Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
6. Vinny Prospal
Single Season High Goals: 29
Career High Goals: 255
Former Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Vinny Prospal had a long and winding road to becoming a member of the Lightning organization. Originally drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 3rd Round (71st overall) in the 1993 National Hockey League Entry Draft, Prospal would spend five seasons in the NHL before he made his way to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Vinny Prospal would spend two seasons with the Flyers, followed by three and a half seasons with the Ottawa Senators, when he would finally make his way to the Sunshine State as a member of the Florida Panthers. Prospal would make his Tampa Bay Lightning debut in the 2001-02 season.
In his first season, Prospal would make a name for himself as a playmaker. In the 81 games he played with the Bolts that season, Prospal scored 18 goals and 37 assists for a total of 55 points. The very next season, Prospal would see a big bump in his stats. Prospal would go on to score 22 goals and 57 assists for a total of 79 points in the 2002-03 season.
Unfortunately, in the season where the Tampa Bay Lightning would hold the Stanley Cup high above their heads, Prospal would find himself as a member of the Anaheim Ducks. The very next season, after the horrific time known as the NHL lockout, Prospal would find himself back here in the Bolts Nation for another three seasons.
In the 2007-08 season, Prospal would score a career-high 29 goals in a single season. If you combine this with the 28 assists Prospal earned that season, he would bring home a total of 57 points. Unfortunately for Prospal, he would exit the Tampa Bay Lightning once again towards the end of the season as he was traded back to the team that originally drafted him, the Philadelphia Flyers.
After spending one more season with the team he began his career with, Prospal would make his way back to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a third time. This time, he would only spend one season with the Bolts before he would make his way to the New York Rangers.
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While he may have hopped around a lot during his six overall seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Prospal would score a total of 127 goals. This is about half of the goals he would score in his 16 seasons in the National Hockey League. Considering only six of his seasons were with the Tampa Bay Lightning, we think it’s pretty safe to say his biggest impact on hockey was as a member of the Bolts. Prospal’s 127 goals place him in sixth place overall in franchise history for goals scored.
As we said before, Vinny Prospal may not have had the storied careers of players like Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis did with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but his impact was still felt here in the Bolts Nation. Much like players like Brian Bradley and Freddy Modin, Prospal is a part of the foundation on which the Tampa Bay Lightning was built.
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