Tampa Bay Lightning: 2020 Stanley Cup Favorites

Expecting a dramatic rebound after a head-scratching postseason collapse last season, DraftKings currently lists the Tampa Bay Lightning as a +700 favorite to win the Stanley Cup in 2019-20.

Tampa Bay tied an NHL record with 62 wins in the regular season a year ago, but it failed to add even one victory to that total in the Stanley Cup Playoffs thanks to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who quickly captured  what turned out to be a four-game series from the Bolts in the first round. Inexplicably, the Lightning, which boasted the League’s top point producer, three 40-goal scorers and the eventual Vezina Trophy-winning goalie, became the first Presidents’ Trophy winner to be swept in the first round of the playoffs.

"We couldn't find our game,” Jon Cooper, the NHL’s longest tenured head coach, somberly told reporters after the 4-0 series loss to Columbus. “It's that clear. For six days in April, we couldn't find it. It's unfortunate because it puts a blemish on what was one hell of a regular season … When you have the amount of points we had, it's a blessing and a curse, in a way. You don't play any meaningful hockey for a long time. Then, all of a sudden, you have to ramp it up. It's not an excuse. It's reality. That's how it goes. You have a historic regular season, and we had a historic playoff.”

The embarrassing postseason outing should serve as intense motivation in 2019-20 for Tampa Bay, which has kept its core intact and has only slightly tinkered with its roster this off-season.

Cooper, who has led the Lightning to the playoffs five times in six seasons behind Tampa Bay’s bench, recently signed a multi-year contract extension. So did goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who won the Vezina Trophy after posting a 39-10-4 record, a 2.40 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage last season. Barring a trade or early retirement, the 25-year-old Russian will tend  the Lightning net for the next decade.

“Andrei is a key member of our team,” general manager Julien BriseBois told reporters. “He’s arguably the best goaltender in the world and he’s just entering his prime now. We had the opportunity to lock him up to a contract that made sense for our organization.”

Nikita Kucherov, who led the NHL with 128 points in 2018-19, will be back at right wing on the top line. He scored 41 goals last season. So did center Brayden Point, a restricted free agent who needs to be re-signed this summer. Captain Steven Stamkos led the team and ranked fourth in the NHL with 45 goals. 

"We still believe in this organization, this group,” Stamkos told reporters after last season. "We have the structure in place to be successful. We've had some really good playoff runs in the past. We had a really good regular season this year, and it didn't translate into playoff success. So, our group is going to be focused on winning.”

Tampa Bay added veteran backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney and defensemen Luke Schenn and Luke Witkowski this summer.  Schenn and Witkowski replace Anton Stralman, who was traded to Florida, and Dan Girardi, who was not re-signed, on the back end depth chart, which will again be anchored by Victor Hedman, one of the League’s premiere defenseman. 

The Lightning traded forward J.T Miller to Vancouver this off-season so look for Ondrej Palat to get more time on the power play. When healthy, he’s been a consistent point producer for the Bolts over the past six seasons.

Center Carter Verhaeghe, who led the American Hockey League with 82 points and co-led the AHL with 34 goals last season, likely will get a long look at training camp as the Lightning seek some depth on the forward lines.

Tampa Bay scored an eye-popping 325 goals last season and allowed just 222. Look for those hefty offensive numbers to return in 2019-20 as the Lightning regularly compete with other highly-offensive teams such as Boston, Toronto and Florida within the Atlantic Division, arguably the best division in the NHL.

DraftKings lists the Vegas Golden Knights (+1000) close behind Tampa Bay to win the Cup in 2019-20. The Boston Bruins (+1150), Colorado Avalanche (+1400) and Nashville Predators (+1400) round out the top five, respectively.

The St. Louis Blues, who shocked many experts and gurus by winning the Stanley Cup last season, are listed at +1600 to repeat.

But the Lightning clearly are the team to beat, with elite talent at both ends of the rink and with a score to settle not only with Columbus and the other 29 teams, but, more importantly, with themselves.

Note: All statistics above were found on Hockey-Reference.com. The advice above represents the writer's personal view and does not reflect or represent BetQL's stance or interest in any way.