Next season’s Tampa Bay roster is going to look FAR different than what we’ve seen in the past. The Tampa Bay Lightning have overhauled nearly their entire championship roster of just two seasons ago as only a few core pieces remain from the best team NHL team in the last five seasons.
I know the championship Lightning were getting older, but retooling nearly the entire lineup overnight seems a little extreme.
After a disappointing 4-2 1st round exit at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Tampa Bay Lightning have torn down large portions of the roster that saw them reach 4 Stanley Cup Finals in 8 years, 3 straight Stanley Cup Finals, and 2 Stanley Cup victories with all of the trades and free agent departures they’ve had this offseason. And, even though I think retooling is extremely important, I don’t know if I would have been as extreme as GM Julien BriseBois has been.
Well, if any Lighting fan hoped to see another celebration parade with past Stanley Cup heroes Patrick Maroon, Ross Colton, or Alex Killorn, then you better start root for a new team as these guys are just a few players who the Lightning shed from their 3-time Stanley Cup appearing roster.
In the last few days alone, the Lighting have traded away Corey Perry, Ross Colton, Patick Maroon and allowed Alex Killorn, Brian Elliott, Tanner Jeannot (RFA), Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, and Ian Cole to walk for free in free agency, which adds even more names to the list of championship Lightning players who have departed the organization over the last couple of years. Obviously, that’s a lot of experienced, know-how guys to lose in a single offseason window.
Now, I’m not going to say losing all of these guys was avoidable and the Bolts should have done more to stop their departures as Alex Killorn signed a huge 4-year, $25M deal with the Anaheim Ducks, Ian Cole signed a 1-year, $3M deal with the Vancouver Canucks, Tanner Jeannot didn’t live up to expectations, and both Pierre-Édouard Bellemare and Brian Elliott are 38 years old and on the verge of retirement.
So, in keeping superstar players like Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Victor Headman, Mikhail Sergachev, and Andrei Vasilevskiy around and happy, losing valuable, older, and pricey guys like Killorn, Jeannot, Bellemare, Cole, and Elliott is the nature of the business. But what I don’t understand is why Julien BriseBois felt the need to trade away Colton, Perry, and Maroon?
Sure, Brisbois brought in replacements for these 4th-line guys in Connor Sheary (4-years, $2M), Logan Brown (1-year, $750k), Luke Glendening (2-years, $800k), and Josh Archibald (2-years, $800k), but is losing the veteran leadership and winning experience guys like Perry, Colton, and Maroon bring really outweighed by the longevity of these signings? I’m not so sure.
As of me writing this article, the only player to have made a SC Finals appearance with the Lightning in the Bottom-6 forward pairings is Nichalous Paul (2022), while none of the players currently penciled down in the depth chart have won a Stanely Cup with the franchise.
I know Perry and Maroon were older and wearing down, while Colton really never developed past a 3rd-line grinder, but I’m not so sure the 2023 2nd round pick (turned into Ethan Gauthier), or the two 2024 7th round picks are worth more than what Maroon, Perry, or Colton’s leadership could bring to next season’s Lightning.
At the very least, the Lighting could have retained Maroon as he’s only making $1M (with 20% retention by the Bolts) for another season with the Minnesota Wild now, while Colton is an RFA with the Avs and Perry is now making $4M/season the Blackhawks.
Perhaps all of my worries and trepidations about the Bolts will be proven foolish as they go on to win a 3rd Stanely Cup in 4 years, but I just don’t know how they make up the loss of so many valuable veteran and SC winning experience in the bottom half of their roster without someone like Perry, Maroon, or Colton.
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