5 reasons why Tampa Bay Lightning will win Stanley Cup
By C.L. Kohuss
4. Depth
They have it. That’s not a welcome headline for anybody hoping to defend against this team seven full games.
How about we go into the numbers, yes? Aside from the aforementioned Kucherov and Stamkos, we have Brayden Point, who typically mans the second line center position (he moves up and down the lineup). He ended the year with 32 goals and 66 points. It’s his sophomore season. He was taken in the third round. It’s a regret-filled day indeed, don’t you think? More to come, though!
There’s Yanni Gourde scoring 25 goals with 64 points. He, too, is slotted into a different line combination on any given night, with his best work seeming to come on the Point/Ondrej Palat line. Gourde went undrafted. Palat missed two months with a lower-body injury and still picked up 35 points in 56 games. He was taken…so late in the draft. Poor Ondrej.
In all, the Tampa Bay Lightning sport five guys with 60 or more points, including defenseman Victor Hedman. They also have five guys with 20 or more goals. Oh, and they traded for former New York Ranger J.T. Miller way back when the deadline was a thing in February. He’s done nothing, really. Unless opening several cans against the opposition in his short while with the Lightning is nothing (18 points in 19 games with 58 total points on the season).
We would like to believe that every team is now going full Pedro Cerrano at their lockers. If only for the hilarious visual.
If not? Mercy on their souls.