Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
They just went to G6 and G7 of the ECF, giving the Lightning their greatest challenge in both cup runs. They played an extra 41 games amidst the wonky scheduling of the weird COVID seasons...so coming off a shorter off-season into a 13 game road trip they under performed.
People writing their obituary is hilarious. It's unlikely they reach those heights again (because the odds are against anybody), but they are still a very, very good team (at least in the playoffs).
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Trotz is gone.
Toews, Eberle, Leddy, and others are gone from those teams. And they are 3 years older.
Lee is 32, Nelson, is 30, Bailey is 32, Pageau will 30 when next season starts, Palmieri is 31, Cizikas, is 31, Clutterbuck is 34, Martin is 33.
They do have some decent pieces in their prime in Barzal (25), Pulock (27), Pelech (27), Dobson (22), Romanov (22), and Sorokin (26).
But they haven't had a 1st round pick since 2019 (moved all of the 2020, 2021, and 2022 firsts) so not a deep prospect pool coming up to help them.
I don't think those two runs are indications of future success for that franchise.