The Tampa Bay Lightning‘s Quarter-Century Team was released by the NHL Tuesday afternoon. This list looks to reflect on the players who have been the top players in franchise history from the start of the millennium until now.
First Team:
Forwards: Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis
Defense: Dan Boyle, Victor Hedman
Goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy
Second Team:
Forwards: Vincent Lecavalier, Brayden Point, Brad Richards
Defense: Pavel Kubina, Ryan McDonagh
Goalie: Ben Bishop
Each NHL team is getting a Quarter-Century team over the course of January with the league releasing a different team’s roster each day of the month.
With the Lightning finally getting their turn as the month winds down, let’s look at who’s representing the organization and break it all down.
Quarter-Century First Team
The First-Team is just about what everyone expected with maybe one exception. St. Louis is in the Hall of Fame, and Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman and Vasilevskiy are all going to be joining him in Toronto at some point.
Stamkos is currently the Lightning leader in goals (555) and points (1,137), Kucherov is a two-time Art Ross Trophy winner and a Hart Memorial Trophy winner, and Hedman is a Conn Smythe and Norris Trophy winner – he was also a finalist for six straight years. Vasilevskiy also has a Conn Smythe as well as a Vezina – he’s been a finalist four total times.
The exception is Dan Boyle. There’s definitely a camp for Kubina to be First Team, and there’s a Mikhail Sergachev camp as well. Boyle is still third among Lightning defensemen all-time in points, and he required much fewer games (394) than Kubina (662). Sergachev is second in points, but he only had four more points (257 to 253) and required an extra 77 games (471).
Boyle might not be the obvious pick to be on the First-Team but he’s there for a clear reason.
Quarter-Century Second-Team
The Second Team once again features players from two important eras of Lightning hockey.
There are definitely some older fans who would love to have seen Nikolai Khabibulin over Ben Bishop on the Second Team. While there is the argument that Khabibulin won a Cup and Bishop didn’t, Bishop is statistically the second-best Lightning goalie of all time. He also reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2015 and was excellent during that run.
Related: Lightning Need to Target Scoring Depth at the Trade Deadline
The same goes for Lecavalier being on the Second Team. There was a time when the former captain being anywhere but the First Team would be unthinkable. But in the dozen years or so since his departure, some stars have arisen and undoubtedly surpassed him in the ranks as Lightning greats.
Brayden Point is certainly First-Team caliber, but somebody had to drop to the Second Team among the active greats. He’s fifth in goals (291) and sixth in points (604). He’s on track to retire as the best of the players named to the Second Team but he’s far from surpassing Stamkos, Kucherov or St. Louis.
McDonagh’s value on defense with and without him has proven why he’s a member of the Quarter-Century team. Along with simply being part of two Cup-winning teams, we saw how the defense looked when he was in Nashville. In 2021-22, before he was traded, the Lightning allowed the sixth-fewest goals. In the following two seasons, they were 14th and 22nd. Now, that he’s back, they are almost top five in goals allowed. They brought him back for a reason. He’s a major fan favorite who’s brought a lot of value for years now. He has a rightful spot.
Kubina played 662 games in a Lightning sweater. Only one defenseman has played more, and that’s Victor Hedman. The next guy, Sergachev, played nearly 200 fewer games. Throw in the fact that he won a Stanley Cup and he’s earned a spot. He also happens to have the most power-play goals by a Lightning defenseman (35). That probably didn’t play a role in his selection, but it makes for a good fun fact.
Last, we have Richards. He was the 2004 Conn Smythe winner for the Lightning’s first Cup and is a member of the Lightning Hall of Fame. This alone led most to expect him to make an appearance on this Quarter-Century Team. When you’re voted as the most important player in a Cup run, you’re going to get a nod. As a bonus, he’s also still seventh all-time in points among Lightning players (489).
For 25 years, the Lightning have put together a nice team for themselves. When the half-century mark comes along, a good chunk of these guys are more than likely going to be on that team as well. It helps when by the time that mark rolls around, there’s going to be a number of guys who are in the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Lightning Hall of Fame as well.
