Tampa Bay Lightning Fans Have Much To Look Forward To

The performance of the Tampa Bay Lightning the past few seasons has given its fans much to look forward to and be optimistic about, especially when the front office makes the right decisions in the off-season.

After two consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final two seasons ago, things are on the upswing for the Tampa Bay Lightning heading into the future. And despite a shaky regular season in 2015-16 and a disappointing loss in Game 7 of last year’s Conference Final, the mood surrounding the team going forward is as positive as ever.

There are various factors that must go into looking at why the Lightning haven’t won it all despite their success and thrilling performances the past few years. All of the untimely injuries and a bit of bad luck could be to blame, but that’s not the point here.

The point is that the Tampa Bay Lightning have shined in the face of adversity and performed well when many doubted them. When everyone realized that Anton Stralman and Steven Stamkos would be out for a majority of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, many people brushed the Lightning aside and predicted that the Detroit Red Wings would easily get past their divisional rivals in the first round.

Some said the same thing when the series against the New York Islanders rolled around. Boy, were they wrong.

Not only did the Lightning get past both the Red Wings and Islanders, but they did so in five games, mainly because of the strong play of Ben Bishop in net and the ability of the depth players to step up in key moments. This trend continued in the third round against the Pittsburgh Penguins when Bishop went down early in game one of the Conference Final.

His injury allowed Andrei Vasilevskiy to step in and man the net during the most important time of the year. Even though Vasilevskiy and the Lightning fell short in that series against the Penguins, they took the best team and soon to be Stanley Cup Champions to a game seven. Essentially, they put up one heck of a fight despite being somewhat shorthanded.

Now, you may be wondering what I’m trying to get at here and all that I’m saying is that General Manager Steve Yzerman and his staff have assembled one of the best teams in the NHL and his group of players has clearly displayed that they can come through in big moments. But, there is still much work to be done and rest assured, Bolts Nation is confident in the abilities of those at the top.

In fact, they’re so confident that from the 200 responses submitted on a survey created by The Hockey News, the Tampa Bay Lightning ranked first in front office confidence out of all 30 NHL teams. Those who responded gave the team an overall rating of 8.37 on a scale of one to 10, with one corresponding to least confident and 10 corresponding to most confident.

Even the team’s official twitter account expressed its praise of Yzerman:

The survey asked those who chose to respond “to rank each team’s front office in six different categories based on how confident they would be if that front office were running their team instead,” as stated in the article. The results were then weighted by importance relative to the other categories. Drafting and development turned out to be the most important as gathered from the survey.

As you can imagine, the Tampa Bay Lightning front office garnered some favorable results and were ranked first overall in four categories: roster building (8.94 out of 10), cap management (8.21 out of 10), drafting and development of players (8.73 out of 10), and vision (8.88 out of 10). In the other two categories, free agency and trading, the Lightning finished second and sixth, respectively.

Despite the small sample size of votes, the Tampa Bay Lightning front office has done very well in drafting and developing young talent and finding “diamonds in the rough,” (i.e. Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson), managing the cap, especially more recently with Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, building an excellent roster, and establishing a clear vision and expressing the desire to win now. Even without the survey, it’s clear that one of the best management teams in the NHL resides in Tampa Bay.

In addition, locking up two of the team’s best players in Stamkos and Hedman long-term can do wonders for the confidence of a fan base and we’re sure Yzerman isn’t finished just yet.

The Lightning’s front office isn’t the only one doing a good job, as their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers, finished second overall on the list. The state of professional hockey in Florida is in great standings and the future of both teams is certainly bright, and with five Sunbelt teams finishing in the top 10 in the survey results, the success of the sport in the South is evident.

Related Story: Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Cory Conacher To One-Year Deal

So what comes next for the Tampa Bay Lightning? Confidence is likely at an all-time high for this franchise and the mood surrounding the team is very positive. I mean come on, Cory Conacher is back! What’s not to like?

As mentioned before, Stamkos and Hedman will be members of the Lightning for another eight years and Bishop, one of the team’s best players the last three seasons, will be here for at least another season, barring any potential trades. The two-time Vezina Trophy finalist will be an unrestricted free agent next year.

This version of the Tampa Bay Lightning is set to win now and the window for winning a Cup is as open as its ever been. The deep, talented core built by Steve Yzerman could very well win it all this coming season. It won’t be easy, though, but this group knows what it takes, as they fell just short two seasons ago. Experience is no longer an issue, rather, staying healthy at the right time might be.

Can they do it this year? Bolts Nation thinks so, as do many others around the hockey world. Now it’s just a matter of finishing where they left off.

Next: Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman’s Off-Ice Mastery

Tampa Bay Lightning fans have much to look forward to and it’s clear that the front office has instilled confidence in this growing fan base. Steven Yzerman excelled on the ice as a player and now he’s excelling as an executive in the NHL. He has built a strong team through the draft, properly developed players, managed the salary cap well, and most importantly, he’s established a clear vision for his players and the fans. As always, in Yzerman we trust.