The Lightning's three conditions for a repeat performance
Who won the Stanley Cup in 2020? The Tampa Bay Lightning!
Who won the Stanley Cup in 2021? The Tampa Bay Lightning!
Who will win the Stanley Cup in 2022? No one can predict, but the Tampa Bay Lightning will still have a strong lineup. The core of Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat, Alexander Killorn, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Mikhail Sergachev and Andrei Vasilevskiy is still there. Despite the loss of David Savard, Yanni Gourde, Tyler Johnson, Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow, the Lightning still remain a threat.
To plug all these holes, Julien BriseBois added Corey Perry and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, while Mathieu Joseph will certainly get a bigger role in the lineup. Perry, Bellemare and Maroon as a fourth unit sounds good, right? While we're on the subject of the colossal Maroon, you should know that he has indicated the recipe it will take for the Lightning to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup.
"I really think we can do it again. It depends on how healthy we are, how fit the guys are and our attitude. We're sending messages to each other as a group and saying, 'We still have our top two lines on offense, our top-4 on defense, the best goalie in the league [Andrei Vasilevskiy]. We added Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ross Colton and Mathieu Joseph. We're adding Taylor Raddysh and made it there, why not?"."
He forgot to name the addition of Corey Perry, who will be such a formidable weapon...
So, for this to work and for the Lightning to accomplish this outsized feat in modern years, it's going to take the following three things: health, the right combination of guys, and the right attitude.
