The
Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida
. They are members of the
Southeast Division of the
Eastern Conference of the
National Hockey League (NHL). They
have one
Stanley Cup championship in
their history, in
2004. The
team is commonly referred to as the
Bolts, and the
nickname is used on their current
third jersey.
They play their home games at the St. Pete Times
Forum
in Tampa.
Franchise history
Early years
In the late 1980s, the NHL announced that it would expand.
Two rival
groups from the Tampa/St. Petersburg
area decided to bid for a franchise: a St.
Petersburg-based group fronted by future Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes owners Peter Karmanos and Jim Rutherford, and a Tampa-based group led
by two Hall of
Famers
– Phil Esposito and
his brother Tony.
On paper, it looked like the Karmanos/Rutherford group was the
frontrunner. Not only was the Karmanos/Rutherford group better
financed, but one of Esposito's key backers, the
Pritzker family, had backed out a few months
before the bid.
Esposito eventually recruited a consortium of
Japanese
businesses headed by Kokusai Green, a Japanese golf course
and resort operator. The prospect of Japanese backing tipped the
scales in the Esposito group's favor, and they were awarded an
expansion franchise for the 1992–93 season, as was a group in
Ottawa
(which became the Ottawa
Senators). One of the limited partners in the new Tampa
Bay team was
New York Yankees owner
George Steinbrenner (who lives
in Tampa during the year).
According to former NHL president
Gil Stein, another factor
was that the Karmanos/Rutherford group wanted to pay only $29
million before starting play, while the Esposito group was one of
the few willing to pay the $50 million expansion fee without
reservations.
After being awarded the franchise, the team's management brought in
star power before they had any players. Phil Esposito installed
himself as president and
general
manager, while Tony became chief scout.
Terry Crisp, who played for the
Philadelphia Flyers when they won two
Stanley Cups in the mid-1970s, and
coached the
Calgary Flames to a Cup
in
1989, was tapped as
the first head coach. The team was named the Lightning, after
Tampa's status as the "Lightning Capital of North America."
Phil Esposito initially attempted to recreate the mystique from the
powerhouse Bruins of the 70s; he hired former linemate
Wayne Cashman as an assistant coach, former
Bruin trainer John "Frosty" Forristal as the team's trainer, and
the inaugural team photo has him flanked by Cashman and player
Ken Hodge, Jr., son of his other
Bruins' linemate. The team turned heads in the preseason when
Manon Rhéaume became the first
woman to play in an NHL game, making her first of two NHL
appearances in an exhibition game against the
St. Louis Blues.
Tampa Bay's original logo:
1992–2007
The
Lightning first took the ice on October 7, 1992, playing in Tampa's
tiny 11,000-seat Expo
Hall
at the Florida State Fairgrounds. They
shocked the visiting
Chicago
Blackhawks 7-3 with four goals by little-known
Chris Kontos, a scoring mark unmatched by any
Lightning player. The Bolts shot to the top of the
Campbell Conference's
Norris Division within a month, behind
Kontos' initial torrid scoring pace and a breakout season by
forward
Brian Bradley. However, they
buckled under the strain of some of the longest road trips in the
league — their nearest division rival was
St. Louis, over 1,000 miles from
Tampa — and finished in last place. Their 53 points in 1992-93,
however, was one of the best showings ever by an NHL expansion
team. Bradley's 42 goals gave Tampa Bay fans optimism for the next
season; it would be a team record until the 2006–07 season when
Vincent Lecavalier passed it with
a career high 52 goals.
The
following season saw the Lightning shift to the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division, as well as move
into the Florida Suncoast
Dome
(a building originally designed for baseball) in
St. Petersburg, which was reconfigured for hockey and renamed "the
Thunderdome." The team picked up
goaltender Daren
Puppa,
left-wing goal scorer
Petr Klima and aging sniper
Denis Savard. While Puppa's play resulted in a
significant improvement in goals allowed (from 332 to 251), Savard
was long past his prime and Klima's scoring was offset by his
defensive lapses. The Lightning finished last in the Atlantic
Division. Another disappointing season followed in the
lockout-shortened
1995
season. Still, the Lightning appeared to be far ahead of their
expansion brethren, the
Ottawa
Senators. In marked contrast to the Lightning, the Senators
showed almost no sign of respectability in their first four
seasons.
From great success to utter failure
In their fourth season,
1995–96, with Bradley still
leading the team in scoring, second-year forward
Alexander Selivanov scoring 31 goals,
and
Roman Hamrlik (the team's
first-ever draft choice in
1992) having an All-Star year on
defense, the Bolts finally qualified for the playoffs, nosing out
the defending
Stanley Cup champion
New Jersey Devils for the eighth
spot in the Eastern Conference by a single game. Although they lost
their first-round series in six games to the
Philadelphia Flyers, it still remains a
magical season for Lightning fans.
The Thunderdome crowd of 28,183 for the
April 23 playoff game against the Flyers
was the largest crowd for any NHL game, a record that stood until
the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton
.
The Lightning picked up sniper
Dino
Ciccarelli from the
Detroit Red
Wings during the 1996 off-season, and he did not disappoint,
scoring 35 goals in the
1996–97 season, with
Chris Gratton notching another 30.
The team
unveiled a glittering new arena, the Ice Palace (now the St. Pete Times
Forum) and appeared destined for another playoff
spot. However, the Lightning suffered a devastating rash of
injuries early in the season. Puppa developed back trouble that
would limit him to a total of 50 games from 1996 until his
retirement in
2000.
Bradley also lost time to a series of injuries that would limit him
to a total of 49 games from 1996 until his retirement in December
1999.
Center John Cullen developed
non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and missed the
last 12 games of the 1996–97 season; he would eventually be forced
to retire in 1999. Decimated by these ailments, the Lightning
narrowly missed the playoffs. It would be seven years before the
Lightning would even come close to the playoffs again.
Most of the Lightning's early stars were gone by
1998 due to free agency and
trades by Phil Esposito which backfired. Crisp was fired eleven
games into the
1997–98
season and replaced by
Jacques
Demers. Though Demers had presided over the resurgence of the
Detroit Red Wings in the 1980s and
helmed a Stanley Cup run in
Montreal in 1993, he was unable to change
the team's fortunes, and the Lightning ended up losing 55
games.
By all accounts, the Lightning's plunge to the bottom of the NHL
was due to the way Kokusai Green ran the team. Rumors abounded as
early as the team's second season that the Lightning were on the
brink of
bankruptcy and that the team was
part of a
money laundering scheme
for the
yakuza (Japanese crime families). Its
scouting operation consisted of Tony Esposito and several satellite
dishes. The
Internal Revenue
Service investigated the team in 1994 and 1995, and nearly
slapped a lien on the team for $750,000 in back taxes. The
situation led longtime NHL broadcaster and writer
Stan Fischler to call the Lightning a "skating
vaudeville show."
Even in their first playoff season, the team was awash in red ink
and Kokusai Green wanted to sell it; however, the sale was hampered
by the team's murky ownership structure. Even some team officials
(including Crisp) did not know who owned the team, and one person
listed as a major shareholder reportedly did not even exist.
Another problem was that Kokusai Green initially demanded $230
million for the team, including the lease with the Ice
Palace.
It later emerged that Kokusai Green's owner, Takashi Okubo, had
never met with Esposito or with NHL officials in person prior to
being awarded the Lightning. During his seven years as owner, Okubo
never watched his team play, and never even visited Tampa. Esposito
never met him personally in his hunt for investors, for instance.
Nearly all of Kokusai Green's investment in the team and the Ice
Palace came in the form of loans, leaving the team constantly short
of cash. In fact, the first time anyone connected with the
Lightning or the NHL even saw him was in the spring of 1998. Many
of Esposito's trades came simply to keep the team above water. The
team's financial situation was a considerable concern to NHL
officials; rumors surfaced that the league was seriously
considering taking control of the team if Okubo failed to find a
buyer by the summer of 1998.
Forbes wrote an article in late 1997
calling the Lightning a financial nightmare, with a debt equal to a
staggering 236% of its value — the highest of any major North
American sports franchise. Even though the Ice Palace was built for
hockey and the Lightning were the only major tenant, Forbes called
the team's deal with the arena a lemon since it would not result in
much revenue for 30 years. It was also behind on paying state sales
taxes and federal payroll taxes.
[11218]
Finally, in 1998, Kokusai Green found a buyer. Although
Detroit Pistons owner
William Davidson was thought to be the
frontrunner, the buyer turned out to be
insurance tycoon and motivational speaker
Art Williams. Williams walked into a
difficult financial situation; the team was $102 million in debt at
the time the sale closed. Like the Japanese, Williams knew very
little about hockey. However, he was very visible and outspoken,
and immediately pumped an additional $6 million into the team's
payroll to turn it around. He also cleared most of the massive debt
left over from the Kokusai Green era. After taking control,
Williams publicly assured the Espositos that their jobs were safe,
only to fire them two games into the 1998–99 season; Demers became
general manager as well as coach. Despite the clouds still hovering
over the franchise, 1998 saw the Bolts draft
Vincent Lecavalier, a player who would be
a cornerstone of the team for years to come.
Williams was widely seen as being in over his head and was an easy
target for his NHL colleagues, who called him "
Jed Clampett" behind his back
because of his thick Southern accent and
fundamentalist Christian views.
Early in the 1998–99 season, the Lightning lost 10 games in a row,
all but ending any chance of making the playoffs. They ended up
losing 54 games that year — more than the expansion
Nashville Predators. Although some blame
Williams for the slide, it can be argued that the damage from the
Kokusai Green era was too much for Williams to overcome.
Return to respectability
By the spring of 1999, Williams had seen enough. He had not
attended a game in some time because "this team broke my heart." He
lost $20 million in the 1998–99 season alone — as much money in one
year as he'd estimated he could have reasonably lost in five
years.
[11219]
Williams sold the team for $115 million — $2 million less than he
had paid for the team a year earlier — to Davidson, who had almost
bought the team a year earlier. Along with the sale, the Lightning
picked up a new top minor league affiliate; Davidson also owned the
Detroit Vipers of the now-defunct
International
Hockey League.
Davidson remained in Detroit, but appointed Tom Wilson as team
president to handle day-to-day management of the team. Wilson
immediately fired Demers, who despite his best efforts (and
fatherly attitude toward Lecavalier) was unable to overcome the
damage from the Kokusai Green ownership. Wilson persuaded
Ottawa Senators general manager
Rick Dudley to take over as the Bolts' new
general manager; Dudley in turn brought Vipers coach
Steve Ludzik in as the team's new head coach.
Wilson, Dudley, and Ludzik had helped make the Vipers one of the
premier minor league hockey franchises, having won a
Turner Cup in only their third season in Detroit
(the team had originally been based in
Salt Lake City).
However, as had been the case with Demers, the damage from the last
few seasons under Kokusai Green was too much for Ludzik to
overcome. Even with a wholesale transfer of talent from Detroit to
Tampa (a move that eventually doomed the Vipers, which folded along
with the IHL in 2001), the Lightning lost 54 games in
1999–2000 and 52 in
2000–01, becoming the first team
in NHL history to post four straight 50-loss seasons. The lone
bright spots in those years were the blossoming of Lecavalier and
Brad Richards into NHL stars. Ludzik
was replaced in early 2001 by career NHL assistant
John Tortorella.
The
2001–02 season,
Tortorella's first full year behind the bench, saw some
improvement. While finishing far out of playoff contention, the
Lightning at least showed some signs of life, earning more than 60
points for the first time since 1997. Tortorella stripped
Lecavalier of the captaincy due to contract negotiations that had
made the young center miss the start of the season.
Two dream seasons — and the Stanley Cup
With a young core of players led by Lecavalier, Richards,
Martin St. Louis, and
Fredrik Modin, the Lightning were thought to
be very close to respectability. However, they arrived somewhat
earlier than expected in
2002–03. The young team was led
by the goaltending of
Nikolai
Khabibulin and the scoring efforts of Lecavalier, St. Louis,
Modin, Richards, and
Ruslan
Fedotenko, and also boasted a new captain, former prolific
scorer
Dave Andreychuk. Throughout
the season, the Lightning battled the
Washington Capitals for first place in
the Southeast Division. They finished with 93 points, breaking the
90-point barrier for the first time in team history. They won the
division by just one point, giving them home-ice advantage in their
first round match-up with Washington.
The Lightning quickly fell two games behind in the series but
followed the two losses with four consecutive wins which advanced
them to the Conference Semifinals for the first time in team
history. In the semifinals the Lightning won only one game, losing
the series to the
New Jersey
Devils. The Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup, but the
Bolts' return to the post-season pleased the long-suffering hockey
fans of the Tampa Bay area.
The Lightning roared through the
2003–04 regular season, finishing
with 106 points, second-best in the league after the Western
Conference's
Detroit Red Wings –
the first 100-point season in franchise history. The Lightning went
through the season with only 20 man-games lost to injury. In the
first round of the playoffs, the Lightning ousted the
Alexei Yashin-led
New York Islanders in five games, with
solid play from goaltender
Nikolai
Khabibulin, who posted 3 shutouts in games 1, 3, and 4.
In the second round, the Lightning faced the
Montreal Canadiens, captained by
Saku Koivu; Lecavalier, Richards, and Khabibulin
led the team to a four-game sweep of Montreal. They next faced
Keith Primeau and his
Philadelphia Flyers in the Conference
Finals. After a tightly-fought seven-game series in which neither
team was able to win consecutive games,
Fredrik Modin notched the winning goal of the
seventh and deciding game, earning the Eastern Conference
Championship for the Lightning and their first-ever berth in the
Stanley Cup Finals.
Tampa Bay's opponent in the final round was the
Calgary Flames, captained by
Jarome Iginla. The final round also went the
full seven games, with the deciding game played in the St. Pete
Times Forum on June 7, 2004. This time,
Ruslan Fedotenko was the Game 7 hero,
scoring both Lightning goals in a 2-1 victory.
Brad Richards, who had 26 points, won the
Conn Smythe Trophy as the most
valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs; the Lightning had won
all 31 contests in which he had scored a goal since the opening of
the season. Tortorella won the
Jack
Adams Award as the NHL's Coach of the Year. Only three years
after losing 50 games, the Lightning became the southernmost team
ever to win the Stanley Cup, in only their 12th year of existence.
Martin St. Louis led the team and
the NHL with 94 points (his 38 goals were fourth-most after the 41
of tied trio Iginla,
Rick Nash, and
Ilya Kovalchuk), and won the
Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's
most valuable player. St. Louis also won the
Lester B. Pearson Award for league's most
outstanding player as voted by the NHL Players' Association, and
tied the
Vancouver Canucks'
Marek Malik for the
NHL Plus/Minus Award.
The Lightning had to wait a year to defend their title due to the
2004–05 NHL lockout, but
in
2005–06 they barely
made the playoffs with 93 points in a conference where six teams
notched 100 or more points. They lost to the
Ottawa Senators in five games in the first
round.
2006–07 season: Another short postseason
During the offseason, the Lightning traded
Fredrik Modin and
Fredrik Norrena, to the
Columbus Blue Jackets for goaltender
Marc Denis, to replace
John Grahame, who had served as the Lightning's
goaltender throughout most of the
2005–06 season, as he left the
team, and signed with the
Carolina
Hurricanes. Free agent
Johan
Holmqvist would eventually get the majority of playing time,
and most of the club's wins. The first half of the
2006-07 NHL Season was rocky for the
Lightning, maintaining an 18-19-2 record throughout the first few
months. January and February were far better months for the team,
going 9-4-0 in January, and 9-2-2 in February, getting them back
into the thick of things in the playoff race. 14 games in March
were split even, and on March 16, 2007,
Vincent Lecavalier broke the franchise
record for most points in a season, with 95 (finishing with 108).
The record was previously held by
Martin St. Louis, who had set the record in
the 2003–04 Stanley Cup Championship year. Lecavalier also broke
the franchise's goal scoring record, finishing with a
league-leading 52 goals.
The Lightning were busy during the final weeks before the NHL Trade
Deadline, acquiring wingers
Kyle Wanvig,
Stephen Baby, and defensemen
Shane O'Brien. Former first round pick
Nikita Alexeev was traded on the day
of the deadline to the
Chicago
Blackhawks. Other new additions for the team during the season
were
Filip Kuba,
Luke Richardson, and
Doug Janik. Veteran
Andre
Roy, who had won the
Stanley Cup
with the Lightning in 2004, was claimed off waivers from the
Pittsburgh Penguins.
Throughout March, the Lightning had been switching places with the
Atlanta Thrashers for first place
in the Southeast Division. With a chance to overtake the Thrashers
one final time and once again become division champions for the
third time in team history, on April 6, 2007, in the final week of
the regular season, the Lighting suffered a loss to the
Florida Panthers, the night before the
season finale in Atlanta. That same night, the Thrashers defeated
the
Carolina Hurricanes, and
clinched the division. For the Lightning, this meant having to
settle for the seventh seed in the
Eastern Conference, with a final
record of 44-33-5 (93 points).
The Lightning were eliminated from playoff competition on April 22,
after a 3-2 home loss to the New Jersey Devils in game six of the
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
Following
their playoff exit, on August 7, 2007, Absolute Hockey Enterprises,
a group led by Doug MacLean, announced
it had signed a purchase agreement for the team and the leasehold on the St. Pete Times Forum. MacLean is the former president and general
manager of the
Columbus Blue
Jackets and former head coach for both the Blue Jackets and the
Florida Panthers. The group
announced that it planned to keep the team in Tampa, but the deal
fell apart during the 2007-08 season.
2007–08 season: Dead last
The Lightning struggled to maintain success during the 2007–2008
campaign. Although the "Big 3," (Lecavalier, St. Louis, and
Richards) along with Vaclav Prospal, had performed up to
expectations, they had little consistent play from supporting
players.
At the start of the All-Star Break on
January
25, the Lightning had a 20–25–5 record, and with 45 points,
were in last place in both the Southeast Division, and the Eastern
Conference. Only the
Los Angeles
Kings had a lower point total at this time of the season, with
40 points.
On February 13, 2008, it was announced that Palace Sports &
Entertainment had agreed to sell the Lightning to OK Hockey LLC, a
group headed by
Oren Koules, a producer
of the
Saw horror movies.
The Lightning were active during the trade deadline, similar to the
previous season. The more notable trades included
Vaclav Prospal being dealt to the
Philadelphia Flyers for
AHL All-Star defenseman
Alexandre Picard and a conditional draft
pick. Former
Conn Smythe Trophy
winner,
Brad Richards and goaltender
Johan Holmqvist were sent to the
Dallas Stars, for goaltender
Mike Smith, and forwards
Jussi Jokinen and
Jeff Halpern, as well as a fourth round pick in
the
2009 NHL Entry Draft. One
player with considerable ice time,
Jan
Hlavac, was traded to the
Nashville Predators for a seventh round
pick in the
2008 NHL Entry
Draft. Defenseman
Dan
Boyle, was re-signed to a 6-year contract extension, reportedly
worth $40 million.
However, after the trade deadline, the Lightning fared no better
than they had throughout the entire season. With the day of the
deadline being
February 26, the
Lightning won only five games after that date. Finishing with a
31–42–9 record, with 71 points, they had the best chance at getting
the top overall pick in the
2008
NHL Entry Draft through the draft lottery, and was awarded the
top overall pick by winning the draft lottery on
April 7. They would use their first overall pick to
select
Steven Stamkos, who had been
playing in the
Ontario Hockey
League prior to the draft.
The Lightning were the worst team on the road in the NHL, winning
only 11 games. Another showing of the team's poor play, was the
difference from the previous season's success in the
overtime/shootout periods. In the 2006–07 season, the Lightning had
one of the best extra period records, winning 15 games in either
overtime or the shootout. In the 2007–08 season, they won only 3
games, losing 9.
Vincent Lecavalier suffered a
dislocated shoulder as the result of an open-ice hit from
Matt Cooke of the
Washington Capitals, in the game before
the season finale in Atlanta. Lecavalier, who planned on having
arthroscopic wrist surgery after the season's ending, would undergo
surgery to repair his right shoulder as well. Cooke was fined
$2,500 by the NHL for the hit, because Lecavalier did not have
possession of the puck at the time. Lecavalier is expected to miss
12–15 weeks, but General Manager
Jay
Feaster believes that Lecavalier will be "100 percent" at the
start of training camp for the 2008–09 season.
John Tortorella was fired by the
Lighting following their worst season since Tortorella was hired.
At the time working as an NHL analyst for ESPN,
Barry Melrose stated on June 4 during an
episode of
Pardon the
Interruption that he missed coaching and would entertain any
NHL coaching offers. He stated, "I miss not having a dog in the
fight." On June 23, ESPN reported that Melrose had been chosen to
be the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, starting in the
2008-2009 NHL season. The next day, the Lightning officially
introduced him as their new head coach.
2008–09 season: From bad to worse
The
Lightning opened the season in the Czech Republic
against the New York
Rangers as a part of the NHL's regular
season "Premiere" that selects several teams to open the NHL regular season in Europe.
Barry Melrose would record his first
win as a head coach in over 13 years on October 21, 2008 with a 3-2
victory over the
Atlanta
Thrashers. However, the Lightning did not get off to a great
start as hoped, and Melrose was fired by the Lightning with a 5-7-4
record.
Rick Tocchet, who had been
hired as assistant coach during the previous offseason, was
promoted to interim head coach.
On March 4 NHL veterans
Mark Recchi and
Olaf Kolzig were traded by the Tampa Bay
Lightning to the
Boston Bruins and
Toronto Maple Leafs
respectively.The Lightning acquired top round picks
Matt Lashoff and
Martins Karsums from the Bruins.
After the firing of Melrose, the Lightning went 19-33-14, and would
finish the season 24-40-18 with 66 points, their lowest point total
since the 2000-01 season. With the 2nd overall pick in the
2009 NHL Entry Draft, the Lightning
selected
Victor Hedman.
2009–10 season
During the offseason, the Lightning removed the interim status of
Rick Tocchet, and decided to make him
the full-time coach with a multi-year contract.
Radio and television
The Lightning radio broadcasts are on
WDAE; the
play-by-play announcer is Dave Mishkin, known for his energetic
style and his tendency to shriek when the Lightning score.
Phil Esposito is the color commentator for
home games. Matthew Sammon is the pregame and intermission host.
The
Lightning television broadcasts can be seen on Sun Sports and
locally on WTOG
. The
television play-by-play announcer is
Rick
Peckham. The color commentator is
Bobby Taylor. The studio host is
Paul Kennedy.
Todd Kalas and
Whit
Watson also host in select home games. Former Lightning players
Chris Dingman and
Dave Andreychuk assist with the television
broadcasts on occasion.
Team colors and mascot
Since starting play, the Lightning colors have been blue, black and
white. Their logo has been a stylized lightning bolt. This is the
origin of one nickname for the team – the 'Bolts'.
Logo and jerseys
As with all NHL teams for the 2007–08 season, the Lightning debuted
in new Reebok "Rbk Edge" jerseys. Also, like several other NHL
teams, the Lightning updated their team logo.
The Lightning unveiled their new logo on August 25, 2007. The new
logo is similar to the old one, but with a more modern look. The
new logo also kept the same theme as the previous one, but with the
words "Tampa Bay" across the top now appearing with tall capital
initials, and the word "Lightning" no longer appearing on the
bottom of the logo.
New alternate jersey (2008–09)
Along with many other NHL teams, the Lightning debuted a new
"Alternate" or "Third" jersey in the 2008–09 season. The jersey
features a dominant "electric blue" color, with black and silver
accents at the end of the sleeves. The logo is removed, and in its
place emblazoned across the front of the jersey descending to the
lower left of the jersey is the word "BOLTS" (utilizing a layout
similar to that of the
New York
Rangers primary jersey). The numbers are featured on the back
and sleeves only, using white lettering.
ThunderBug
The Lightning mascot is a
lightning bug
named ThunderBug. He performs at games and makes appearances in the
community. According to the Lightning website
[11220], his hobbies include "wrestling
Florida Panthers,
Shark fishing, hunting
Ducks, trap shooting
Thrashers and
Carolina Hog tying."
Lightning Girls
The Lightning also utilize a dance team known as the Lightning
Girls
[11221] at all home games and community events.
The Tampa Bay Lightning Girls are a group of dancers who perform in
the stands and clean the ice during breaks.
Season-by-season record
This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by
the Lightning. For the full season-by-season history, see
Tampa Bay Lightning
seasons
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses,
T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA =
Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Records as of April 11, 2009.
| Season |
GP |
W |
L |
OTL |
Pts |
GF |
GA |
PIM |
Finish |
Playoffs |
|
| 2004–05 |
Season canceled because of 2004–05 NHL lockout |
| 2005–06 |
82 |
43 |
33 |
6 |
92 |
252 |
260 |
947 |
2nd, Southeast |
Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Senators) |
| 2006–07 |
82 |
44 |
33 |
5 |
93 |
253 |
261 |
708 |
2nd, Southeast |
Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2-4 (Devils) |
| 2007–08 |
82 |
31 |
42 |
8 |
71 |
223 |
267 |
1022 |
5th, Southeast |
Did not qualify |
| 2008–09 |
82 |
24 |
40 |
18 |
66 |
210 |
279 |
1280 |
5th, Southeast |
Did not qualify |
Notable players
Current roster
Team captains
Honored Members
Hall of Famers: The Lightning have had one Hall of Famer
as a player,
Denis Savard (C, 1993–95)
was inducted in 2000 (as a Player) for his NHL career.
Retired numbers: The Lightning have not retired any
numbers. However,
Wayne Gretzky's
number
99 was retired league-wide
February 6, 2000.
First-round draft picks
Franchise scoring leaders
These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures
are updated after each completed NHL regular season.
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G =
Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * =
current Lightning player
NHL awards and trophies
Franchise records
Individual
- Most goals in a season: Vincent
Lecavalier, 52 (2006–07)
- Most assists in a season: Brad
Richards, 68 (2005–06)
- Most points in a season: Vincent Lecavalier, 108 (2006–07)
- Most penalty minutes in a season: Enrico Ciccone, 258 (1995–96)
- Most points in a season, defenseman: Roman Hamrlik, 65 (1995–96)
- Most points in a season, rookie: Brad Richards, 62
(2000–01)
- Most wins in a season: Nikolai
Khabibulin, 30 (2002–03)
- Most shutouts in a season: Nikolai Khabibulin, 7 (2001–02)
Team
- Largest Home Playoff Attendance: 28,183
(ThunderDome - now Tropicana Field) (1995-96)
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