What to do With Stamkos?

Now since the Lightning are officially knocked out of the playoffs, it's time to discuss the off-season as it will be one of the biggest ones in franchise history. The big question is what will the team do with captain Steven Stamkos who is a free agent on July 1st and is free to sign with any team. The answer is simple the Lightning will do whatever is best for them, as general manager Steve Yzerman has done just that since he arrived in 2010.

The Lightning have a certain number in mind for Stamkos and probably wont go past that number due to the fact that key players like Hedman, Kucherov, Killorn, and Johnson will need new contracts as well. The Lightning are going to have to move some pieces around in order to create more cap space. One of the likely candidates is defenseman Matt Carle who has a big cap number and his play has been sub par to say the least. Yzerman will try to trade him but a buyout is more likely which would have the same effect.

In my opinion, I believe Stamkos will return as he is a big part of this team and it's hard to replace a guy like him. Again as I have said before Yzerman will do what he thinks is best for the team, and if that means keeping Stamkos then that is what will happen. Either way this is going to be one fun offseason for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Lightning Come Up Short Again

The Tampa Bay Lightning were so close yet again but come up short for the second consecutive season. Pittsburgh was just too strong and fast and at times really dominated the series as the Lightning just couldn't make the proper adjustments without goalie Ben Bishop. Even though backup goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy played outstanding throughout the series, the Lightning missed Bishop's ability to stop the other teams forcheck by being able to make outlet passes to the d-men or forwards to start the rush.

This team show signs of being able to outplay Pittsburgh but the inconsistencies that plagued this team all year came back to bite them in the ass, and unfortunately cost them the chance to play in the stanley cup finals again. The Lightning struggle to create any kind of rhythm offensively during game 6 or game 7 which ultimately cost them the series. Tip your hat to the Penguins, they played aggressive and were more smart with the puck and overall were just better than Tampa. Our key players were non-existent in the last two games as well, especially Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov. In the playoffs your best players have to be the best players on the ice, and unfortunately for the Lightning that wasn't always the case.

With that being said, it is amazing that this team made it to game 7 of the eastern conference finals without their two best players in Steven Stamkos and Ben Bishop. Hopefully Yzerman can find a way to keep the core players on this team intact for next season as they will have another great chance to win the cup in 2017. The team has probably found three young stars in forwards Jonathan Drouin, Nikita Kucherov, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy whom all have very bright futures ahead in this league. This team just needs to stay healthy come playoff time as it has the pieces to win the cup next season.

Lightning Are Back in the Eastern Conference Finals

The Lightning defeated the Islanders 4-0, winning the series 4-1 and are advancing to the eastern conference finals for the second straight season. This series got off to a shaky start for the Bolts as they came out flat in game 1 losing 5-3, but after that they were able to come up big in key situations leading them to 4 straight wins. Goalie Ben Bishop was outstanding again and pretty much won games 3 and 4 by himself along with some timely goals in overtime that help the Lightning take control of the series. Bishop was great again yesterday collecting his 5th postseason shutout, 4 of them have come in the clinching game.

This Lightning team will go as far as Bishop can take them, and right now it looks like he wants the stanley cup. He just makes everything look so easy and plays with great poise and confidence which makes him such a great goalie. Now it wasn't all Bishop as Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov were terrific as well and came up with huge goals during big moments of the games. This team just has everything flowing their way, and this is without one of their top D-man, and top goal scorer which is really impressive. The coaching staff led by Jon Cooper has done an outstanding job, and their job doesn't get any easier with the next opponent likely to be either the Penguins or Capitals. The good news is that Anton Stralman and JT Brown could be ready for the upcoming series which will only make our defense that much better along with more speed on the ice in Brown.

Back to yesterday's win, the team was flat out dominant and it was funny to watch the Islanders bench as they knew they couldn't do anything to stop it. Lightning were just the better team and it showed in this series, and at times the Lightning just looked unstoppable. Now the Lightning get the chance to rest and can prepare for the next opponent whom will be a much tougher test.