Lightning Set to Strike!

The Tampa Bay Lightning, like any team, has had their ups and downs.  With businessman Jeff Vinik’s purchase of the Lightning on February 5, 2010, the team has been on an upward  track for the first time since they won the Stanley Cup in 2004.  Mr. Vinik has been putting the pieces together to make a successful hockey team starting at the top and moving throughout the entire organization.  With Vinik’s financial stability backing the organization, his top move was to hire hockey legend, Steve Yzerman, as the Lightning’s General Manager.  Yzerman in turn hired head coach, Guy Boucher, who has been instrumental in bringing the team together on the ice.  With top notch executives and coaching in place, the Lightning made it all the way to game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last season.  The ultimate goal is to become a team that continuously makes the playoffs and eventually wins the Stanley Cup again.

When Steve Yzerman was announced as the Lightning’s new General Manager on May 25, 2010, he said “This is a long term project for me.  There is no easy fix.  I don’t sit up here with the notion I can wave a magic wand, make changes and we’re a Stanley Cup contender.  My intention is to improve the Lightning immediately.  But the long term goal is making this a perennially strong team that can contend on annual basis.”  After one season, he is accomplishing his goals.  The Lightning did improve in the immediate 2010-2011 season, probably more than he or anyone expected.  Also, they are continually building a strong team that should make the playoffs year after year, and hopefully become a Stanley cup contender.

With all of the signings and leavings during free agency this year, the Lightning’s new roster stands as a close equivalent of last year’s team.  The Lightning lost a couple valuable players in free agency, with LW Sean Bergenheim moving to the Florida Panthers and LW Simon Gagne joining the LA Kings.  However, they picked up RW Ryan Shannon from Ottowa on a one year contract, who should hopefully at least equal Sean Bergenheim’s regular season performance.  Shannon had a 27 point season with the Ottowa Senators last season with 11 goals and 16 assists.  Adding Shannon to a team of strong Lightning players should increase his stats this season.  The Lightning also added defense with Matt Gilroy (NYR) and Bruno Gervais (NYI).  Dwayne Roloson signed a one year deal and will remain as starting goaltender for another year, with a new back-up in Mathieu Garon from the Columbus Blue Jackets.  Mike Smith has moved on to the Phoenix Coyotes.

At it’s core, the Lightning have top offensive players in Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos (who signed on for 5 more years), Ryan Malone, Steve Downie, and Teddy Purcell (who signed on for 2 more years).  They have top defensive players in Eric Brewer, who signed on for 4 more years and was a top notch addition to the Lightning in 2011, Victor Hedman, who played well in the playoffs, Mattias Ohlund, Pavel Kubina, and Marc-Andre Bergeron.  If Roloson plays as well this season as he did with the Lightning last season, goaltending will not be an issue.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are a team that are making progress.  After their deep playoff push last season, they are on the radar as a team to be reckoned with.  Confirmation of this status can be seen in the newly announced U.S. National TV Schedule where the Lightning have 21 nationally televised games on Versus and the NHL Network for the 2011-2012 season.  This is a franchise high for nationally televised games and a huge indicator that the team is on track to have a big season.

In Tampa, the Lightning are making $35 million in major renovations to the St. Pete Times Forum, including renovated suites, a terrace level party deck, new seats, and new Tesla coils above the goals that actually make lightning strike every time there is a goal.  The team is also marketing fans to become season ticket holders with special perks like receiving the new TBL jersey embedded with a micro chip that gets fans 25% off concessions and 35% off merchandise at the St. Pete Times Forum.  The fans are excited and it shows.  Full season ticket holders are over 10,000 for the 2011-2012 season.

With all of the improvements made since Jeff Vinik bought the team in 2010 and will continue to be made in the future, Lightning is set to strike in the NHL.

Follow Jenna on Twitter @jennacbarley