Despite having three of the most talented offensive players in the league, Tampa Bay missed the playoffs for the 3rd straight season. Alot of that has to do with the fact that they lack veteran experience on the blueline and don’t have a true number one goaltender. While they could definitely use added depth up front, Tampa will need to beef up defensively if they want to be successful next year.
Offense: C-
Steven Stamkos is one of the most talented rising stars in the league, finishing the season tied with Sidney Crosby for the league lead with 51 goals. Great speed and a lethal one timer are just two of the tools Stamkos used all year to put fear into opposing team’s goalies. The fact that he had Martin St. Louis passing him the puck all year didn’t hurt. Vinny Lecavalier had a bit of an off year, finishing with just 70 points, but it was the fact that no one else on the team scored consistently that hurt the Lightning. Alex Tanguay had only 37 points after being hyped as this year’s big free agent signing, while enforcer Steve Downie was 5th on the team in points, despite spending 205 minutes in the penalty box.
Defense: D- Victor Hedman lived up to his billing as a top-pairing defenseman. The rookie logged over 20 minutes a game, and had 20 points, but he also had a -3 rating. Not one of the Lightning defensemen was positive. Getting some quality blueliners to patch up their porous defense should be a top priority in Tampa this offseason. Mattias Ohlund had just 13 points and was -8, but is probably there more in a mentoring role for Hedman than anything else.
Goaltending: F Antero Niittymaki was the Lightning’s best goalie this year, and that’s a big part of the problem. With just 21 wins in 49 appearances and a 2.87 GAA, Niitymaki didn’t exactly steal the starting job from Mike Smith. Smith was just worse, winning only 13 games and posting a GAA over 3.00. Finding a starting keeper may be more important than fixing anything else on their roster.
Special Teams: B Tampa Bay’s powerplay scored the most goals of any team not in the playoffs, due mainly to the fact that giving Stamkos any extra time and space is just about the worst thing a team can do. Stamkos led the league with 24 powerplay goals, and was the only player to score more than 20 goals with the man advantage. The penalty kill? Not so great. The Lightning surrendered 67 powerplay goals, with an efficiency rate under 80%.