The Tampa Bay Lightning came up short in the first round for the fourth year in a row this spring, contributing to the apparent changing of the guard in the Atlantic Division. While they’ve rebounded somewhat from a low point following their back to back Stanley Cups, they’ve failed to find the playoff form that made them a behemoth at their peak.
As we noted in the March Atlantic Division Notebook, the Lightning’s rebound over the past couple of seasons can be at least partially attributed to the reloading efforts they’ve undertaken. Some of the core players from their cup winning teams have moved on and they’ve managed to backfill some roster spots with very capable players a few years younger. The challenge now is that even the retooled roster has crested it’s best years and the Lightning appear to have another significant reloading effort ahead if they want to fend off the upstart teams like the Habs and the Sabres that are trying to take over the Atlantic Division.
Reloading may be a challenge given the cap and contract status of the Lightning roster. They have nearly their entire NHL roster from this season signed up for one more. They also have a large number of restricted movement clauses, which will limit their options and, potentially, possible trade returns.
The Bolts seem to be one of those teams that consistently graduates a prospect originally taken in the latter rounds of the draft in recent seasons. None of them have been gamebreakers, though. They’ve generally just been competent NHL depth pieces. The Lightning pipeline is severely depleted and it’s difficult to see how it could supply the team with a whole new cohort coming in. The occasional depth piece is a solid outcome given when and where they’ve picked int he last number of years.
The Lightning roster seems to be tipping into it’s twilight zone. With the Atlantic Division in the midst of a restructuring of it’s hierarchy, the Bolts need to remain aggressive about reloading their roster to fend off the younger, rising teams. It they aren’t able to reload and continue run it back with much the same roster, it looks very plausible that their window may slam shut.
