Tampa Bay Lightning Year In Review: Brett Connolly

As the off-season continues on and Tampa Bay Lightning fans wait anxiously for the 2015-16 season to start, let’s take one last look at the 2014-15 season of former Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Brett Connolly.

It has been a long and winding road for former Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Brett Connolly. Unfortunately, as he stood facing what would come to be a make or break season for the young Lightning forward, things did not quite turn out the way one hoped they would.

Brett Connolly was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1^st Round (6^th overall) in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Judging from the looks of things at the time, the future of the young British Columbia native was pretty bright. Somewhere along the way it seemingly took a wrong turn.

Connolly played his first-ever National Hockey League game on October 7, 2011 as the Tampa Bay Lightning demolished the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1. While he did not score in his first on-ice effort with the Bolts, he did go on to put up some pretty solid numbers that season. Connolly would finish off the 2011-12 season with 4 goals and 11 assists for a total of 15 points.

Unfortunately, it seems like this is where his career took the turn that led him down the path he finds himself on today. While there was plenty of potential in the young Lightning forward, with the amount of young talent that was chomping at the bit for their moment in the spotlight, somehow Connolly fell into the background and spent a majority of the season that followed with the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.

Connolly would make a few appearances in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. Unfortunately, his performance was not enough for Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman to be totally sold on the idea of Connolly being made a permanent member of the Lightning’s main roster; at least not yet.

This brings us to the 2014-15 season. For the second time since taking the ice for the first time with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Brett Connolly would spend a good portion of the season on the Lightning’s main roster. It also seemed as if Connolly had finally found the moves that he had demonstrated at the AHL level on NHL ice.

In the 50 games that Connolly played with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, he scored 12 goals and 3 assists for a total of 15 points. This was a career high for the twenty three year old forward and was good enough to tie his career-high total in points. Unfortunately, it was not enough to secure him a permanent spot on the Lightning roster.

On March 2^nd, the final day of the NHL Trade Deadline, Yzerman elected to trade Brett Connolly to the Boston Bruins in exchange for a 2^nd Round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft and a 2^nd Round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. Unfortunately, just when you think things couldn’t get any more trying for the young forward, the hands of fate swooped down and smacked him upside the head much like the ones delivered to Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo by his boss Special Agent Jethro Gibbs in an episode of NCIS.

Just two days after finding his new home with the Boston Bruins, Connolly would suffer a broken finger that would require surgery to repair. This would relegate him to the sidelines for about four weeks. Connolly finally debuted in a Bruins jersey on April 2^nd as the Bruins defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-2.

Thanks to the injury to his hand, Connolly would only have time to play 5 games with the Bruins before the regular season would come to an end. In those five games, Connolly was able to make his way to the scoreboard, scoring 2 assists.

Overall, this is one of those sad situations that you never want to see happen on your team. Brett Connolly is a young player that has plenty of potential inside him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to bring that potential into full fruition as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Brett Connolly is a stand up guy both on and off of the ice, but at the end of the day hockey is a business and Steve Yzerman had to do what he thought was the best for the team as a whole, and that led him to trade Connolly to the Bruins.

Hopefully, when the 2015-16 season kicks up Brett Connolly can cash in on some of that potential he has bottled up on the inside and quickly find his way to the scoreboard. Well…except for when the Bruins play the Tampa Bay Lightning, of course.

What are your thoughts on Brett Connolly? Do you think Yzerman made the right decision by sending him to the Boston Bruins? Do you think he’ll finally have that breakout season we have been waiting for next season? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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