Are the lightning a superteam?

Regal

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Mar 12, 2010
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They have the best winger, defenseman and goalie in the League (at least arguably). They have two great Centers, a ton of depth. Are they a modern day “super team”?

I don’t know what constitutes a super team, but they're probably about as talented as a team could reasonably be in the cap era barring some unprecedented level of drafting (yea, yea, 100 million payroll, I don't care).
 

Devonator

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Jan 5, 2003
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They do seem to be a touch above everyone else in the NHL....it is going to be hard to knock them off this year.....perhaps Vegas can do it....
 

BigDaddyLurch

Have some PRIDE, Eric...
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$30 mill taking into consideration tax advantages. So essentially the Lightning at a 110M cap team versus most other teams 80M. That’s being able to ice a nearly 40% better team than anyone else. It’s no wonder they are stacked.

...does your body just absorb all the salt in the atmosphere or is it a conscious decision??...
 

Empoleon8771

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Aug 25, 2015
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Like I posted in the GDT, they're a team so well built that they can play any sort of style and still win. I think Tampa is the only team in the NHL today that can claim that, I don't even think Vegas falls in that category.

There aren't many teams that can do that, hell even a lot of cup winning teams couldn't even do that. A lot of cup teams are built to 1 specific attribute that they're so good that they can just dominate with it. Look at the cup winners before Tampa, I feel like those 3 teams (St. Louis, Washington and Pittsburgh) just maximized 1 or 2 attributes and rode those to the cup. But Tampa has maximized seemingly all of their attributes, to the point where they can win any sort of game that may arise. The 2016-2017 Penguins, 2018 Capitals and 2019 Blues didn't have the extreme versatility that the 2021 Lightning do.

The 2019 Blues wouldn't have won the cup had they had a matchup that turned games into end to end offensive games. The 2018 Caps wouldn't have won the cup had they had a matchup that turned games into all speed and little physicality matchups. The 2016 and 2017 Penguins wouldn't have won the cup had they had a matchup that turned those games into slower, physical games. With Tampa, I think they can win with any of those changes just because of how well built they are.
 

TheNumber4

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Nov 11, 2011
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Isn’t most of their team home grown?
It is. And with many teams, when home grown talent gets good, they are usually priced out of the market and hard decisions will have to be made as to who stays and who needs to go in a salary cap world. But since the cap is irrelevant to Tampa, everyone gets to stay!
 

Erik Alfredsson

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Jan 14, 2012
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Yep, and it was apparent early in the season. They're at least the closest thing to it since those dynasty Blackhawks teams. They have everything. Some of the top players in the league (as you said, arguably the best goaltender, defenseman, and winger), some of the best depth in the league, plus they're well-coached, extremely physical, aggressive, and work hard. They can beat you in so many different ways.

And on the topic of "cap circumvention", if you have people clamoring for league-wide rule changes due to the success of your team, you're doing something right.
 

BigDaddyLurch

Have some PRIDE, Eric...
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It is. And with many teams, when home grown talent gets good, they are usually priced out of the market and hard decisions will have to be made as to who stays and who needs to go in a salary cap world. But since the cap is irrelevant to Tampa, everyone gets to stay!

...so you understand why then...good...
 
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