Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
5. Freddy Modin
Single Season High Goals: 32
Career High Goals: 232
Whether you have been a fan of the sport of hockey since the Tampa Bay Lightning’s inception in 1992, or you are a fan who has just recently been turned onto the sport and/or team, there is always a particular group of players you recognize by name. Many of those players were members of the 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning team that captured the Stanley Cup.
There are many players on that particular team that are worthy of being considered as one of the greatest goal scorers in Tampa Bay Lightning history. One of those very such players goes by the name Frederik Modin, or as those of us here in the Bolts Nation know him, Freddy Modin.
Freddy Modin started out his career in the 1996-97 season as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. His first couple seasons in the National Hockey League were a little rough. In the three months he spent with the Maple Leafs, Modin found himself unable to break through the 20 goal mark.
Once Modin was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1999, things seemed to begin clicking for the then-twenty-five year old winger. In his very first season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Modin broke through the 20 goal ceiling he had been trapped under with the Maple Leafs. Modin would end his first season with the Bolts with 22 goals and 26 assists for a total of 48 points.
As we mentioned before, Modin was also a part of the 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning team that won the Stanley Cup. In the regular season, Modin would bring home 29 goals and 28 assists for a total of 57 points. Modin would also play an instrumental role in the Lightning postseason success, bringing home 8 goals and 11 assists for a total of 19 points. The very next season, Modin would set a career-high single season goal record with 32 goals and 24 assists for a total of 56 points.
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While Freddy Modin may not have had the kind of flashy goal scoring season as someone like Steven Stamkos, Modin certainly made his impact here in the Bolts Nation. In the six seasons Modin wore a Tampa Bay Lightning sweater he would amass a total of 145 goals. This places Modin in fifth place in goals scored in Tampa Bay Lightning franchise history.
No matter how much time passes us by, Freddy Modin will always have a place in Tampa Bay Lightning history. Aside from helping the team capture its first Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history, his puck handling skill and dangerously fast slapshot definitely made an impact on the Tampa Bay Lightning as a whole and helped pave the way for young players today like Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson.
Next: One-Third of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Franchise Trio