This spring, the Tampa Bay Lightning entered the playoffs with 101 points and home-ice advantage, but an untimely injury to starting goalie Ben Bishop proved the team’s undoing. With no legitimate second option, the Lightning got .884 save percentage goaltending and were dispatched in four straight first-round games by the Montreal Canadiens.
It would have been easy for the team’s management group to look at its exceptional core of young players (13 of the skaters to dress in the postseason were age 25 or younger) and the injury to Bishop and shrug off that defeat as one of those things that happens sometimes.
Instead, general manager Steve Yzerman was exceptionally busy via both the trade market and free agency. The net result is a completely revamped defence that will lean heavily on a pair of significant veteran additions, some change up front and a new backup goalie.
Is the sweeping change enough to turn the Lightning into a Stanley Cup contender?
One of the team’s biggest improvements has very little to do with Yzerman’s offseason moves. Tampa Bay’s young p ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
Are the New-Look Tampa Bay Lightning Legitimate Stanley Cup Contenders?
July 21st, 2014 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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