Tampa Bay Lightning: The Core Can Only Do So Much

Andrei Vasilevskiy heading out of the tunnel before puck drop. Source: Stampa Bay Lightning (twitter/X)

 The theme of last season was the Tampa Bay Lightning had a genuinely flawed roster that wasn’t good. It didn’t matter since they had three of the best skaters in the game to carry them to a wild card spot. This season, they look the same but with a catch.

Everything You Need To Know

• The Lightning lost Steven Stamkos in free agency, a cornerstone of the franchise and the team captain. That said, they added Jake Guentzel, one of the best scorers in the game who is in his prime.
• The same player swap happened on defense. To open up cap space, they traded away Mikhail Sergachev but they added veteran Ryan McDonagh. It’s not an upgrade but prevents the unit from falling apart.
• Nikita Kucherov was remarkable with 44 goals and 100 assists last season while Brayden Point and Victor Hedman rounded out the core. The problem is that the rest of the roster didn’t do much.

Projection

The Lightning will be competitive because of the star power they possess. That said, this could be the season they take a significant step back. Sure goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy could turn back the clock as their starting goaltenders but this team might miss the playoffs with their depth (or lack of it) letting them down.