(Tampa) Three consecutive appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals, two championships and more than commendable efforts, although they did not bear fruit, to try to add a third.
Posted at 9:46 p.m.
No matter how you list their accomplishments, the Tampa Bay Lightning have just completed a most impressive run. In addition, the management of the Lightning remains very optimistic about the future, after coming close to becoming the first team in nearly 40 years to win the Stanley Cup in three consecutive seasons.
The loss in six games at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche in the final was disappointing. However, the core of players who have enjoyed more playoff success than any team over the past decade are intact and expect the Lightning to remain a legitimate contender for the top honors next season.
“The pain is deep. I try to hold my head high, but no one goes to the Stanley Cup Finals not to win the Cup,” Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said Tuesday.
“You reach the Stanley Cup final, to bring the cup home, especially this year when we had the rare opportunity to win a third title in a row. »
Captain Steven Stamkos, goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy, defender Victor Hedman and productive forwards Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point form an elite core around which BriseBois will continue to build.
“I don’t think we’re done. […] We are structured to be a competitive club for the foreseeable future, said BriseBois. And hopefully the stars will align again for us at some point. »
Although the team’s biggest stars all already have contracts for the next season, BriseBois faces the challenge of trying to keep three important players – Ondrej Palat, Nick Paul and Jan Rutta – who could all become free agents without compensation.
Negotiations are underway with the agents for each of those players, and Paul — obtained from the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline — admitted Tuesday that he would like to stay with the Lightning, after experiencing the playoffs of the NHL for the first time in his career.
“It’s obvious that I like it here,” said Paul.
“We’re going to do our best,” said BriseBois. All I know is that the three would like to stay here. We would like to keep them. »
For its part, Stamkos made remarks which joined those of its general manager as to the chances of success of the team in the future.
“This core is together. […] We can still do more,” noted the Lightning captain.
The Florida squad has appeared in 71 playoff games over the past 23 months – nearly the equivalent of a full season – and the most by a single team in three playoff seasons.
BriseBois and Stamkos say it’s unclear whether playing so many playoff games in such a short time has hurt the Lightning’s chances of earning a third title.
However, they also do not perceive this experience as a potential obstacle in the future.
“It’s been three long and tough years, and now we have another short offseason,” Stamkos said. But I’m confident that this group can take some time here, refuel and get back to work. »
Separately, the Lightning revealed that Point, who has missed 14 of the Lightning’s last 16 games with what was described as a lower-body injury, was actually bothered by a torn right quadriceps. The injury should be healed in time for the start of the next training camp.
Point, the Lightning’s leading scorer through the last two playoff runs, was on another strong run when he was injured in Game 7 of the first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Point sat out the next two rounds, played in the first two games of the final, and missed the last four games.
Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli, Corey Perry, Brandon Hagel and Pierre-Édouard Bellemare are among the group of Lightning players to have played through major injuries that likely would have forced them to miss regular season games.