TAMPA, Fla. — The ceremonies and video tributes are mostly finished. Yanni Gourde came through with Seattle in November and got his Stanley Cup ring and a sublime ovation at Amalie Arena. Barclay Goodrow was here in December, Blake Coleman and Luke Schenn stopped by in January. Once Tyler Johnson shows up with Chicago in April, Tampa Bay’s scrapbook of 2021 memories can finally be closed.
And perhaps, by then, it will be time to celebrate the players who have come to replace yesterday’s idols.
It’s quite remarkable when you think about it. Seven months ago, the Lightning watched six useful, and occasionally indispensable, players walk out the door because of salary cap complications. Almost overnight, Tampa Bay lost one-third of its top dozen skaters in terms of ice time. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions would never again be the same.
Yet, as they step on the ice Wednesday night for their 50th game of the season, the numbers say this is the same team. Or, at least, a reasonable facsimile.
Through 49 games a year ago, they had 33 wins and 68 points. Today, they have 32 wins and 70 points. They had scored 166 goals at this point last season, and they have 167 today.
How is this possible?
It’s not as if they were able to throw blank checks at free-agent replacements. The players who departed were barely enough to get the Lightning salary cap compliant.
Yet a fringe group of prospects and fading stars have helped keep the Lightning near the top of the standings and, with a little more than a month left in the regular season, Cup contenders again.
Obviously, it helps that the Lightning still had a core group of Conn Smythe, Vezina and Hart trophy winners. But it’s also time to recognize that it’s more than that.
Losing Gourde, Johnson, Coleman and Goodrow meant the Lightning lost about 60 minutes of ice time per game among their forwards. Some of that has been replaced by Nikita Kucherov’s return after missing last season, but the bulk has been made up by Corey Perry, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk and increased minutes for Ross Colton and Mathieu Joseph.
None of those players is having the impact that Gourde did last season, or that Johnson did in his prime. But, collectively, they have blended in and assumed critical and unheralded roles. Perry, a one-time MVP, has topped 10 goals for the first time since 2018. Bellemare, at age 36, is averaging a career high in ice time. The younger players have all had moments in the spotlight.
It’s a tribute to the players, of course, but also to general manager Julien BriseBois and the player development staff. The Lightning had to trim $9.5 million from last year’s salary cap just to absorb Kucherov’s return from the long-term injury list and pulled it off seamlessly.
Now, is this an exact replica of last year’s team? Of course not.
Neither the power play nor the penalty kill has clicked at quite the same rate. And, for a spell, there was a disturbing trend of blown leads.
Yet, in some ways, this group is even better at grinding its way through a game and playing smart hockey. The Lightning are averaging more hits, blocks and takeaways, with fewer giveaways per 60 minutes. They have, as they say, bought into the Lightning’s system.
None of this means another Stanley Cup celebration is on its way. Even in the best of circumstances, it’s still the most difficult trophy to win considering the physical toll of four rounds of playoffs.
And, unlike last season, the Lightning will not get the added juice of someone like Kucherov arriving just in time for the postseason. If there is another gear to be found, it’s difficult to see where it will come from.
Those, however, are concerns for another day. The final judgment on the 2022 Lightning will not be made until May and, if all goes well, maybe June.
But for right now, we should appreciate what this group has accomplished. We should acknowledge how a low-salaried crew of replacements has made it easier to let go of the past.
We should be thankful that, 50 games into another season, it’s still possible to hold on to dreams in Tampa Bay.
