams were timid about picking goalies in the first round, the Lightning snatched Vasilevskiy at 19th overall. Like Brayden Point dangling around helpless defensemen, sometimes the Lightning made their peers look silly in the process. From Alex Killorn to Mathieu Joseph to Cedric Paquette, Tampa Bay outfitted its roster with draft picks. If you want a seventh-rounder, consider Ondrej Palat (208th in 2011). Potential future Selke winner Anthony Cirelli slipped to 72nd in 2015. Louis, mind you.īut either way, the Bolts paralleled the Red Wings dynasty era by finding diamonds in the rough. Not every Lightning draft steal boiled down to different cover songs of finding Martin St. Ignoring height when it came to Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson allowed the Bolts to unearth undrafted gems. After all, the Lightning feasted on old-school obsessions with size over skill and production.įrom Nikita Kucherov (58th in 2011) to Brayden Point (79th in 2014), the Lightning unearthed its top stars by looking below the 6-foot-mark. Yet, you kind of wonder if there’s a defensiveness there. Old-school types feasted on a perceived lack of toughness when the Blue Jackets swept the Lightning. Lightning made huge draft (and undrafted) gains, largely with small players Slater Koekkoek (10th, 2012), Jonathan Drouin (third, 2013), and Tony DeAngelo (19th, 2014) all ended up on other teams, with only Drouin netting the Lightning a big-time return in potential star defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.īut the Lightning are where they are today because of what they did outside of the first round, and sometimes outside of the draft altogether. Of course, the Lightning got this far with Stamkos on the shelf, so they didn’t only live off of being in the right place, at the right time.Īgain, though, the Lightning can feel the Stars’ pain in biffing a few first-rounders. Landing Steven Stamkos (first overall in 2008) and Victor Hedman (second in 2009) was instrumental in turning the Lightning around. That said, they did when it mattered the most. When it comes to the first round, though, they didn’t always find the mark. The Lightning’s reputation for shrewd drafting is well-earned. Note: CR = Conference rank GP = Games played W = Wins L = Losses T = Ties OTL = Overtime loss GF = Goals for GA = Goals against Pts = Pointsīolded teams qualified for the playoffs.Two huge first-round stars, but a sneaky-high number of misses The Lightning finished the regular season having tied the Detroit Red Wings for the most short-handed goals scored, with 15. On Saturday, December 27, 2003, the Lightning scored three short-handed goals in a 4–2 win over the Boston Bruins. For their first pick, they chose Mike Egener in the second round, 35th overall. The Lightning did not have a first-round pick. The Lightning's 1st Stanley Cup championship came just a year after their NFL (National Football League) counterparts, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won Super Bowl XXXVII, also their 1st championship. The Lightning won their first Stanley Cup over the Calgary Flames this season, after the Flames were attempting to be the first Canadian team to win a Stanley Cup since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens. The 2003–04 Tampa Bay Lightning season was the 12th National Hockey League season in Tampa, Florida.
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