The end of August is mere days away. Before long, the 2025-26 season will ramp up fast and furiously. With the offseason nearly in the rear-view mirror, the focus shifts from offseason roster to preseason preparation. The Tampa Bay Lightning did not find themselves making spectacular moves this summer. Their goal lies next spring. The regular season is a time-consuming obstacle on their route back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nothing less than the Cup itself suffices once you’ve gone all the way (twice) in the semi-recent past.
From management and hockey fans alike, the Lightning remain, on paper, an extremely good hockey team. Nevertheless, the Lightning have fallen short three years running . Moreover, first-round defeats have become too familiar lately.
The Lightning are still very good but are they still elite?
The fact of the matter is, this team IS still very good on paper. Last year the Lightning had four 30+ goal scorers, four players over a point per game. The Lightning had four different major award finalists. Most notably, Nikita Kucherov won the Ted Lindsay Award along with his third Art Ross Trophy win.
It’s clear to see why Julien Brisebois basically stood pat. The Lightning remained tight on cap space. The majority of the team was already signed into next season. Corespondingly, no big moves were needed to roster a team.
Bolts did some fine tuning
However, it is hard to justify the lack of creativity. The biggest departure was the free agency loss of right shot defenceman Nick Perbix. The biggest free agent fish: perennial bottom six forward Pontus Holmberg. This is not to say Holmberg is a poor add. Nevertheless, it’s hardly the change many expect after multiple first-round playoff losses.
It seems clear at this point that, at least to start the season, change is going to have to come from within the locker room, and there are many bright names to keep an eye on. Conor Geekie and Gage Goncalves are two young forwards whose ambitions are surely to steal a top six spot alongside Cirelli and Hagel by the end of this season, as well as Max Crozier, who many see as someone ready to take a big next step into the NHL.
Evaluate before the trade deadline
Until such a time, the Lightning train will have to keep on chugging. Their next opportunity for a dynamic shift comes with the 2025-26 trade deadline. By that point, it should be fairly clear what caliber the Lightning have. What sort of projections lie ahead come playoff time?
There is seemingly little doubt that the Bolts will reach the playoffs for the 9th consecutive year. The bigger question is how far can the Lightning go? Can the recent playoff failures be chalked up to playing in a powerhouse division such as the Atlantic, as well as a Lightning team paying the exhaustive “Cup Tax”? Or are their other issues not being addressed?
If the last two series against the Panthers have highlighted anything, the Bolts must become harder to play against in a best-of-seven series. It’s an easy problem to dianose. Unfortunately, it’s not always a simple fix.
The Cup teams of 2020 and 2021 had that edge, that ferocity. Players like Alex Killorn, Blake Coleman, and Ondrej Palat understood what it takes to win in the spring. Sometimes it’s a clutch goal. Other times, the team needs a timely hit or blocked shot.
This new era of Tampa Bay hockey needs to look no further than their own years of success, and manage a way to bring that same will and determination from their players today.
