What is the best squad possible of former Tampa Bay Lightning players?

The Tampa Bay Lightning have had to bid goodbye to a number of players of the years. Some of the players were salary cap casualties, some went searching for opportunities for more playing time, and some were traded away during deadline deals.

So when looking around the NHL, there are enough former Bolts out there to field a salary cap-compliant team all by itself. For the purpose of this list, the players need to be active players in the NHL.

A player like Cédric Paquette, currently playing in the KHL, was not considered for this list. Retired players like Ben Bishop also don’t count.

And once this team is assembled, it’s a competent team that could still win many games in the NHL. In parenthesis are their stats from the 2022-23 season.

Tampa Bay Lightning First Forward Line

• Ondrej Palat (New Jersey – 8 goals, 15 assists)
• Carter Verhaeghe (Florida – 42 goals, 31 assists)
• Jonathan Marchessault (Las Vegas – 28 goals, 29 assists)

Palat was a lifer with the Lightning before signing a big contract with New Jersey this past offseason.

Verhaeghe spent his rookie campaign with Tampa and won the Stanley Cup in 2020 before signing with Florida for an increased opportunity.

Marchessault only played 47 games with Tampa, then signed as a free agent with Florida in 2016. Like Verhaeghe, it wasn’t even a salary cap issue that sent Marchessault away, he wanted the opportunity for increased ice time and was log jammed in Tampa at the time. Florida then inexplicably left him available for the 2017 Expansion Draft; the rest is history.

This could be a very potent line combination that could very easily have all three guys’ top 30 goals if healthy. Palat, for example, was hurt to start the year in New Jersey but showed up in the playoffs as one of the key Devils. Verhaeghe and Marchessault are potential Conn Symth candidates if their respective team goes on to win the Cup this season.

The one draw back to this line the lack of a true center. Marchessault and Verhaeghe have prior experience at the position, but neither were primary faceoff men for this clubs this past season

Tampa Bay Lightning Second Line

• Yanni Gourde (Seattle – 14 goals, 34 assists)
• Blake Coleman (Calgary – 18 goals, 20 assists)
• Barclay Goodrow (New York Rangers – 11 goals, 20 assists)

We all know the story behind this line. Coleman and Goodrow were acquired at the 2020 trade deadline. Then the world shut down. Then these three paired up in the bubble for one of the greatest line combinations of all time.

The trio teamed up again in 2021 and once again helped drag Tampa Bay to a second Stanley Cup.

All three went their separate ways after 2021, and on paper, none of the three had an amazing regular season in 2022-23.

But this is a line where the sum of its parts is far better than the individual pieces.

If given a chance to get this group back together, what Tampa Bay Lightning fan would say no?

Tampa Bay Lightning Third Forward Line

• J.T. Miller (Vancouver – 32 goals, 50 assists)
• Mathieu Joseph (Ottawa – 3 goals, 15 assists)
• Tyler Johnson (Chicago – 12 goals, 20 assists)

It should tell you something about the former players the Lightning have had that J.T. Miller would be on the third line. Miller spent a season and a half in Tampa but was traded away after 2019 to Vancouver because of salary cap constraints.

After that, the depth starts to wain, but there are still options out there for a decent third line. Tyler Johnson missed time due to injury but was on pace for 47 points in 2022-23 had he played all 82 games.

Joseph is what he is, but he still has value as a third-line grinder to wear opponents down.

Make no mistake about it, Miller would have to carry this line and carry it hard. You could also make the argument to swap Miller with Palat to give the top line a true center and reunite two-thirds of the triplets, but in its current form a line of Palat, Johnson, and Joseph might be a little suspect.

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Tampa Bay Lightning Fourth Line

• Jonathan Drouin (Montreal – 2 goals, 27 assists)
• Adam Erne (Detroit – 8 goals, 10 assists)
• Taylor Raddysh (Chicago – 20 goals, 17 assists)

If you want a fourth line of guys who just bang into other guys, there are some other options out there. Also in time, a guy like Nolan Foote will hopefully supplant someone on the bottom six.

But if you want a fourth line that can kind of score goals, this might be your best bet.

Drouin of course is the true wildcard of this bunch. The offensive skill is there to be an above average fourth line center. But his poor attitude and constant run ins with management and coaches make him a liability.

Erne has spent the last four years in the Motor City and hasn’t developed into anything more than a bottom six forward.

Raddysh showed a ton of potential this year in Chicago after being traded there last season as part of the Brandon Hagel deal.

You could make the case that Raddysh should bump up to third line and bring Joseph or Johnson down. But given his youth we are still going to give him the sheltered minutes of a fourth line guy.

Tampa Bay Lightning First Defensive Pair

• Ryan McDonagh (Nashville – 2 goals, 18 assists)
• David Savard (Montreal – 3 goals, 17 assists)

Ryan McDonagh was a rock solid member of the blue line for parts of five seasons in Tampa after coming over at the trade deadline in 2018. Salary cap realities forced him to Nashville in the offseason.

Savard came over as a rental in the 2021 season at the trade deadline and provided valuable depth along the blue line.

Both are still sturdy defensemen and Tampa could have really used either of them this season and the blue line got young very quickly.

Tampa Bay Lightning Second Defensive Pair

• Radko Gudas (Florida – 2 goals, 15 assists)
• Kevin Shattenkirk (Anaheim – 4 goals, 23 assists)

Gudas spent parts of three seasons with Tampa before moving on to Philadelphia in 2015. Know for his physicality even when with the Lightning, Gudas has become even more physical as he career progresses. He was second in the league this season with 312 hits, one season after he racked up 355 hits.

Shattenkirk was only with Tampa for the 2019-2020 season, but he got to lift the Cup before signing with Anaheim. His time out west hasn’t been amazing, but he is still a capable offensive defenseman that can move the puck as needed.

Tampa Bay Lightning Goalies

• Scott Wedgewood (Dallas – .915 save percentage)
• Connor Ingram (Arizona – .907 save percentage)

In order to give this team a chance, we are going to bend our own rules a little bit when it comes to the goaltenders. There isn’t a goalie that played a game in the NHL this past season that ever officially stepped on the ice with the Lightning.

However, both Wedgewood and Ingram were under contract with Tampa in the past and so we are going to count them.

Wedgewood signed with Tampa in 2019 and spent the year in Syracuse. He was inside the bubble with the Bolts when they won the cup.

Ingram was drafted by Tampa in 2016 but was traded to Nashville in 2019.

Neither of these guys have been a proven starter yet, but if put in a rotation they may be able to hold up well enough to give this team a chance.