5 reasons why the Tampa Bay Lightning can win the Stanley Cup

3. The depth factor

It’s funny — to maintain that the Bolts are loaded is actually something of an understatement.

What separates the Lightning from other franchises is the expansiveness of the organization’s positional complexity. Comprised of some of the sport’s finest top-end talent in Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos, the club’s most esteemed performers can win games on their own, which will certainly come in handy somewhere down the road.

Nevertheless, the extensiveness of the franchise’s weapons ensures that the team remains firing on all cylinders — and defensively responsible — with each passing game.

Brayden Point has served as a revelation for the books. Add Tyler Johnson, J.T. Miller, Ondrej Palat and Yanni Gourde to the mix and the organization’s scoring edge becomes ever more apparent, as the players in question provide an advantage that hockey’s best franchises have difficulty matching. That head coach Jon Cooper can trust guys like 21-year-old Anthony Cirelli further speaks to the brilliance of the Bolts’ offensive output, as well as the depth-ridden nature of the team’s roster on practically any night.

Then there’s the blue line. The aforementioned Hedman — a Norris Trophy winner — is surely one of the greatest defenders to take puck lovers by storm in recent years. Anton Stralman, Mikhail Sergachev and Ryan McDonagh also help to form what has become commonly regarded as one of hockey’s finest supporting casts.

With a lineup as categorically astute as Tampa’s, who, then, is the club’s real MVP?