![]() Potential future Selke winner Anthony Cirelli slipped to 72nd in 2015. Louis, mind you.īut either way, the Bolts paralleled the Red Wings dynasty era by finding diamonds in the rough. Not every Lightning draft steal boiled down to different cover songs of finding Martin St. Ignoring height when it came to Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson allowed the Bolts to unearth undrafted gems. After all, the Lightning feasted on old-school obsessions with size over skill and production.įrom Nikita Kucherov (58th in 2011) to Brayden Point (79th in 2014), the Lightning unearthed its top stars by looking below the 6-foot-mark. Yet, you kind of wonder if there’s a defensiveness there. Old-school types feasted on a perceived lack of toughness when the Blue Jackets swept the Lightning. Lightning made huge draft (and undrafted) gains, largely with small players Slater Koekkoek (10th, 2012), Jonathan Drouin (third, 2013), and Tony DeAngelo (19th, 2014) all ended up on other teams, with only Drouin netting the Lightning a big-time return in potential star defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.īut the Lightning are where they are today because of what they did outside of the first round, and sometimes outside of the draft altogether. Of course, the Lightning got this far with Stamkos on the shelf, so they didn’t only live off of being in the right place, at the right time.Īgain, though, the Lightning can feel the Stars’ pain in biffing a few first-rounders. Landing Steven Stamkos (first overall in 2008) and Victor Hedman (second in 2009) was instrumental in turning the Lightning around. That said, they did when it mattered the most. When it comes to the first round, though, they didn’t always find the mark. The Lightning’s reputation for shrewd drafting is well-earned. Might that be enough for the NHL to agree to let his name be etched onto the Cup? He did get to celebrate with the team, and was the last player to lift the Stanley Cup for the Lightning.Two huge first-round stars, but a sneaky-high number of misses The only reason that Scott Wedgewood might make it on to the Cup, despite not playing a single minute of regular season or playoff hockey for the Lightning in 2019-20, is that he went into the bubble as the third goaltender. He may not have played in the playoffs, but he still sacrificed to be apart of the team in the bubble. He also took warm ups pretty often during the playoffs. Joseph didn’t make it into a playoff game, but he also is over the half games threshold with 37 games played. Considering he played in seven playoff games, and played in over half of the team’s regular season games with 38, he’d likely also be an easy yes. Likewise, Stephens would qualify if the threshold is 35 games instead of 41. He’d be an easy yes by the NHL, even though he only played in three playoff games. He played in 40 games, which is technically one short, but more than half of the team’s games. This was seems like it would be an automatic yes. Potentially Through a Waiver Braydon Coburn Qualified If Playing in 35 Regular Season Games Counts Qualified By Playing In 41 Regular Season Games Qualified By Playing in a Stanley Cup Final Game or as Backup Goaltender in a Stanley Cup Final Game ![]() ![]() So, we’ll break the players down into each of those categories. ![]() Back in 2004, Eric Perrin was one such player even though he played four regular season games and 12 playoff games, but none in the Final. This is usually used for players that were injured and didn’t otherwise qualify, or contributed in a significant way without qualifying. The other way to qualify, is for the team to request a waiver. With the season shortened, I wonder if the league will change it to “half of the team’s regular season games” which would be 35 games for the Lightning. In a normal year, there are three ways to automatically qualify play at least 41 regular season games (and not get traded away) or play in one Stanley Cup Final game or be the back-up goalie in a Stanley Cup Final game. THE TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING HAVE WON THE CUP! ![]()
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