The Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning were in very different places last year at this time. The Capitals had the No. 1 offense in all of the NHL and were running away with both the division and the overall point lead in the NHL.
The Lightning were struggling and trailed the Capitals in the division by 22 points after 53 games last season. Ultimately, the Capitals would finish 41 points better than Tampa Bay and that was enough for Tampa’s owner, Jeff Vinik. Not wasting any time, Vinik fired head coach Rick Tocchet and GM Brain Lawton the day after last season ended.
In late May, Vinik hired a reluctant Steve Yzerman. Yzerman was waiting to take over one day in Detroit and reportedly turned Vinik down four times before finally accepting the job. Yzerman was given the title of vice president and general manager and went right to work.
In his first major move in b ...
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Article written by Alan Zlotorzynski