Rapid Reactions: Tampa Bay Lightning 2015-16 Season Expectations

It’s like a broken record that Tampa Bay Lightning fans hear everyday. The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Lightning in six games during the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals. It was a tough pill to swallow for those players, coaches, and front office members that put in so much time and effort to win Lord Stanley’s cup, but fell just short of the ultimate prize. For fans, the heartbreak was one that we as a fan base has not felt in the 23 year history of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization.

Now the 2015-16 season is about to begin and the Tampa Bay Lightning are hard at work to take the next step and become Stanley Cup champions. That is the goal this year. Anything else would be a failure in the minds of the players, coaches, and front office personal as well as the fans. The boys in blue have already felt the heartbreak of losing in the Stanley Cup Finals, but they must learn from that and use that as motivation to get back and hoist the cup over their heads in June.

Some of the things we expect this year is once again being at the top of the league in scoring once again. The Tampa Bay Lightning roster is relatively unchanged from last years squad that topped the league in goal scored so that is something that should be matched. What is scary is captain Steven Stamkos, who is considered one of the NHL’s top scorers, actually had a down year by his standards even though he still put 43 goals in the back of the net and tied for the team lead in points with Tyler Johnson at 72.

The triplets, made up of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Nikita Kucherov, became one of the most feared lines in hockey last season. Their combination of speed, skill, and chemistry on the ice made them almost impossible to stop. Even if a team was able to ‘shut them down’ for a couple of periods, the group always seemed to make a mark on the score sheet night in and night out. They will only get stronger and better acquainted with each other the more they are on the ice together.

Some players that will need to step up this year and excel in different roles are J.T. Brown, Erik Condra, and Alex Killorn. For Brown, he has proven that he can be a fourth line checking forward that can forecheck with the best in the league. However, he is soon to be a restricted free agent and there are many talented prospects behind him that are licking their chops looking to take his roster spot. I talked more about Browns role here.

For Condra, the veteran winger must become a leader in the room after coming over from the Ottawa Senators in free agency. Brenden Morrow played that role well last year, but the hope is Condra will be able to do something Morrow didn’t do so well and that is playing well on the ice. Condra needs to be able to play on the penalty kill and score here and there while on the fourth line so this team can be successful.

Killorn is an interesting player that is entering the final year of his contract this season. After having his coming out party during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Killorn will need to take the role of a top line scoring winger next to captain Steven Stamkos. He will be expected to pass his previous year goal, assist, and point totals as he will be given more ice time and be put in prime scoring positions with teams keeping an extra eye on Stamkos.

As for other players that are in the last year of their current contract, names like Cedric Paquette, Killorn, Brown, Andrej Sustr, and Vladislav Namestnikov will need to prove to the organization that they should be apart of their future plans. With a wave of new prospects coming very soon, some on these players could find themselves out of a Lightning uniform if they do not live up to expectations, especially with potential salary cap problems developing.

In goal, Ben Bishop should once again rank among the leagues elite at the goaltender position. The feeling was that Russian sensation Andrei Vasilevskiy was going to take some of the workload off of Bishop this season, but with surgery expected to keep the second year goaltender out of action for atleast the first month after having a blood clot removed from his collarbone, it will be up to veteran netminder Ray Emery or Latvian born Kristers Gudlevskis to give Bishop a rest here and there.

Overall, expectations are high as the Tampa Bay Lightning enter the 2015-16 regular season. Though they reside in a tough Atlantic Division, there is no doubt that the team can top the division for the first time since it was formed. See our full Eastern Conference preview here. It’s Stanley Cup or bust for the Tampa Bay Lightning as next offseason could be one of major transition.

Next: Recap Of The 2015 Tampa Bay Lightning Prospects Tournament

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