Are The Tampa Bay Lightning Contenders?

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s 2013-2014 season was a roller coaster. They lost their captain and best player Steven Stamkos early in the season on November 11th to a broken tibia. After losing Stamkos, many expected the Lightning to falter and miss the playoffs, but the team showed resiliency and found offense from several unexpected sources, and was able to get into a playoff position in the standings by the time Stamkos returned in March, which was also when GM Steve Yzerman decided to part ways with long-time Lightning Martin St. Louis. They finished in third place in the Eastern Conference and eight place overall. The playoffs, however, were a letdown for Tampa Bay, as they were swept in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens. What hurt even more was that they lost three out of those four games by only one goal.

Following the disappointment of the postseason, Yzerman had an aggresive offseason. He added some grit to the bottom-six by signing Brian Boyle and Brendan Morrow. He also bolstered his blue line by signing two-way defenseman Anton Stralman and also by acquiring offensive defenseman Jason Garrison from the Vancouver Canucks. Stralman and Boyle both came over from the New York Rangers, and have been reunited with their former Rangers captain Ryan Callahan, who was brought in to Tampa in exchange for St. Louis. They managed to re-sign Callahan to a six-year deal, as well as re-signing key forwards such as Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Richard Panik, and Alex Killorn. They also re-signed starting goalie Ben Bishop to an affordable two-year contract, as well as signing an efficient backup for him in Evgeni Nabokov.

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When Steven Stamoks went out with his injury, rookie forwards Tyler Johnson, Richard Panik, and Ondrej Palat stepped up to the plate and filled in the scoring sheets in lieu of their captain. Last season the team proved that they were good even without their best player, and this year they will only be better offensively as they will have a healthy Stamkos as well as rookie scoring phenom Jonathan Drouin to go along with their talented forward corps. The loss of Martin St. Louis is a big one, but the Lightning have plenty of other players to fill in his role, and Steven Stamkos is good enough on his own to score 50 goals without St. Louis setting him up.

The Lightning’s defense is lead by Victor Hedman, who had his best season to date with 13 goals and 55 points in 75 games. What’s more is that he can play just as well in his own end. Along with Hedman, the Lightning have Matthew Carle and Radko Gudas, both of whom have come into their own as reliable shutdown defenders. The additions of Garrison and Stralman will help solidify their top-four, and I believe that they now possess one of the better defensive corps in the Eastern Conference.

Ben Bishop finished third in voting for the Vezina trophy this year, and he was the backbone of the Lightning. There’s no doubt that Bishop is a starting goalie, and if he has another season like the one he had last year, he could be counted among the elite in the league. I believe he can be counted on to play at least 50 games, and the team can afford to let him rest now because of the signing of Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov spent the last three seasons as the New York Islanders starting goalie, and he was able to play the role well enough, although his starting days are far behind him. Nabokov will be an above-average backup for the Lightning, giving head coach John Cooper a formidable tandem in net.

While I love the moves that Yzerman made this year, I don’t think that the Tampa Bay Lighting are in a position to contend for the Stanley Cup. However, I believe that they are very close. The only thing I see missing is another forward for the top-six to play alongside Valteri Filppula. Once they are able to get that forward, I think the Lightning will have enough to compete for Hockey’s ultimate prize. That being said, I think that the Lightning will be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference this year, and I think that within the next few seasons they will overtake the Boston Bruins as the best team in the conference.