Are the lightning a superteam?

[T REX]

Not going to lie...you are the best Stanly Cap team...lol

See you in another 28 years if you are lucky.

Or if Bettman gifts a Canadian team again a spot in teh semi's.

Hopefully we don't play anymore fake opponents with losing records.

Back under your rock buddy. BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

 

[ThunderRoad]

Few ov you would remember the 70s Habs. The only time they lost is when they lost interest. THAT was a super team. So where a few after that.

Tampa simply was the best at skirting the cap. If the Habs had Weber and Price on LTIR, which is how much Tampa hid, they would have at least three top 6 and/or top 4 in the lineup.

Add Ristolinen, Mantha and Hall....to balance the cheating.

Misleading much? Kucherov's salary is 9.5M and the other two on LITR have never suited up for Tampa. Other teams have long used LITR. It is only against the rules if a healthy player is stashed on LITR which didn't happen - Kucherov needed surgery, he got surgery and went through rehabilitation. He came back early from that rehabilitation in order to play in the playoffs because players do everything they can to play in the postseason. It just so happened in a shortened season the length of that season equates to the lower end of the recovery time for the surgery he had. The Lightning were still one of the better teams in the league during regular season without one of their best players and one of the league's best players. They won the Cup last year missing one of their best players (at least on the PP). They are a good team that is run and coached well.

 

[HabsAddict]

See you in another 28 years if you are lucky.

Or if Bettman gifts a Canadian team again a spot in teh semi's.

Hopefully we don't play anymore fake opponents with losing records.

Back under your rock buddy. BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

Can't beat a cheater!

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The league is broken right now it's actually kind of hilarious. Is there even a point in tuning in next year?

 

[yrrebbor]

They've made the playoffs in 12 of the last 20 seasons, and are most likely going to have three Stanley Cups in 18 years. In recent times, only Chicago winning three cups in six years, Pittsburg winning three cups in nine years, and Detroit with four cups in 11 is more impressive.

They've been a solid team for a long time. Still pissed at them for besting the Rangers in 2015.

 

[abo9]

Misleading much? Kucherov's salary is 9.5M and the other two on LITR have never suited up for Tampa. Other teams have long used LITR. It is only against the rules if a healthy player is stashed on LITR which didn't happen - Kucherov needed surgery, he got surgery and went through rehabilitation. He came back early from that rehabilitation in order to play in the playoffs because players do everything they can to play in the postseason. It just so happened in a shortened season the length of that season equates to the lower end of the recovery time for the surgery he had. The Lightning were still one of the better teams in the league during regular season without one of their best players and one of the league's best players. They won the Cup last year missing one of their best players (at least on the PP). They are a good team that is run and coached well.

I'm not gona complain that Tampa is over the cap - others do it well and tbh Bravo Tampa for taking advantage of Kuch injury to bolster up even more

But I don't think it's totally disingenuous to add up the two on LTIR. They're paper parts of the plans, they're part of the reason Tanpa was able to ice such a strong roster.

You have unused money stashed on LTIR, but also some players that play above their cap hit (David Savard is not a 1M player...). It's good asset management, but they're still icing a team that would not be able to play together in the RS

 

[11Messier]

To me this years cup is a bigger Asterix than last years bubble. How in the world the NHL thinks it's fair for one team to be so much over the cap, I will never get. A Cap league means just that. No team should be able to go over the cap at any time. Don't get me wrong. I don't blame Tampa for taking advantage of the loop hole. Good for them. But to now sit here and see threads about how they are a super team, a dynasty, blah blah blah is too much. I don't give much credence to this years cup at all. The super star was the person who figured out how to take advantage of the loop hole, not the teams players that has almost 25% more cap than other teams. How can you not be a super team with that much advantage. So great, Tampa bought themselves a cup. It doesn't mean I have to respect the achievement in any way, and I don't because its actually an NHL embarrassment.

 

[Henkka]

Tampa history reminds me a lot of Detroit

2015 Final loss (just like Detroit 1995)
2019 Regular season record - 62 wins, 128 points (like Detroit 1996, 62 wins, 131 points)
2020 Stanley Cup (like Detroit 1997)
2021 Stanley Cup (possible, like Detroit 1998) also having their Russian star missing almost all of regular season... but full playoffs.

First final loss, then a regular season record + playoff failure, then back-to-back Stanley Cups.

And Steve Yzerman part of both.

 

[Henkka]

To me this years cup is a bigger Asterix than last years bubble. How in the world the NHL thinks it's fair for one team to be so much over the cap, I will never get. A Cap league means just that. No team should be able to go over the cap at any time. Don't get me wrong. I don't blame Tampa for taking advantage of the loop hole. Good for them. But to now sit here and see threads about how they are a super team, a dynasty, blah blah blah is too much. I don't give much credence to this years cup at all. The super star was the person who figured out how to take advantage of the loop hole, not the teams players that has almost 25% more cap than other teams. How can you not be a super team with that much advantage. So great, Tampa bought themselves a cup. It doesn't mean I have to respect the achievement in any way, and I don't because its actually an NHL embarrassment.

They are nothing but a great team because they were able to get to the playoffs, without their most important star player. Many teams would have failed out without

And mostly, there was an injury, a real one which would have been fixed at some point of his career. But there was also a lucky co-insidence, that the rehabing timetable was kind for that injury than regular season. Tampa was unlucky at 2015, when Chicago won a Cup with identical Patrick Kane cap loophole, they are not the only one.

You can put an asterisk also there. Let's take away some Chicago Cups too.