Tampa Bay: Are we witnessing the best roster in the cap era?

[bambamcam4ever]

Because the players on chicago were actually good enough to play important roles on every international teams and be all stars in the league while noone cares about nobodies like Kunitz, Hagelin, Hornqvist, Bonino in 4 years lmao. Pretty much half of Chicago's team was playing in the olympics for various countries in both 2010 and 14 Pit's nobodies are no where close to that.

Sharp, Prime Seabrook, Byfuglien, Hjalmarsson, Campbell are miles better than Kunitz, Bonino, Rust, Sheary, Hagelin, Hornqvist and co ever were in their careers. 4 top pairing D and a top 5 LW and you think they are comparable those nobodies? Dupuis, Kunitz, Hagelin, Rust, Sheary, Hornqvist, Bonino, and Guentzal would all be bottom 6 players on every chicago cup team and Letang doesnt even crack their top pair. Even 3rd line Chicago players like Teuvo, Versteeg, and Ladd blow Hornqvist's best season ever out of the water. They arent in the same stratosphere as Chicago's supporting cast.

2nd they didnt have the best team post lockout either 08 Wings, 10 Hawks, 13 Hawks all were better by significant margins Pit doesnt have the depth to hang with any of them

Almost 2000 posts, and not one of quality. I admire the dedication it must take to stay in character this long.

 

[JoVel]

This is not the best version of the Lightning we are going to see. Replace Girardi with Foote, Coburn with Sergachev, replace Callahan with one of Stephens, Volkov, Katchouk, Raddysh. Joseph, Point, Cirelli, Serg, etc more mature in a few years and our core still in their prime. There will be a more dominant version of this team in two years time.

We will also lose some of Johnson/Palat/Miller etc. Will be interesting to see how this team looks in ~3 years. I'm not worried one bit though.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Almost 2000 posts, and not one of quality. I admire the dedication it must take to stay in character this long.

My like to post ratio proves that your statement is a lie. Where was I wrong? Sharp, Byfuglien, Teuvo, Campbell, etc are miles better than Pits support players. Speaking of which you have 8,000 posts and not one of them has ever contributed to a discussion. What are you even doing here you dont add anything to this site? Your obsession with me is on the creepy side

 

[JoVel]

Almost 2000 posts, and not one of quality. I admire the dedication it must take to stay in character this long.

My like to post ratio proves that your statement is a lie. Where was I wrong? Sharp, Byfuglien, Teuvo, Campbell, etc are miles better than Pits support players. Speaking of which you have 8,000 posts and not one of them has ever contributed to a discussion. What are you even doing here you dont add anything to this site?

I've got no horse in this race but I'm sure the two of you have read every single one of each other's posts.

 

[Burke the Legend]

That first Hawks team was the best, they had so many players on bargain/ELC contracts. The cap was $56.8 million that year, and on July 1st that summer after the cup that same roster jumped from that level payroll to like 75$ million that July once all their new contract extensions kicked in. The core group proved they were no fluke with 2 more cups but that first team had ridiculous talent and depth, basically a cheatmode bypass of the cap limits by maximizing their contract windows like that.

Tampa has this going on too, with Kucherov & Gourge's raises yet to kick in (so 9$ million extra), and they Brayden Point also, being paid nothing and playing like a $8-9 million dollar man so that's a good amount of "cap cheat" also, but not quite as much as the Hawks. As others have mentioned, the real test will be the playoffs. The Hawks passed pretty easily, can Tampa?

 

[Channelcat]

Best roster under a cap? Im gonna say 30-31 Boston Bruins. Cooney Wieland, Eddie Shore, Dit Clapper, Tiny Thompson. What a gaggle of hard boiled eggs these fellas were.

 

[bobholly39]

They might. Certainly up there.

The easy joke is to say they didn't win the cup and others did but - they've still done very well in the playoffs past few years without winning the actual cup - and a cup is certainly still within their grasp. Besides, if we're judging by best "roster" and less which roster did the best "ie won a cup, or multiple" - I think they are certainly up there among the best. Very strong team.

 

[newfy]

Name 60 Dmen that were better than Hjalmarsson through that entire period of time

Hammer was one of, if not the best shut down D in the league at that time but he brought absolutely nothing offensively. He was really solid but I think a lot of the other top teams post 2005 had guys the same quality on their second pair. I understand he was great defensively but when youre putting up 2 goals a year its hard to really say youre a legit top pairing guy.

 

[bobbyking]

The best roster with 0 cups lmao

 

[Noonan61]

Kings 2014. Could never count them out of a series and some epic comebacks. One of the most gutsiest playoffs I have ever seen. The Chicago Conference Finals was the Stanley Cup. The Best vs the Best.

Gaborik-Kopitar-Brown
Pearson-Carter-Toffoli
King-Stoll-Williams (Mr. Game 7)
Clifford-Richards-Lewis

Muzzin-Doughty
Mitchell-Voynov
Martinez-Greene
Regehr

Quick-Jones

 

[Voight]

2010 Blackhawks were stacked, we lost a lot of guys due to raises but we kept the same 7 member core for the 3 in 6 run.

 

[brachyrynchos]

Time will tell if the current Lightning team is the best. Alot could happen over the course of the remaining season and in the playoffs, but right now they're playing quite well. Their record (27-7-2) is impressive, what's scary is them vs the East.
vs East: 19-2-0
vs Metro: 9-0-0
vs Atlantic: 10-2*-0
*the 2 losses: Nov 10 @ Buffalo 2-1
Nov 13 vs Ottawa 6-4

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

Maybe. But I'd be more impressed with the Tampa if they hadn't missed the playoffs in three of the last seven years with somewhat the same roster they have now.
Next year will be "cap interesting". Point gets his RFA contract, McDonagh gets a raise. Late bloomer Gourde get his first big contract. And those all those NTC may not be moving to create cap space. Is this 2018/19 Tampa's best team, and maybe their best for awhile. Probably.

 

[JoVel]

Maybe. But I'd be more impressed with the Tampa if they hadn't missed the playoffs in three of the last seven years with somewhat the same roster they have now.
Next year will be "cap interesting". Point gets his RFA contract, McDonagh gets a raise. Late bloomer Gourde get his first big contract. And those all those NTC may not be moving to create cap space. Is this 2018/19 Tampa's best team, and maybe their best for awhile. Probably.

Somewhat same roster 7 years ago? Stamkos and Hedman are the only ones who have lasted that long.

 

[Oddbob]

I would say, that winning a cup has actually nothing to do with being the best team. Being the best team means that you have the best CHANCE to win the cup.

That quite literally makes no sense! Basically what you are saying is you would rather, not win a Cup, with the best looking team on paper, then have your team actually win the cup. Back in 95-96 the Wings went 62-13-7 during the regular season and blitzed pretty much everyone, however they did not win the Cup. Your logic says they were the best team that year, which they weren't as they did not win the Cup, the trophy that is reserved for winning it all.

 

[Oddbob]

This is not the best version of the Lightning we are going to see. Replace Girardi with Foote, Coburn with Sergachev, replace Callahan with one of Stephens, Volkov, Katchouk, Raddysh. Joseph, Point, Cirelli, Serg, etc more mature in a few years and our core still in their prime. There will be a more dominant version of this team in two years time.

Yes, because all prospects hit their mark and all of them fulfill their potential. Tremendous chance, half of those are average players at best.

 

[TheKingPin]

Anytime you easily could have the top pts guy. The Norris winner. And the vezina on the same team plus have multiple lines and pairs past that made of very good players. That’s hard to do. Just need a Selke.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Hammer was one of, if not the best shut down D in the league at that time but he brought absolutely nothing offensively. He was really solid but I think a lot of the other top teams post 2005 had guys the same quality on their second pair. I understand he was great defensively but when youre putting up 2 goals a year its hard to really say youre a legit top pairing guy.

Name 60 Dman better seriously

 

[Herbert Lewis]

That quite literally makes no sense! Basically what you are saying is you would rather, not win a Cup, with the best looking team on paper, then have your team actually win the cup. Back in 95-96 the Wings went 62-13-7 during the regular season and blitzed pretty much everyone, however they did not win the Cup. Your logic says they were the best team that year, which they weren't as they did not win the Cup, the trophy that is reserved for winning it all.

word!!

 

[DFC]

That first Hawks team was the best, they had so many players on bargain/ELC contracts. The cap was $56.8 million that year, and on July 1st that summer after the cup that same roster jumped from that level payroll to like 75$ million that July once all their new contract extensions kicked in. The core group proved they were no fluke with 2 more cups but that first team had ridiculous talent and depth, basically a cheatmode bypass of the cap limits by maximizing their contract windows like that.

Tampa has this going on too, with Kucherov & Gourge's raises yet to kick in (so 9$ million extra), and they Brayden Point also, being paid nothing and playing like a $8-9 million dollar man so that's a good amount of "cap cheat" also, but not quite as much as the Hawks. As others have mentioned, the real test will be the playoffs. The Hawks passed pretty easily, can Tampa?

Health is always a big concern when it comes to our forwards. But I think the main correction we made from last year was replacing Rick Bowness with Todd Richards. Richards has been our Mr. Everything coach. Fixed the PP, the transition, the PK, the D. If we have a hope against a team like Washington this year, it's that last year's problems stemmed from our D coach, mainly. If that turns out not to be the case, I don't know that this year's version of McDonagh improves us THAT much over last year. At least not enough to break through the way Washington owned us in those last two games.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

How the f*** is this an article?

 

[Jumptheshark]

Nashville say "hi there Sailor"

 

[Turin]

Because the players on chicago were actually good enough to play important roles on every international teams and be all stars in the league while noone cares about nobodies like Kunitz, Hagelin, Hornqvist, Bonino in 4 years lmao. Pretty much half of Chicago's team was playing in the olympics for various countries in both 2010 and 14 Pit's nobodies are no where close to that.

Sharp, Prime Seabrook, Byfuglien, Hjalmarsson, Campbell are miles better than Kunitz, Bonino, Rust, Sheary, Hagelin, Hornqvist and co ever were in their careers. 4 top pairing D and a top 5 LW and you think they are comparable those nobodies? Dupuis, Kunitz, Hagelin, Rust, Sheary, Hornqvist, Bonino, and Guentzal would all be bottom 6 players on every chicago cup team and Letang doesnt even crack their top pair. Even 3rd line Chicago players like Teuvo, Versteeg, and Ladd blow Hornqvist's best season ever out of the water. They arent in the same stratosphere as Chicago's supporting cast.

2nd they didnt have the best team post lockout either 08 Wings, 10 Hawks, 13 Hawks all were better by significant margins Pit doesnt have the depth to hang with any of them

This post is really embarrassing but I understand if you want to desperately cling to the good old days right now.

 

[Sky04]

Maybe. But I'd be more impressed with the Tampa if they hadn't missed the playoffs in three of the last seven years with somewhat the same roster they have now.
Next year will be "cap interesting". Point gets his RFA contract, McDonagh gets a raise. Late bloomer Gourde get his first big contract. And those all those NTC may not be moving to create cap space. Is this 2018/19 Tampa's best team, and maybe their best for awhile. Probably.

You mean 7 years ago when Dwayne roloson was their starting goaltender, Vincent Lecavalier was their captain, Eric Brewer was the #1 defenseman and Guy Boucher was the head coach? Or does your "similar" mean something different?

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

No love for the Winnipeg Jets? We have to get back to this after Laine, Connor, and maybe Trouba, are signed to extensions.