By Mark Pukalo
One by one, they handed the Stanley Cup to the next in a preordained order. The captain, the first-round picks, the smart acquisitions, the undrafted, all raised the beautiful trophy to the delight of a raucous Amalie Arena crowd.
Each player had his own story, an integral role in this royal achievement and his own reason to be proud.
Then, it was time for coach Jon Cooper, his staff and everyone else involved in the locker room. Owner Jeff Vinik took the chalice and let his emotions flow.
When you win two straight championships in this day and age of professional sports, it takes everyone pulling on the same rope, everyone fighting together and each person - as Bill Belichick oftens says, “doing their job.”
The Tampa Bay Lightning have done just that since the demoralizing disappointment of a four-game sweep against Columbus in the first round of the 2019 playoffs. Sure, there was some luck involved with the makeup of this year’s team. You always have to earn some. But, in the end, they were just a little better than everyone else - from scouting, to the development staff, to the general manager’s office, to the owner’s willingness to spend and grow, to the class and leadership in the locker room and the talent that translated onto the ice.
The best organization in sports resides at Amalie Arena. Who’s better? The only one that you might argue is close is the Los Angeles Dodgers. But they signed Trevor Bauer. The Lightning would never sign anyone like him.
This postseason, the Bolts faced diverse challenges. They emerged from a knockout, drag out Sunshine State fight with the Florida Panthers and coach Joel Quenneville in six games. They took out the speedy Carolina Hurricanes in five, much easier than expected. They found a way to edge the gritty New York Islanders in a nervous Game 7. Then, the Lightning pushed aside the upstart Les Habitants from Montreal in five to win the third Cup in franchise history.
All through this run, my main thought was - “enjoy this, Lightning fans. Whatever happens. You may never see a better team to root for in your sporting life. You got one Cup. The rest is icing.” But it really wasn’t. Once you make it to the semifinals, it’s so close you have to do it again. You have to make it special, get two of them, and write history.
They made it frustrating at times with Blake Coleman’s turnover in overtime of Game 6 against the Isles and the failed four-minute power play in Game 4 at Montreal. But this team has learned how to close. This group knows what it takes. It starts in goal with the best in the world in Andrei Vasilevskiy, but it is truly a group effort that has allowed them to shut out opponents to clinch the last five playoff series. That is the one statistic that best shows what the team is made of.
"I can't tell you how much I enjoyed watching them play through this playoff run," Tampa Bay GM Julien Brisebois told reporters this week. "Not only as the general manager of this organization, but as a hockey fan. Obviously, such a talented group. But most importantly, so much collective heart. All the blocked shots, all the hits given and taken, all the punches given and taken, all the competing through injury. It was outstanding and so inspiring to watch."
So, now the Lightning will have many haters. No one likes the two-time winner outside of its fan community. They will talk about cap circumvention, luck, short seasons and “cheating.” Honestly, it’s just jealousy and laziness. Who cares?
The Lightning is just better. Maybe only a little, especially against the Islanders. But Brisebois was faced with a seemingly impossible situation in the offseason. The injury and surgery for Nikita Kucherov helped, but he also had to give up a lot of future draft picks to assure the Bolts would be under the cap and could acquire a needed right-handed veteran defenseman in David Savard at the trade deadline.
Tampa Bay has given up a first, a second and fourth-round selections in the draft later this month along with second and third rounders in 2020. But how much do you want to bet that scouting director and assistant GM Al Murray gets a gem among his three picks in the seventh round this year?
Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn (former scouting department, but developed under Cooper) and Brayden Point - third-round picks.
Ross Colton, Mathieu Joseph and Ben Thomas - fourth.
Ondrej Palat - seventh.
Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde - undrafted.
Heck, Kucherov was the 58th pick in 2011 and Vasilevskiy went 19th in 2012. You could make an easy case that each is the best player in their class.
It takes everyone. The coach, who I was so critical of during the many years of great regular seasons and playoff failures, has learned from mistakes and become a positive force. You never agree with everything, like his benching of Cal Foote this season, but all his moves worked out the past two years.
The shutouts in deciding games were great in their two runs, but just as impressive is the way the Lightning reacted to playoff losses. They won every one of them. When they seemed drained mentally, they always had an answer. That’s on the coach, the leadership, the culture.
Captain Steven Stamkos was only able to lead through all but three minutes of playing time in last season’s run due to injury. He scored eight goals, playing likely on one healthy leg, to help the Bolts this time around. He is a true leader, but he has a great supporting cast in that department. Victor Hedman was also injured the past few months and still had 18 points in 23 playoff games, Ryan McDonagh was the team’s best defenseman in the postseason and Alex Killorn had eight goals and 17 points in 19 contests before breaking his leg blocking a shot in Game 1 of the finals.
Killorn was drafted in 2007, one year before Stamkos and two ahead of Hedman. He has been in the organization longer than anyone and, in my opinion, has often been the glue along with Palat that has kept the middle core together supporting the stars.
After the 2007 draft, I decided to go see Killorn play for Deerfield Academy a few times when he was in Connecticut during his last high school season. I saw a few people standing at the glass behind Deerfield’s goal, cheering for the team one day at Avon Old Farms. I decided to ask them about Killorn.
It went something like this:
“Hi, how are you? I’m a Lightning fan up here, believe or not. Do you know Alex well, what kind of a kid is he?
Cindy or Matt replied: “Well, we hope he’s a good kid. He’s our son.”
They asked about the competition in the ECAC, as Alex was headed to Harvard. We had a nice short chat.
I saw Killorn later that season at Loomis Chaffee and remarked at how smooth and composed he was with the puck. He still is, but in his many years of development Alex has become a real power forward in the NHL - and the kind of player who does all the little things. I remember a few nights looking at the box score this season and being surprised to see he played more minutes than any other forward.
I relayed the story of meeting his parents to Killorn at one of the prospect camps. He laughed. It wasn't hard to see Alex was the type of player you win championships with (one in the AHL, two in the NHL).
Championship teams need stars like Hedman, the irrepressible Point, Stamkos, Kucherov and Vasilevskiy. But they also need character players that keep getting better like Killorn, Palat, Cirelli, Gourde, etc.
Gourde was an ECHL player and also played for San Jose’s AHL affiliate in Worcester before the Lightning signed him as a free agent. It took a while, but look at him now. Would they have won even one of the two Cups without the energizer bunny as third-line center?
The Lightning nearly won a Cup with a veteran leader Brenden Morrow in 2015 on the fourth line. They signed another similar player for under $1 million before last season and the guy was just a little better. Pat Maroon, ala the “Big Rig,” gave the team another leader who could loosen up the room and give the stars more physical support on the ice.
Champions also need surprises like Colton, a player getting his chance when injuries struck and running with it. When I first saw Colton at prospects camp in 2016 it appeared he had some offensive tools. But with any prospect, would he develop his body good enough to play in the NHL and did he have the proper drive and patience to keep moving forward?
Colton answered loudly this season. Did you see his textbook play to score the Cup-clinching goal? Amazing.
Several players in the organization could have been him. It could have been Mitchell Stephens, maybe Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh or Alex Barre Boulet. Remember Alexander Volkov, now with Anaheim, played his first career playoff game in the cup decider last year and performed just fine? Prospects are ready when they arrive in Tampa, thanks to Syracuse Crunch coach Benoit Groulx and his staff, among others.
There is always someone coming with the Lightning and that’s why you can’t count them out for a three-peat. This wondrous group will not be together again like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they go for their back-to-back Super Bowl titles later this year.
The salary cap will lead to some difficult goodbyes.
What will the Lightning do? After what he has done the last two years, you have to have faith in Brisebois and his staff.
You cannot expect Savard, Coleman and Barclay Goodrow to be back as unrestricted free agents. Coleman and Goodrow deserve to go out and make some good money, which they have justly earned. I expect Coleman to get multi years at $4 million-plus and Goodrow at least in the 2.5-3 range. Coleman scored huge goals, especially in Game 2 of the finals, and Goodrow made key play after key play. As I remarked on twitter after it was over - Goodrow is one heck of a hockey player. He’s the perfect third-line digger that a championship team needs.
The rest will be even more difficult. The Lightning might be able to shed Tyler Johnson’s final three years at $5 million after his improved playoff performance, perhaps to the expansion Seattle Kraken near his home in Spokane.
A lot will depend on how Brisebois can deal with Kraken GM Ronnie Francis. Does Francis want to play hardball and steal a veteran forward or a top young prospect from the Bolts? Who does Brisebois protect? Will it only take the Lightning’s 2022 first rounder to get things done?
If JB goes with seven forwards and three defensemen, the guess is - Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, Cirelli, Palat, Killorn and Gourde along with Hedman, Erik Cernak and Mikhail Sergachev. As great as McDonagh has been, Seattle may not want five years at $6.75 left on his contract anyway. After winning two cups though, the cap space moving on from him would be very helpful and Cernak has got to be a keeper as the No. 1 right-handed D man on the roster, right? If he cannot deal with Francis, does JB protect guys like Colton, Katchouk and Joseph and realize he will lose just one veteran?
Wild idea to forget in a few seconds? Trade Sergachev to the Western Conference for a huge haul of picks and/or strong young prospects. Keep the best duo of lefty d men in the league in their early 30s.
Ok, crazy.
And, as an aside, Stamkos should not be traded. That's silly. Maybe at the end of his contract (before 2024-25), two years from now or when Point is up for a new deal (2022-23), the captain will depart Tampa. Not in 2021.
No doubt, there will be a lot of trades with Seattle. Colorado, Florida, Minnesota and Nashville will lose a very good player or give up a ton to the Kraken. If McDonagh stays and they protect four D men, the Lightning may have to part with Killorn or Palat, or perhaps Gourde - along with Johnson.
The lineup I came up with is this one (assuming Seattle takes McDonagh and Barre-Boulet - as a sweetener with Johnson - while Goodrow, Coleman and Savard move on):
Palat-Point-Kucherov
Colton-Cirelli-Stamkos
Killorn-Gourde-Joseph (you could flip Colton and Killorn)
Maroon-Stephens-Katchouk
Raddysh
Hedman-Rutta
Sergachev-Cernak
Lefty D signed or traded for at about $1 million- Foote
Luke Schenn
Vasilevskiy-Mike Smith (FA signing)
Just a thought. But the money can work with that lineup. JB will have to be creative, but man, isn't it much easier after winning two straight Cups?
Lightning fans will always have 2020 and 2021. Take all the hate from outside. Laugh it off. Don’t be snobby about it. Use it as more motivation to do it again without pressure.
There are more good things to come for this organization. As long as the core stays together, Murray keeps picking gems and the development process stays the same, the Lightning should be competitive every year.
Some day, things will change. People move on. But the memories last forever.
For now, enjoy the view from the top of the mountain.
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