In the 2009 NHL Draft, the Tampa Bay Lightning selected defenseman, Victor Hedman with the number two pick. Five days after drafting the 18-year-old Swede, the team made a couple of decisions that helped catapult Hedman’s career. Imagine beginning your NHL career half a world away from home. The best league in the world is […]

In this mixed bag of a season for the Tampa Bay Lightning, one of the bright spots recently has been Jake Dotchin. The 22-year-old defenseman has 11 NHL games on his resume. The Tampa faithful has seen his ever-increasing role among the blueliners even line up with All-Star Victor Hedman. Drafted in the sixth round […]

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been in existence for 24 NHL seasons. During this time, there have been 43 men who took their position between the pipes for the Bolts. For our purposes, we are only looking at those goalies that played at least 100 games for the Lightning. The minimum game criterion gets the […]

A team in the NHL that loses as many games as they win is usually not a playoff team. For the Tampa Bay Lightning, before their Thursday night game against the Florida Panthers, they have won 22 games and lost 22. This record doesn’t indicate in the least that they are burning up the league […]

As the New Year’s celebrations begin to take place all over North America, the outdoor games the NHL has held over the last few years are in need of some change. Particularly, with the teams that are invited to participate. Over the last four seasons, excluding the Heritage Classic which was designed for only teams […]

Even the most casual NHL fan knows the Tampa Bay Lightning is a talent laden team. Yet despite that fact, the level of talent and depth of the Lightning has not been enough to avoid struggling this season. In my mid-season report on the team, the biggest weakness showed by the Lightning has been the […]

Sometimes the NHL schedule makers get things right. Sometimes, not so much. The first game of the 2016-17 season featuring a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Pittsburgh Penguins was set for tonight at Amalie Arena in Tampa. It could not come at a worse time for […]

Compare defensive statistics of the Tampa Bay Lightning this year versus last and the difference is minimal. One might even say that it is barely detectable, but the fans watching see it all too clearly. Over the last few games, the deficiency as a team by the Lightning defensively is evident. Too many fans in […]

The Tampa Bay Lightning franchise has been around for a quarter century. In that time, the various team general managers have pulled off some trades that have changed the course of not only a season but the organization in some cases. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as any surprise since the six individuals who have held […]

The case can be made that the Tampa Bay Lightning have one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL. Their duo of Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy is the envy of most of the league. Imagine being able to roll out a two-time Vezina Trophy finalist in Bishop. If Bish is tired or needs […]

As last season was winding down Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman probably had some restless nights. The team was looking at the very real possibility that they would lose their captain, Steven Stamkos, to free agency. If this were the only issue facing Yzerman, there would not be much empathy given to the GM. […]

The late comedian, Rodney Dangerfield was known world-wide for his well worn punch line: “I get no respect”. Dangerfield built an almost 60 year career on being the poor schlub that never got any respect. Well, the NHL has a team that would warm Dangerfield’s heart and that is the Tampa Bay Lightning. How else would […]

Since being recalled from the Syracuse Crunch with a couple of days to go in the regular season, Jonathan Drouin has been on a mission. Granted, the mission was quite of his own doing. Despite that, Drouin’s play has displayed his desire of showing the hockey world what his talents can produce while his team is […]

When Tampa Bay Lightning goalie, Ben Bishop went down in the first period of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, die-hard fans must of thought the team is snake bit. Cursing the league office for scheduling a game on Friday the 13th. What in the world were they thinking? While most people know injuries are […]

The Eastern Conference Final is set and the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 Friday night. This is an intriguing matchup with two similar teams. Both teams rely on speed and finesse on the offensive sides, while both have highly skilled players up and down the line. Both teams have a […]

Over the recent history of the NHL, most if not all of the playoff teams bring up a group of AHL players in their system to be the “Black Aces” for the franchise. This practice has been in vogue for some time and it gives these young players an opportunity to experience the playoff atmosphere […]

It would be easy to blow out of proportion the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Round 1 Playoff win over the Detroit Red Wings. The five game series won by the Lightning could be viewed by some as monumental considering the team was playing without two of its top players. Both Steven Stamkos and Anton Stralman were unavailable […]

Exactly one year ago, fans of the Tampa Bay Lightning were giddy with anticipation. First, there was a feeling that the team had to exorcise the remaining demons of the previous year’s playoff sweep at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. Most importantly, the Lightning were entering the playoffs 100 percent healthy, unlike the previous season […]

Apparently, F. Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t much of a hockey fan. The American writer so famously penned the words: There are no second acts in American lives. Clearly, he didn’t include Canadians as the Tampa Bay Lightning have announced that they are recalling forward Jonathan Drouin from the Syracuse Crunch to help them finish out the […]

By now Tampa Bay Lightning fans have heard or read the news about Steven Stamkos and his scheduled surgery set for this Monday. Diagnosed with a blood clot near his collarbone, this is the same type of surgery that goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy went through last September. While it is extremley disconcerting any time a team […]