Time to close history books, focus on new era of Lightning hockey | Commentary

TAMPA Makeovers arent just for losers.

Turns out, even mini dynasties need some freshening up.

So it is for the Lightning.

Across the past 10 seasons, theres not a team in the NHL with more victories than Tampa Bay.

No franchise has won more conference titles, and only the Penguins have won as many Stanley Cups.

This is what passes for dominance in the salary-cap era.

And yet, while they have been the envy of the league, the Lightning also have been a team in decline.

They have not been so bold as to admit that out loud, but their maneuvers in the offseason seem to confirm it.

This was not the typical hand-wringing over trying to keep the gang together in the face of rising salaries.

This was a purposeful departure from the formula that had worked so well since this run began with a Stanley Cup final loss to Chicago 10 years ago.

Its the reality of our industry, GM Julien BriseBois said.

Theres turnover.

That has been evident for several years.

Because of salary-cap restraints, the Lightning had already waved goodbye to a half-dozen or more key contributors to the back-to-back Stanley Cup winners in 2020 and 21.

The core group was the same, but the depth and the identity wavered.

Rather than continue down that slope, the Lightning have adjusted.

Instead of being a diminished team, they have chosen to be a different team.

Steven Stamkos, the face of the franchise and one of the greatest athletes that Tampa Bay has known, is gone.

Mikhail Sergachev, the one-time heir apparent to Victor Hedman on the Lightning blue line, is gone.

Anthony Duclair, Tanner Jeannot, Alex Barre-Boulet, Matt Dumba, Calvin de Haan, Tyler Motte, Haydn Fleury, Austin Watson.

All gone.

Of the 24 skaters with the most ice time last season, nearly half are no longer around.

The last two years, weve had two first-round exits.

Thats not where we want to be, said forward Anthony Cirelli.

Were a team thats always been in the fight, always had a chance to win since Ive been here.

Sometimes, change is good.

Bringing in new voices and personalities.

There is a cost to winning in the NHL today and it goes beyond payroll expenditures.

Prior to the Lightning, only three franchises had won multiple Stanley Cups in the salary-cap era.

The subsequent falloffs were all dramatic: Thats the legacy the Lightning are trying to avoid, and it wont be easy.

Teams that win multiple Stanley Cups are obviously loaded with talent and when contracts expire, you can either overpay to keep players or contemplate a different type of roster.

The Blackhawks held on to Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Corey Crawford, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook until they were in their mid-30s, and the team slid into obscurity.

Ditto for the Penguins with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.

Teams that have success, their players price themselves out ...

[and] tend to go to teams that are on the way up, BriseBois said.

It kind of recalibrates the league a little bit, the strengths of each team, the balance of power, if you will, within the league.

The Lightning were threatening to go down a similar road of hopelessly clinging to the past.

After four consecutive seasons with a top-10 defense, they slipped to No.

14 in 2022-23 and lost in the first round to Toronto.

They fell to No.

22 last season, and lost to eventual champion Florida in the first round.

They needed to get better at keeping pucks out of their own net, and being a harder team to play in 5-on-5 situations.

Sergachev is clearly a skilled player, but part of his appeal is the offensive production he brings as a defenseman.

By trading him to Utah, the Lightning got a defense-first player in J.J.

Moser and cleared enough money from the salary cap to be able to afford shutdown defenseman Ryan McDonagh, too.

Parting ways with Stamkos was more difficult, but acquiring Jake Guentzel for that spot gives the Lightning a younger skater with a greater capacity to play effectively on both ends of the ice.

None of this guarantees the Lightning can stave off further decline, but its a smarter play than hoping to recapture old glories with a team that is older and a roster that is thinner than the past.

Its a fine line.

Youve got to have some belief in your core and the things youve been preaching and whatnot, said McDonagh.

But at the same time, theres ways to tweak things.

Its like anything else in life.

If its not working, you need to make some changes.

Weve had a few big changes here, and now its our job as players to change the result and change the ending.

Up next ...

Lightning at Hurricanes When: 7, Friday, Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.

TV: Hulu.

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