Today I discuss the Tampa Bay Lightning in my ongoing look at teams who were eliminated from the 2024 playoffs.
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29 Comments
Third!
I think they’re in the 2019-present Capitals and Penguins eras. They’ll keep making the playoffs over the next few years but I wouldn’t expect a ton of success.
Tampa probably could win a cup if Vassy got hot enough, but he hasnt looked the same last few years.
Nah the window is closed. Idk if the lightning even make the playoffs next year, kuch had to have a miracle szn to drag us there. Big changes are coming to Tampa i believe
343rd YES IM AWESOME
No
Reminds me of the post-Lidstrom era Red Wings.
The window isn't completely closed, but it's going to take a whole host of cards falling the correct way for an actual run to happen again with the current core. Regardless, nearly a decade of contending from 2015-2024ish, not bad. Couple years of retooling and some cap elevating, and the team could compete again the post Stammer/Hedman era.
Worth noting that they missed the playoffs in 2017 by like one point after a sizzling hot finish nearly got them in.
Other teams have gotten deeper and are younger and fresher with more consistent goaltending. Free up as much cap as possible while not trading away the core players and add some fast intense hard hitting skaters that can score beyond the 1-1.5 lines.
Nope. RD-2 tops, I’d say. They still have fine individual players but no reliable backup for Vasilevskiy and they’re already talking about dealing important pieces like Cernak to stay under the cap, and still sign certain others they’d like to keep.
Considering how great the players are who left after the cups, it’s actually pretty impressive the remaining team can still make the postseason. Probably no team has lost more depth.
Not with their current roster.
Lightning still have serious pieces.
they didnt have sergachev imo the window is not closed yet .
Honestly I think it’s over for now. Not getting any younger. Rebuild coming in the next few years.
Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos (he's staying), Victor Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel, Nick Paul, Erik Cernak, Andrei Vasilevskiy. That's a hell of a core. Add in Jon Cooper and I'd say the door is wide, wide, open. They got exhausted going to three finals in a row (winning two), and lost to Toronto because of it, and ran into a buzz saw with Florida. They haven't gone away. They will be solid next year, while the Leafs (and Bruins) miss the playoffs.
Love the old school lightning gear Shannon.
The blue line is what concerns me the most about this team. Heddy isn’t getting younger, losing Serg clearly hurt (hope he comes back to the player we saw in 2022-23), Cernak is way too injury prone to justify his contract imo, and the rest don’t inspire me for the future.
Shannon go listen to his exit interview Stankos talking about Kucherov , Hedman Point taking less than market it's the TB way.
No
they wouldn’t have gotten those cups without corn
My take is that the small chance they had was given in that Jeannot trade. That trade did not work out at all in my opinion, and they dont have the draft picks nor assets necessary to trade to get some depth I believe.
Cause the core still played well in the Florida series, they were largely let down by the fact that if Hedman/Kuch/Stamkos werent on the ice, it was game over. Whereas before they had guys like Palat, Cirelli and Johnson, plus McDonagh on the blue line
Tampa isnt going past the first round next year
No they aren’t because Florida just beat them so they’re now out of the tournament.
As a Lightning fan, I was really hoping for a Tampa/Winnipeg cup final in 2018 as those are my 2 favorite teams from each conference. This year sucked for me also as the Hockey gods haven't liked me in '18 or '24 year. Crazy that all 3 of THG teams are still in it
As a Lightning fan, I think the answer to the title is no, but they can be with the right leadership decisions. The depth is god-awful, and our defense is awful. I think losing one of the only parts of this team that is known to work, Stamkos and Cooper, could be disastrous, but maybe a big shake-up could help. I really don't know what they can do, but as someone who has been a fan of the game since 2010 and watched them go to the finals in 2015 and then two years later not make the playoffs, this team can bounce back.
It is possible that 2024-25 might be a worse year than this one. There is very little wiggle room this year for major changes to the lines, especially with no good draft picks or cap space. It could be time for a rebuild, in which case maybe Stamkos and Cooper leaving isn't so bad.
Winnipeg Jets should at least talk to Jon Cooper since the entire hockey world is saying Berube will likely go to the Leafs
NO
– Too "old" to play consistent enough in a normal 82 game season and last through a deep playoff run
= Round 1 exits should be the norm before eventually missing the playoffs