Elite but empty. If the 2025-26 Tampa Bay Lightning had to be summed up in a single, short phrase, this would be it. With Nikita Kucherov winning the Hart Trophy, Jon Cooper (finally) getting his Jack Adams and Andrei Vasilevskiy snagging his second Vezina, the team is clearly still full of high-end talent at important positions.
That isn't news to Lightning fans, though, and it isn't to the organization either. We didn't enter the season wondering whether or not this squad was still outstanding. We knew that Kucherov was among the NHL's top forwards, and Vasilevskiy was so good a year ago, he snagged a few Hart Trophy votes.
So while the individual accolades may act as a salve of sorts following a first-round loss to the Montreal Canadiens, they really shouldn't. And there isn't a single person on this roster who would take the solo recognition over hoisting the Stanley Cup together. It would just be nice if they played like it when the playoffs rolled around.
Hart Trophy just salt in the wound for Nikita Kucherov
It'd be one thing if Tampa Bay's star core had started to really show its age in 2025-26. Brayden Point certainly had his struggles, and Victor Hedman deserves praise for stepping away from the game to work on his mental health. But the all-world talents were still all-world, and it still wasn't enough to get the Lightning out of the first round.
One would imagine that having the top forward in the NHL and the best goalie and the best coach would lead to better results than getting bounced by the upstart Habs. That isn't how things ended up shaking out for the Lightning, however, which is what makes these awards so frustrating.
There's no denying that Kucherov had a remarkable season. One for the ages, no doubt, and the Hart Trophy memorializes that. Yet he pulled a vanishing act at the worst possible time, allowing the Canadiens to advance without getting much from their own star forwards.
Andrei Vasilevskiy's playoff struggles are a problem despite Vezina Trophy
Vasilevskiy basically no-showed as well and got out-duelled by a netminder who started the year as a rookie backup for the Habs. Jakub Dobes was spectacular--the best player in the series--but that is what the Lightning pay "Vas" to be. A true difference maker when the games matter the most, but it's been a long time since he's performed like a "money goalie."
Overall, this was his fourth consecutive postseason with a sub-900 save percentage, and his quality start percentage in that same time frame is just .435.
Spread across an 82-game season, Vasilevskiy's goals saved above average over the last four playoffs would be sitting at minus-33.8. The worst regular-season starter based on this metric in 2025-26 was Jordan Binnington, who finished with a minus-22.4 .
The individual awards prove that the Lightning still have an elite core in place, but there's a legitimate reason to wonder whether or not they'll be able to make it back to the Stanley Cup Final as constructed. Even if Tampa had made it past Montreal, does anyone really think they would have put up a better fight against the buzzsaw that is the Carolina Hurricanes?
The only way that would have been possible is if regular-season Kucherov and Vasilevskiy bothered to show up in the playoffs. But the sledding got tougher, and neither could find their footing before bowing out in the first round. Again.
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