If there is any team that knows how to bounce back from disappointment, and use loss as motivation, it is the Lightning. Never count them out of another Stanley Cup run.
Lightning’s biggest competition?
Rangers Maple Leafs Avalanche
Biggest surprise?
Red Wings Flyers Blues
Biggest disappointment?
Panthers Rangers Rangers
Presidents’ Trophy champ?
Avalanche Flames Avalanche Atlantic Division champ?
Lightning Panthers Panthers Eastern Conference champ?
Hurricanes Panthers Lightning Stanley Cup final teams?
Hurricanes, Avalanche Panthers, Avalanche Lightning, Avalanche Stanley Cup final champ?
Avalanche Avalanche Lightning
Lightning’s most outstanding player?
Nikita Kucherov
Brayden Point Andrei Vasilevskiy Lightning’s breakout star?
Brandon Hagel
Hart Trophy (MVP) winner?
Connor McDavid, Oilers
Norris Trophy (defenseman) winner?
Ross Colton Ross Colton
Leon Draisaitl, Oilers Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs
Cale Makar, Avalanche Cale Makar, Avalanche Vezina Trophy (goalie) winner?
Cale Makar, Avalanche
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning
Igor Shesterkin, Rangers Igor Shesterkin, Rangers
BRANDON
H e walks into a cramped confer ence room and immedi
ately chooses the seat across from the window. Not much really to see, just a parking lot with some trees in the distance.
But this is what Jon Cooper does. He looks beyond. Beyond the window, beyond the day, beyond the next 82 games.
There was a time when the Lightning were the scourge of the NHL during the regular season. Seemingly every night they would dazzle or dominate. Not anymore. Now, they simply work it. And look beyond.
In the days since the NHL split into divisions and con ferences, seven teams have reached the Stanley Cup final in three consecutive seasons.
Tampa Bay is the only team to do it without finishing first in its division in any of those sea sons.
That’s not coincidence. That’s
keeping an eye on the prize. That’s recognizing a perfected process will take you farther than a higher seed.
And that’s understanding that panic is for pretenders.
“The regular season is basically an 82-game dress rehearsal for the playoffs. But you can’t take the regular sea son for granted,” Cooper, 55, said while relaxing in his socks in a conference room after a recent practice at the TGH Ice Plex.
“We never sit here and think, ‘Oh my gosh, this is our year to win a Stanley Cup.’ We sit here and think, ‘Okay, this is our year to make the playoffs.’ Our sole goal is to get in, it doesn’t mat ter where we finish. But, while doing that, you are getting your team in order for the playoffs.”
It’s not as if the Lightning are hitting the beach or the golf course during the regular season. Each of the past three years has had its unique hur dles. Steven Stamkos got hurt in 2020. Nikita Kucherov and Stamkos both missed time in 2021. The entire third line had
to be replaced in 2022.
The point is, there are rea sons they finished behind Flor ida and Toronto in their divi sion last season. Or Carolina and Florida the year before that. And Boston in 2020. Each year, the Lightning were a little more vulnerable than the year before.
Yet they went on to beat all five of those teams in the play offs.
Now, maybe, there is a whiff of a veteran team turning the volume up on the dial once April rolls around, but it is also indicative of a team that sees the regular season as a chance to grow rather than shine.
“As time goes on you learn, hey, someone is always throw ing something at you. How are you going to evolve? How are you going to find a solution?” Cooper said. “I don’t dwell on problems, I’m always looking for solutions. How can we fig ure this out? And I think that has boded well for us as a staff.
“There’s no such thing as a panic button. It’s the solution button.”
JOHN ROMANO Columnist
Which brings us to today, and what could be the most challenging regular season the Lightning have faced in years.
It’s not just that Anthony Cire lli and Zach Bogosian will start the season on the injured list. It’s not just that Ryan McDonagh was traded and Ondrej Palat and Jan Rutta left as free agents.
It’s the accumulation of time.
The effects of the salary cap.
The inevitable pull toward the middle.
Of the 25 players who appeared in the 2020 postsea son for the Lightning, 14 are no longer with the organiza tion. There are more memories in distant locker rooms than in the stalls at Amalie Arena.
When you look at it that way, the Lightning aren’t just replacing McDonagh, Palat and Rutta because they’ve already replaced Yanni Gourde, Tyler
Johnson, Blake Coleman, Bar clay Goodrow, Kevin Shatten kirk and Carter Verhaeghe, among others.
This is a team that needs to find its own identity. Philosoph ically, it might be a close cousin to the 2022 playoff team, but there will be significant differ ences that inevitably change the tenor.
The Lightning lost their sec ond-leading scorer from last postseason, and two of their top four defensemen. Can Vladislav Namestnikov replace Palat? Can Philippe Myers and Ian Cole duplicate what McDonagh and Rutta provided? Probably not.
But these are not necessar ily meant to be even exchanges. It’s more a question of how they fold into the group and what emerges on the other side.
That means the forward lines will be juggled. A lot. That means finding the right part ner for Victor Hedman on the blue line. That means asking Mikhail Sergachev to take on a larger role. That means doing what is necessary to keep Stam kos, Kucherov, Hedman and Brayden Point healthy when April finally arrives. And that means not fretting over the inevitable slumps.
Will the Lightning finish first in the Atlantic Division? Hard to see that happening. If Tampa Bay tops 50 wins, it should be a cause for celebration.
But, having said that, would you be shocked if the Lightning were competing for the East ern Conference title by the end of May?
“We’re a contender, but we’ve got to fill in some blanks,” Coo per said. “That’s the great unknown: Who is going to fill in the blanks? But it’s way eas ier to do when you have the group of core guys still here. So let’s take these 20 to 23 players and see where we can go from start to finish.
“That’s exciting to me. That’s why I’m in this business. If I wanted to punch a clock and collect a paycheck, I could have been an attorney. For me, every single year the calendar flips, I get excited. I get rejuvenated. To me, right now, I’m like the happiest kid on earth.”
They have been dressed and ready to go for three years.
Skates sharpened, sticks taped, beards grown. They have sweated in the preseason, bled in the regular sea son and dreamed of the postseason.
And yet, when the lights dimmed, the music swelled and the puck dropped for the Stanley Cup final, the Maple Leafs may as well have had their faces pressed against the arena glass.
The Panthers, too. And the Hurricanes, Bruins, Rang ers and Penguins.
regular season. If you want to stretch it over three years, the Lightning are 26-30 against those six rivals from October to April.
And yet Tampa Bay is 24-9 against them in the playoffs.
That’s remarkable. And, depending on your point of view, a little comical.
But is it sustainable?
The Lightning have been weakened by salary-cap restrictions while the rest of the Eastern Conference has gradually been getting stron ger. So have we reached critical mass in 2022-23? Has the time come for another franchise to represent the Eastern Conference in the Cup final?
For three years, the Lightning have crushed the hopes of Eastern Conference teams in the playoffs with the most dominant run of postseason victories since the New York Islanders four decades ago.
JOHN ROMANO Columnist
And, making matters more infuriating, the Lightning have looked beatable in each one of those regular seasons.
Tampa Bay won only seven of 21 games against the Bruins, Hurri canes, Panthers, Rangers, Penguins and Maple Leafs last year in the
Penguins
2021-22 record: 46-25-11
Notable additions: Jeff Petry, Ty Smith, Jan Rutta
Painful losses: Evan Rodrigues, Mike Matheson
Why the Penguins could win: Do you have to ask? From the time Sidney Crosby was 19 years old, the Penguins have made the playoffs 16 con secutive seasons and won three Stanley Cups. Realizing the window is closing on this era, the Penguins brought Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang back for one more hurrah with Crosby. After giving up an average of four goals a game in a first-round loss to the Rangers last season, the Penguins also revamped their defensive corps, bringing in Rutta, among others.
Why the Penguins could fail: As much Hall of Fame talent as they have, the Penguins have not won a playoff series since 2018. Like the Bruins, this group could use some rocking chairs in the locker room. Malkin is 36 while Crosby, Letang and Petry are all 35. The Metropolitan Division is not as stacked as the Atlantic, but Pittsburgh will eventually have to get past Florida, Toronto and Tampa Bay.
Fear factor: Very, very slim.
Bruins
2021-22 record: 51-26-5
Notable additions: David Krejci, Pavel Zacha Painful loss: Erik Haula
Why the Bruins could win: If you extrapolate results from the shortened 2021 season, Boston has played at a 100-point pace for five consec utive years. The Bruins are second to the Light ning in regular-season victories over that span and have given up fewer goals than any team in the NHL. The core of the team remained intact when Patrice Bergeron decided not to retire and the Bruins opted not to deal David Pastrnak. Their top line is stout and defenseman Charlie McAvoy has finished in the top 5 of Norris Tro phy balloting the past two seasons.
Why the Bruins could fail: Boston could be playing catch-up much of the season. Brad Marchand (hips) and McAvoy (shoulder) are both expected to miss the first couple of months of the season to injuries. The Bruins also have some of the same worries as the Lightning when it comes to the age of the core group. Bergeron is 37, Krejci is 36 and Marchand is 34. If they stay healthy all year, Boston could be formidable come spring. But that’s a big ask.
Fear factor: More of a sleeper than a threat.
Rangers
2021-22 record: 52-24-6
Notable addition: Vincent Trocheck
Painful loss: Ryan Strome
Why the Rangers could win: The Rangers went from years of mediocrity to scaring the bejeebers out of the Lightning in the Eastern Conference final last season. Adding Trocheck to a top-six with Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider gives New York a formidable offense, even if it’s a little top-heavy. The real key for New York is goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who won the Vezina Trophy and outplayed Andrei Vasilevskiy for much of the conference final. Why the Rangers could fail: New York did not do a whole lot to address depth problems. They could be similar to the 2019 Hurricanes who out performed expectations under a new coach, but could not maintain that trajectory the following season. Shesterkin was the real deal, but asking a young goalie to carry a team on his back in consecutive seasons is not usually a winning formula.
that
Fear factor: Surprisingly muted for a
The oddsmakers in Las Vegas seem to think so.
Defending champion Colorado is the current favorite to repeat, but Toronto, Florida and Carolina are the next three teams listed in most sports books. Tampa Bay is fifth with the Rangers and Penguins not too far down the list.
With that in mind, here’s a look at the six challengers from the East ern Conference that could, potentially, stand between the Lightning and the Stanley Cup.
Sidney Crosby is part of a Penguins lineup stacked with Hall of Fame talent. But are they too heavy on veterans?
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy is always a Norris Trophy contender, but he is expected to be sidelined until at least late November for the Bruins.
Goaltender Igor Shesterkin is a threat, but how much can he carry the Rangers, who didn’t really address their depth issues, on a nightly basis?
The gap between Tampa Bay and the rest of the Eastern Conference has been narrowing. Is this the season another team finally gets past the Lightning?BILL
Hurricanes
2021-22 record: 54-20-8
Notable additions: Paul Stastny, Brent Burns, Max Pacioretty
Painful losses: Vincent Trocheck, Ian Cole, Tony DeAngelo, Nino Niederreiter
Why the Hurricanes could win: Caroli na reached the conference final in Rod Brind’Amour’s first season as head coach in 2019, but has struggled to take the next step forward. With that in mind, the Hurricanes had a bold offseason, saying goodbye to three of their top six scorers while bringing in Pacioretty and Burns. The defense remains one of the best in the NHL with goaltender Frederik Andersen finishing fourth in Vezina Trophy voting.
Why the Hurricanes could fail: The Hurri canes took a huge risk on Pacioretty. He’ll be 34 in November and is coming off an Achilles injury that will keep him sidelined for at least the first half of the season. He could be a big boost to the lineup in the spring, but that’s asking an awful lot for a player stepping into a new lineup after almost a year on the sideline. Fear factor: A clear and present danger.
Panthers 2021-22 record: 58-18-6
Notable additions: Matthew Tkachuk, Marc Staal, coach Paul Maurice
Painful losses: Jonathan Huberdeau, Claude Giroux, Mason Marchment, MacKen zie Weegar
Why the Panthers could win: So let’s start with the obvious. The Panthers were the NHL’s best team in the regular season before being swept by the Lightning in the second round. To remedy that problem, they boldly traded Huberdeau and Weegar to acquire Tkachuk, who gives them a nasty presence come playoff time. Florida led the NHL in goals by a wide margin in 2021-22 and there’s no reason to think they won’t be scoring four to five goals on a fairly regular basis.
Why the Panthers could fail: Giving up an MVP candidate such as Huberdeau to acquire Tkachuk was bold. Including a top defenseman such as Weegar in the deal may have been overkill. And then there is the decision to move on from interim coach Andrew Brunette to hire Maurice, who has been behind the bench for more games than any coach in NHL history without winning a Stanley Cup. Maurice is 9-9 in playoff series in his career but, in his defense, he’s never had a team with this much talent.
Fear factor: Off the charts. For opponents and Panthers fans.
2021-22 record: 54-21-7
Notable additions: Matt Murray, Ilya Samsonov
Painful losses: Jack Campbell, Ilya Mikheyev
Why the Maple Leafs could win: The simplest explanation? Toronto is the most talented team in the East. The Maple Leafs have reigning Hart Trophy winner Auston Matthews leading an explosive offense that might be even deeper than Florida. And while Campbell had a 31-9-6 record in net, he was exposed by the Lightning in the playoffs. So Toronto wisely addressed the situation by acquiring Murray and Samsonov to take over goaltending duties.
Why the Maple Leafs could fail: Um, not enough valium in Canada? As well as the Maple Leafs played last season, they still failed to get out of the first round of the play offs. Again. It’s difficult to measure exactly how much pressure is on this team, but Toronto has not won a single postseason series since 2004. The more they win in the regular season — and they will win a lot in 2022-23 — the Maple Leafs will feel a cor responding level of anxiety heading into the playoffs.
Fear factor: Be afraid. Be very afraid.
The Lightning have been driven by disappointment in the past. And even with familiar faces gone, talent remains.
BY EDUARDO A. ENCINA | Times Staff Writer TAMPAThe memory from the Lightning’s last game — as they contemplated the end of their reign while watching another team celebrate claiming the Stanley Cup on their home ice — still stings 3½ months later.
On that late-June night, following a Game 6 loss to Colorado, the players were heartbroken. The cham pagne was flowing down the hall in the visiting locker room at Amalie Arena. The Lightning hadn’t lost the final game of an NHL season since 2019, and that disappointment essentially propelled them to greatness.
Their mission of doing something that no team had accomplished in nearly four decades, winning three straight Cups, fell two wins short of success. The goal of the salary cap is to prevent dominance, but the find-a-ways never doubted they could pull off the monumental feat.
With tears welling in their eyes, they promised they’d be back, that they weren’t done yet. And around the league, teams wait for the Lightning to stumble back to the middle of the pack.
“It was one of the saddest moments in my life,” Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said. “It’s tough. I still think about it sometimes, what you did wrong. ... For sure, it drives you.”
The last time the Lightning lost in the postsea son, following that devastating first-round sweep to Columbus, the franchise used that failure as fuel. Tampa Bay won the next two Stanley Cups.
“It sticks with you for a while,” Lightning forward Pat Maroon said. “It hurts. ... Three in a row would have been unbelievable. But the guys should be very proud and know that feeling and have that feeling in the back of their minds all year. I think, for us, that should be motivation and an inspirational thing to just kind of get us going. We know we have all the tools.”
The Lightning return most of their core — goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, forwards Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov and defense man Victor Hedman — for at least the next two seasons. Still, other teams continue to close the gap talent-wise, and the Eastern Conference shapes up to be its most competitive from top to bottom in years.
Inside the Lightning locker room, they have heard the whis pers that they’re a year older, that they have lost too many valuable players or that they are bound to run out of steam having played so much hockey the past three seasons. They answered the same questions last season when they had to rebuild their entire third line.
“You don’t want to lose all the key pieces they lost, but I’m a believer that you’ve got to stay fresh,” NHL Network analyst Ken Daneyko said. “You’ve got to add a few other guys that hav en’t been there and have that extra spark and glow in their eye and they learn from the Stamkoses, the Hed mans and the Kucherovs. They’ve been there, done that and won championships.”
“They’ve had a big taste of winning and, speaking from experience, when you win once, you want to win every year,” added Daneyko, a three-time Stanley Cup winner with New Jersey. “It doesn’t always get realized, but you’ve got a little more burning desire because you understand what it takes. So the Lightning are still a bona fide contender, no question about it.”
Daneyko also “doesn’t buy”
the premise that the amount of hockey the Lightning have played will catch up with them. He played on Devils teams that won two Cups and went to three finals in a four-season span from 1999-00 to 2002-03. “I was as fresh in 2003 as I was in 2000.”
“We played a ton of hockey, the same kind of stretch, same kind of tempo, but we just had that veteran experience, guys that love to win, just like Tampa does,” he said. “They know what it takes to get there in steps. It’s easier said than done. Other teams don’t know that.
“You’re already looking ahead or you’re looking behind, you lose three in a row and you panic, or you lose five in a row and it feels like you’re slipping out of it. Tampa knows how to handle all that now because of their pedigree, because of their coach, because of everything their management has done. And they understand the right pieces that they need to keep hungry enough as far as the youth exuberance and the vet eran guys.”
The team’s offseason trade of defenseman Ryan McDonagh didn’t sit well in the locker room, and it served as a wakeup call that anyone can be dealt in this business. McDonagh had a $6.75 million cap hit for the next four seasons, and because of the length of his contract, it took dealing him to be able to extend Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak.
With $80.36 million already committed to 12 players next season — and the salary cap only projected to go up $1 mil lion to $83.5 million — the Lightning front office will have to be even more creative filling
out its roster before the 2023-24 season.
The Lightning are the sec ond-oldest team in the East ern Conference, according to CapFriendly.com; their aver age age of 29.3 years old is only younger than the Capitals’ 29.9. That made it even more import ant for the Lightning to lock up their mid-20s young core of Ser gachev, Cirelli and Cernak for the next eight seasons after this one.
“We have the makings of being a really competitive team,” Lightning general man ager Julien BriseBois said. “And what went into the bigger deci sions in the offseason, they were mostly driven by trying to make sure we stay competitive for as long as possible.”
Other than McDonagh, one of the league’s top defenders and penalty killers, the Lightning lost clutch top-line wing Ondrej Palat through free agency, as well as dependable defense man Jan Rutta. The Lightning reunited with forward Vladislav Namestnikov and signed freeagent defenseman Ian Cole, and
But if there’s anyone who can maneuver a cap, it’s Brise Bois. And if there’s anyone who can put his players in position to succeed, it’s Cooper and his staff, which added former Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill as an assistant to replace Derek Lalonde, hired as Detroit’s new head coach.
“This is ’22-23 and to be hon est, we’re focused on the guys who are here, not the guys that are gone,” Cooper said. “That’ll be for another time with beers and burgers talking about the good old days but we’re nowhere near there yet. We’ve got a group to work with here that we’re really really excited about. We’re looking forward, not back.”
This is a team that takes every experience, whether it’s a win or a loss, as something to learn from.
The Lightning are rarely
caught off-guard twice, one of the reasons they seldom lost back-to-back games in the post season. They trust in their pro cess, and the two Cup rings they wear are quick reminders that it works.
Newer players to the orga nization, like last season’s trade-deadline acquisition, Nick Paul, learn that culture quickly.
“You have to accept it first; it is what it is,” Paul said of dealing with last season’s disappoint ment. “And then from there, you just kind of work on what you can do better, what you can improve on. That’s where the summer comes in, working on things that you thought you could have done better, whether it’s face-offs, whether it’s condi tioning, the way you’re skating, the way you see certain plays.
“And then you have the full season to kind of work on that and build as a team, keep build ing chemistry, and just take it to that next step so that when we get there again, we know exactly what we want to do and how we’re going to finish it off.”
Despite the short offseason, most of the Lightning play ers were already practicing on their own informally two weeks before training camp began. And when the group met offi cially for that first practice, there wasn’t much talk about how last season ended.
“Nothing really needs to be said,” Stamkos said. “Guys are excited to be back. We’ve got to put in the work, and it just gets tougher and tougher every year. So that’s the great thing about this group. We have guys that understand that it’s a new year, and we’re not resting on what’s happened in the past.”
TAMPA — Even after accomplishing as much as Lightning captain Steven Stamkos has over his Hall of Fame career, building con fidence still means every thing.
Having faith in your preparation process, know ing your body and how to manage it, and ultimately trusting it will get through the grind of another long season are all things Stam kos has learned going into his 15th year in the league.
There have been times when he has struggled to stay healthy. But last sea son, Stamkos skated more like he was 22, not 32. He recorded his first 100-point season, scoring 42 goals and a career-high 64 assists. A return to his natural center
position allowed Stamkos to freely find space on the ice and continue his evolution from a pure goal scorer to a more commanding set-up man.
“He wasn’t timid,” Light ning coach Jon Cooper said. “He played the game with a free spirit, a free mind. I don’t think there was any thing in the back of his head saying, ‘Oh, I might get hurt here. I’m trying to protect this part of my body.’
“He’s always been an excellent skater, but it seemed like he had that extra step and the confi dence in his game grew … because I don’t think there was anything that was clouding his mind that may have tried to hold him back.”
And Stamkos was at his best down the stretch of the regular season and in the postseason. He had 19 points in the playoffs and 26 in his last nine regular-sea son contests. He led the Lightning with 11 goals in their postseason run back to the Stanley Cup final, invig orated by centering the top scoring line, partnering with Nikita Kucherov on five of his 10 even-strength playoff goals.
“For me a few years back, at times, you know how good he is, he left me want ing more a little bit,” NHL Network analyst and for mer NHL defenseman Ken Daneyko said of Stamkos. “But then look at it, put it in perspective. You think about the injuries he was proba bly playing through. He was probably playing months at a time where he just was 70% of himself. You could tell he was 100% last year.
“He’s a top-10 player in this league again and two years ago I might not have said that anymore, even though he’s still a producer. We know how good he is, but now he’s that top guy again.”
Stamkos said this time last year that he had one of his best offseasons training in Toronto. He didn’t have to worry about any physical setbacks. This summer was the same.
“I think last year I played a majority of the year in my natural position that helped as well in confidence and things like that,” he said. “So it was just a lot of fun. I had a blast trying to help our team win another champi onship and that’s no differ ent this year coming in. … I’m excited for the challenge of this year.”
Last season marked the first time since 2017-18 that he did not miss a game due to injury. He missed one road game in St. Louis to return to Tampa to be with wife Sandra for the birth of their second child.
Two offseasons ago, Stam kos was coming off a pair of core muscle surgeries, and even going into last season, he had a minor knee proce dure. When this past season ended, Stamkos joked that another deep postseason run meant another short offseason. But he made the most of being healthy again.
“It was just more of a relaxing summer,” Stam kos said. “I didn’t do much, just got home, spent a lot of time with friends and fam ily and didn’t really leave my 20-mile bubble that I live in and was at the gym on the ice.
…
“It was just low key. And that’s something that really we haven’t had the past cou ple of summers with every thing that’s gone on with COVID and and then obvi ously winning and celebrat ing. And it was just differ ent, but excited to be back and get things going again.”
Contact Eduardo A. Encina at eencina@tampabay.com.
Follow @EddieintheYard.
In his 14th NHL season, Steven Stamkos had arguably his best allaround year, reaching the 100-point mark for the first time with 42 goals and a career-high 64 assists. These numbers also highlight that the Lightning captain was at his best in a season in which he turned 32:
Game-win ning goals in the regular season, his most since scoring 12 during his 60-goal season in 2011-12.
16Points scored in the regular season in 5-on-5 when the score was tied, a career high. He had 13 points in those situations previously.
Average ice time in the playoffs (in 23 games), his highest output in a postseason of more than four games since his rookie year (19:44 in 18 games).
Career-high regular-sea son plus-minus. His previous high was +18 in 2017-18.
Evenstrength assists, a career high. His previous best was 41 in 2017-18.
TAMPA — A major, and perhaps underappreciated, part of the Lightning’s run to three straight Stanley Cup finals, including backto-back wins, has been the team’s stability at the blue line.
Their formula for cham pionship-level success long has been rooted in playing exemplary defense, and that starts with defensemen who execute their roles well.
On opening night Tues day in New York, the Light ning will be missing three pieces of their defense corps from last season. Most inte gral was Ryan McDonagh, a leader on the back end who anchored the penalty kill and was the team’s top shot blocker before he was traded in the offseason to Nashville in a cap-cutting move.
The Lightning also will be without Jan Rutta, who masterfully merged with Victor Hedman to make up the team’s first defen sive pairing but signed with the Penguins in the offsea son. Veteran Zach Bogosian is slated to be out until late November/early December recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
“Obviously, it’s a little bit different than the past cou ple of years,” Hedman said. “We’re looking forward to making strides as a group, and we’ll help each other out.”
That has led to a restruc turing of the blue line both in terms of personnel and pairings. The biggest ques tion the Lightning face is whether they can replace lost contributions.
“If we’re working to get open for each other and we’re talking, we’re mak ing it easy on each other, initially that’s important because, essentially, there’s probably going to be two or three different faces on that blue line,” said Lightning assistant coach Rob Zettler.
“If guys are guessing where people are, we’re going to be in trouble. If we know where people are and we’re communicating, then we’re going to be good. And then that will allow our tal ent to shine through. ... We’ve got to play predict able to make our game a lit
The Lightning brought in three new faces to help. After losing McDonagh, the team jumped at signing vet eran defenseman Ian Cole, who won back-to-back Stan ley Cups in Pittsburgh and can do some of the things McDonagh did, such as block shots and play on the penalty kill.
“It’s critical,” Zettler said of adding Cole. “He’s been on a few teams and in all kinds of different situa tions. So, you know, we’re not going to throw anything at him that he hasn’t seen before.”
While the Lightning like the stability Cole can pro vide, the team’s two other additions on defense, Philippe Myers and Haydn Fleury, are wild cards. Both were highly touted pros pects still looking to find their footing as NHL reg ulars. Tampa Bay is the 25-year-old Myers’ third organization in three years and the fourth in three years for Fleury, 26.
The Lightning have proven in the past that they can take retreads and turn them into key contributors, and there might be no bet ter example than Rutta, who worked his way into a major role on the past two Stanley Cup teams.
Both Myers and Fleury will be relied on to possess the puck and push it out of the Tampa Bay end more quickly, Zettler said.
“We’ve got to do a bet ter job of that, and defend ing,” he said. “If those guys can bring that to the table on a consistent basis, they’re going to play. Because the less time we spend in our own end, obviously, the bet ter. And those little 10-foot, 15-foot passes, 10-foot sup port plays, if you have the ability to make those kinds of plays in traffic at the NHL level, it’s hard.
“And if you have the abil ity to make those plays, you’re going to have success, and we’re going to want you on the ice, because we want to get the hell out of our zone. That’s essentially the conversations I’ve had with them: ‘These are the plays we need you guys to make.’
Mikhail Sergachev is used to being on the ice for long stretches at a time. Now, it’s about the “more physical minutes,” assistant coach Rob Zettler says.
Perhaps more crucial to the Lightning’s success are the increased roles for Mikhail Sergachev and Cal Foote.
Sergachev, who already ranked second in ice time among the team’s defense men (22:28 per game) will move up to a top-four role. He has been skating with Erik Cernak during camp, which will mean harder minutes and tougher matchups. McDonagh often was tasked with lining up against opponents’ top lines, and now that is Ser gachev’s role.
“To me, it’s making sure we manage those, because they are harder minutes,”
Zettler said. “They’re more physical minutes, they’re more speedy minutes. So it’s not necessarily about play ing a lot more minutes. Just making sure we’re ready to play harder minutes.”
Sergachev is likely to take on a bigger role on the pen alty kill in addition to his second-team power-play duties.
“I was trying to get stron ger (in the offseason) a little bit and work on my endur ance so I could play more,” Sergachev said. “Sometimes when you play a lot of min utes you make the decisions that you regret sometimes, and I was working on this, too, to get used to be able to play a lot of minutes and to make great decisions.”
Then there’s Foote, the former first-round pick who is entering a contract year. While grooming him to be an NHL regular, the Lightning slotted him as a third-pair defenseman the past two years. He showed growth in 56 games last sea son but struggled with con sistency.
Foote will start this sea son paired with Hedman, which will mean increased minutes and tougher matchups for him as well. The team hopes that a full preseason — Foote missed camp last year with a hand injury — will help him establish himself in a new role. Playing with Hedman, whose game includes jump ing up in the offense more than most defensemen, demands heightened aware ness, and Foote said he has learned a lot from skating with the former Norris Tro phy winner.
“Every time you’re on the ice with him in practice, you learn something new,” Foote said. “Every day, I feel I can get more comfortable with him. I feel like we’re building chemistry, know ing where each other is on the ice, and in my mind he is the best defenseman in the world. So I’m very fortu nate to be able to play with a player of that caliber. So, hopefully we can stick this through and have a good start.”
Anthony Cirelli and Zach Bogosian will return about six weeks into the season. But offseason departures open up full-time roles, too.
BY ANDREW CRANE Special to the Timeshile most of the Lightning’s core from their third consecutive run to the Stanley Cup final remained intact, offseason departures and surgeries created open ing-night roster spots.
Defenseman Ryan McDonagh was sent to Nashville to help navigate the sal ary cap. Left wing Ondrej Palat signed with the Devils. Defenseman Jan Rutta left, too. Defenseman Zach Bogosian and center Anthony Cirelli both had shoulder surgeries following the 2022 postseason and embarked on similar recovery timelines, keeping them out until late November or early December.
Here are players new to the lineup this season that could earn a role — short term or long term — with Tampa Bay.
Position: Center/wing
Experience: 10th season
Contract: 1 year, $2.5 million average annual value through 2022-23 (via CapFriendly)
Where he fits: While new to the Light ning’s 2022-23 lineup, Namestnikov is a familiar name within the organization. Tampa Bay selected him with its firstround pick (27th overall) in 2011, and he spent four-plus seasons with the Light ning before a February 2018 trade.
In between his stints with the fran chise, Namestnikov said his game has matured — especially defensively, as he spent time killing penalties or skat ing with the shutdown line. He played for Jeff Blashill, now a Tampa Bay assis tant coach, in Detroit, and Blashill said Namestnikov grew to understand that better defense “usually means more ice time.”
Namestnikov scored at least 16 goals in three of the last five seasons, and this preseason, he occasionally practiced on a line with Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos. Both were part of the Lightning lineup during Namestnikov’s early years with the team.
Position: Defenseman
Experience: 13th season
Contract: 1 year, $3 million average annual value through 2022-23 (via CapFriendly)
Where he fits: Lightning players and coaches repeated throughout the pre season that it’s impossible to replace McDonagh. But Cole gives them an experienced option. He worked on the third defensive pairing throughout training camp, and he can also help kill penalties like McDonagh.
Cole won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017. He spent the 2021-22 season with Carolina, filling a role that reflected the “nice bit of a niche” Cole has created for himself in the NHL. He finished with 19 points, 104 blocked shots, 110 hits and 29 take aways — three away from his career high of 32, set with Pittsburgh in 2016-17. “(Cole) has been around the block, has played for a bunch of winning teams and some great coaches,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
Position: Defenseman
Experience: 5th season
Contract: 1 year, $2.55 million average annual value on deal from Flyers; 1 year, $1.4 million average annual value exten sion through 2023-24 (via CapFriendly)
Where he fits: Early in his NHL career, Myers was a top-four defenseman with the Flyers. He went from an undrafted prospect to one averaging up to 18 minutes of ice time. That trajectory changed after a trade to Nashville, where he stumbled out of the lineup before getting loaned to the Toronto Marlies — the Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate — for 16 games last year.
But as part of the Lightning’s return in the McDonagh deal, Myers has another chance to crack an NHL lineup, though likely on the third defensive pairing for now. His 6-foot-5 frame has impressed the staff, with assistant coach Jeff Halp ern calling him a “monster of a man.” The team also signed him to a one-year extension following the trade. “I think that he has the ability to be a fantasti cally good hockey player,” said Cole, his blueline partner through most of the preseason.
Position: Left wing
Experience: Rookie
Contract: 1 year, $925,000 average annual value remaining on 2-year deal through 2022-23 (via CapFriendly)
Where he fits: Koepke was close to his NHL debut last year. He spent time with the Lightning’s Black Aces (extra players added to a playoff roster who can practice with the team) — experi ence that was “invaluable,” Cooper said — after playing 74 regular-season and playoff games for AHL Syracuse. He compiled 42 points with the Crunch last year (22 goals, 20 assists).
Koepke emerged as a favorite to crack the Lightning’s lineup, especially with Tampa Bay needing to fill a forward spot after Cirelli’s injury. How the former sixth-round pick from Minnesota-Du luth performs during that window will likely determine his role once Cirelli returns.
“There’s nothing like that experience,” Halpern said about Koepke’s time with the Black Aces. “When you’re sitting there watching, I think you do learn things. You learn from watching the guys. But I’m sure he’s excited just to get in those situations.”
Position: Defenseman
Experience: 6th season
Contract: 2 years, $1.525 million through 2023-24 ($762,500 average annual value, via CapFriendly)
Where he fits: Fleury might not make the three sets of blueliners that dress for games — with Victor Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev and Cole likely serving as the top three left-handed defensemen — but he has positioned himself for a reserve role.
Fleury said he was a bit overwhelmed the first few days of training camp. The Lightning are his fourth team in three years, and the former first-round pick (No. 7 overall) hasn’t logged more than 47 games in a season since 2017-18. Skating has always been a strength, Fleury said, but his physicality has grad ually developed. If he’s battling with a forward in the corner, Fleury now trusts he can “end a play” and start a rush in the other direction.
“I know what I am and I know what I do well,” Fleury said, “and that’s kinda what I try and stick to.”
Position: Defenseman Experience: Rookie Contract: 1 year, $925,000 average annual value through 2022-23 (via Cap Friendly)
Where he fits: Perbix sits in a similar position to Fleury. He’s likely not posi tioned for a top-six role on defense, at least based on pairings in recent prac tices. But with Bogosian out, a reserve opportunity might emerge depending on how many defensemen the Light ning keep.
Perbix has worked on his presence in the defensive zone, an effort to under stand the structure of the system, spacing of his teammates and timing of puck touches — different from “just playing hockey” at the offensive end.
Tampa Bay made him a sixth-round selection in 2017. After completing his collegiate career at St. Cloud State in March, he played 17 games for AHL Syr acuse and tallied nine points.
Note: This story published before final roster moves by the team.
