All-Time Teams: Lightning

Whoever thought that that center of the sports world would be Tampa Bay? In the past four months the city has had an MLB pennant winner, a Super Bowl-bound Buccaneers team and a Stanley Cup champion. Here's the all-time roster for the Tampa Bay Lightning:

The Lightning defeated Dallas in the 2020 final and won a seven-game series over the Flames for their first cup in 2004. Tampa lost to Chicago in the 2015 final.

1st Line

Left Wing - Brad Richards The Lady Byng trophy winner in 2004, Brad Richards led the league with 26 postseason points, earning him the Conn Smythe trophy in addition to the Stanley Cup. Richards is fifth in Lightning history with 339 assists and 489 points. His 0.89 points per game average and 150 goals are the sixth-highest totals in team annals. Primarily a center, Richards played some left wing early in his career - enough to move him here on the top line rather than centering the third line.

Center - Steven Stamkos Tampa's current captain, Steven Stamkos is the franchise leader in goals, power play goals, and even-strength goals. The two-time Richard trophy winner finished second in MVP voting in 2012 after setting a Lightning single-season record with 60 goals. He leads all Tampa players in point shares with 109.1 and his 1.06 points per game average is second to Nikita Kucherov in Tampa Bay history.

Right Wing - Martin St. Louis The only Hall of Famer on this roster, Martin St. Louis leads the Lightning in assists, points, short-handed goals, and game-winning goals. A three-time Lady Byng Trophy winner, St. Louis led the NHL in assists, points, plus/minus, and short-handed tallies in his MVP season of 2003-04. St. Louis was traded to the Rangers in 2014, helping to boost the Blueshirts' run to the final that spring.

2nd Line

Left Wing - Vinny Prospal A veteran of seven teams in 16 NHL seasons, Vinny Prospal had his best years in Tampa Bay. In 468 games with the Lightning Prospal posted the seventh-highest assist total (244) and point total (371) in franchise annals. The Czech forward is eighth in team annals with a points per game average of 0.79 and 27.1 offensive point shares. Only five Bolts have scored more power play goals than Prospal.

Center - Vincent Lecavalier The first overall pick in the 1998 draft, Vincent Lecavalier is second to St. Louis on the Lightning's all-time list for assists and points, and second to Stamkos in goals. The NHL's leading goal-scorer in 2006-07, Lecavalier set career highs with 52 goals and 108 points that season. He ranks third in Tampa Bay history with 94.9 point shares, second in power play goals with 112, and first in games played for the franchise with 1,037.

Right Wing - Nikita Kucherov The 2019 Hart trophy winner as league MVP, Nikita Kucherov set single-season franchise records with his league-leading totals of 87 assists and 128 points in the '18-19 season. In just seven seasons with the Lightning Kucherov has compiled the fourth-highest goals and points total and the second-highest plus/minus rating in Tampa Bay history. His 1.06 points per game average ranks first in franchise annals and only Stamkos has averaged more goals per game.

3rd Line

Left Wing - Ondrej Palat The Lightning's career leader in plus/minus rating, Ondrej Palat finished second on the team with 11 goals in the 2020 playoffs. In 500 games with the Bolts Palat has posted 332 points, the ninth-highest total in team history. He ranks tenth in team history with a 0.66 points per game average, ninth in offensive point shares with a 24.3 score, and eighth among Tampa players with 219 assists. 

Center - Brayden Point The leading goal scorer in the 2020 playoffs, Brayden Point forced his way onto this all-time roster despite playing less than 300 regular season games in just four-plus seasons. He's already tenth in Tampa annals with 118 goals and 23.7 offensive point shares, tied for sixth in plus/minus and game-winning goals, and tied for forth in points per game average. Point's 0.39 goals per game average is third-best in team history and he leads all Lightning players with a 17.2 shooting percentage.

Right Wing - Fredrik Modin Tampa's third-leading scorer during their 2004 Stanley Cup title run, Fredrik Modin posted two 30-goal seasons in his half-dozen years with the Bolts. The Swedish winger ranks seventh in team history with 145 goals and sixth in even-strength tallies with 110. Primarily a left wing, I had to move Modin to the right side and shuffle Brad Richards around to make room for Point.

4th Line

Left Wing - Alex Killorn A consistent 40-plus point scorer over his seven full seasons in Tampa, Alex Killorn set career highs with 26 goals and 49 points in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. He ranks tenth in team history in points, eighth in goals, and sixth in games played. The Harvard grad is tied with Brayden Point on the Lightning's all-time list for both plus/minus and game-winning goals.

Center - Tyler Johnson A Calder trophy finalist in 2014 and a Stanley Cup finalist in 2015, Tyler Johnson has posted five 20-goal seasons for the Lightning including two 29-goal campaigns. The team's co-leader with 73 points in the 2014-15 regular season, Johnson led all postseasons scorers that spring with 13 goals and tied Chicago's Patrick Kane for the lead with 23 points. A 2015 All-Star, Tyler is fifth in Tampa annals with 153 goals and fourth in plus/minus with a +85 rating.

Right Wing - Teddy Purcell One of only nine Lightning forwards to play 300 games, score 200 points, and post a positive plus/minus rating for the team, Teddy Purcell ranks 17th in Tampa Bay history (and 14th among forwards) with 136 assists and 203 points in just 310 contests. He excelled in the 2011 playoffs, scoring 17 points in 18 games for the Lightning.

 

Spares - Brian Bradley, Ryan Malone

An original member of the Lightning, Brian Bradley was selected from Toronto's roster in the 1992 expansion draft and quickly became Tampa's first scoring star. Bradley led the first-year team with 42 goals and 85 points in 1992-93 - both career highs - and earned the first of two consecutive All-Star nods. He remains fourth in franchise history with a 0.91 points per game average and ninth in assists with 189. Malone racked up six 20-goal seasons in ten full NHL seasons. The 2008-09 league leader in shooting percentage is 13th in Tampa Bay history with 30 power play goals.

Defense Pair 1

Victor Hedman - Pavel Kubina

The second overall pick in the 2009 draft, Victor Hedman is the Lightning's all-time leader with 41.5 defensive point shares and ranks fourth among all Tampa players with 82.8 total point shares. A Norris trophy finalist in each of the past four seasons, Hedman won the award in 2017-18 and captured the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP in 2020. The 6' 6" Swede is sixth in Bolts history with 478 points and ranks fourth in franchise annals with 372 assists and 766 games played. Kubina is fifth on the Lightning's games played list and second in penalty minutes with 784. His 24.1 defensive point shares score is tied for second in team history with Martin St. Louis.

Defense Pair 2

Dan Boyle - Anton Stralman

Dan Boyle is second among Lightning defensemen with 253 points and his 187 assists are tied for tenth in team history with Tyler Johnson. He produced a near-equal amount of offense in a near-equal amount of games for the Sharks, but San Jose's d-corps was deep enough without him. Anton Stralman ranks third among Bolts blueliners with 20.7 defensive point shares and fifth among all Tampa players with a +80 rating. Currently a Florida Panther, Stralman played in back-to-back Stanley Cup finals - with the Rangers in 2014 and the Lightning a year later.

Defense Pair 3

Roman Hamrlik - Cory Sarich

Tampa's first-ever draft pick and the first overall selection in 1992, Roman Hamrlik played more NHL games than any player on this all-time roster. The three-time All-Star's 1,395 appearances are more than all but 40 players in NHL history. In his six seasons with Tampa Bay, Hamrlik registered 185 points - including a career-high 65 in 1995-96. Cory Sarich is fifth among Lightning defensemen with 16.8 defensive point shares and tied for sixth on the franchise's penalty minutes list with 554 PIMs.

 

Spare - Braydon Coburn

Now an Ottawa Senator, Braydon Coburn was a valuable member of three Stanley Cup finalists including the 2020 champs. Of the few remaining defensemen who qualified for this roster, Coburn's experience and plus-26 rating earned him the spare spot over Jassen Cullimore and Cory Cross - who provided no value offensively and no significant upgrade in their own end.

 

Goalies

Starter - Andrei Vasilevskiy

Backup - Ben Bishop

Vasilevskiy is entering just his fifth season as Tampa's full-time starter, yet he already owns franchise records for wins, shutouts, and minutes played. The NHL leader in wins for three consecutive seasons from 2018-20, Andrei earned Vezina trophy honors in 2019. His success in the Lightning net made Bishop expendable after four seasons as Tampa's starter. The 6' 7" American boasts the Bolts' best goals against average and save percentage. He backstopped the team to the 2015 final and finished top-3 in Vezina voting three times.

Head Coach: Jon Cooper  Captain: Steven Stamkos

The longest-tenured head coach in the NHL, Jon Cooper has over 100 more regular season wins for Tampa than John Tortorella - and twice as many playoff victories. Cooper's .646 winning percentage is 100 points ahead of the second-place head coach, Guy Boucher. Stamkos is serving as Tampa's captain for the eighth consecutive season, breaking a tie with Vincent Lecavalier.

 

I hope you'll join us tomorrow for our next All-Time Team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

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