How the Tampa Bay Lightning were built

[rainydrinkwater]

Nice little article on the construction of the cup finalists.


http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/eye-on-...ing-were-built

Since taking over as the Tampa Bay Lightning general manager in March 2010, Steve Yzerman and his staff have quietly assembled one of the most exciting teams in the NHL, completely overhauling a roster that had failed to qualify for the playoffs in each of the three seasons before he was hired.

When Yzerman arrived, two of the most important pieces were already in place: Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, top-two picks in 2008 and 2009 who would go on to become the foundation of everything the Lightning have become. Having those two already on the roster certainly helped, but other than that, it has been a complete teardown and rebuild, with 20 of the 24 players that have appeared in the postseason for the Lightning having been acquired by Yzerman, his staff and the scouts.

[Shake]

A winner is a winner. Stevie is a winner. Period.

He was criticized in the early going of his tenure but he has certainly done a fantastic job building this team up.
You'd have to think not only his experience as an NHL player but also all the work he's done with Team Canada as well has helped him with various decisions he's made along with his staff.
This team is not only contending this year but they look solid for future years as well.
He's had to deal with two Lightning long term fixtures, both Marty St. Louis and Vinny Lecavlier and handled both as well as could be handled I think.
Looming in the near future is the Steven Stamkos contract. It will be interesting to see how that pans out. I expect Stammer to be signed long term.
But so far, so good for Steve Yzerman and the Lightning.

I love this team! I love Stevie! I actually hate that they are playing the Hawks cause for the next two weeks I am forced to hate these guys!

[BradyJets]

I love the complete overhaul! Great drafting and some key trades.

[YzermansLegacy]

Their 2011 draft was one for the ages. Took some guts to draft 3 russians in the 1st 3 rounds - regardless of the fact that they were playing in NA. And Palat in the 7th. Obviously Yzerman brought some Detroit late-round gem magic dust with him down south.

No question you need a bit of luck too - may look a little different if they'd dealt TJ for Bishop instead of Conacher.

But props due where props are due. Good on TB.

[Lahtis]

I love the complete overhaul! Great drafting and some key trades.

And human-terminator hybrid coach sent from the future

[2014olympicgold]

This is the only team in the NHL I can think of that has built some of its main pieces through trading and FA. Bishop, Stralman, TJ, Carle, Coburn, Cally, Filppula, and Boyle (PK). To go out and trade your new shiny toy in Conacher, and trade your Captain who demanded a trade to one team and win it by far is something special. Then trading your 7^th overall (Connelly) for a few other picks is smart. I’m putting this team success fully on Yzerman. Not the scouts, or the other GM who got Stamkos and Hedman, but on Yzerman.

Teams need luck, but something tells me this is the only team that could find success without solid picks, but with depth added picks, and then FA for stars.

[Big Ev]

This is the only team in the NHL I can think of that has built some of its main pieces through trading and FA. Bishop, Stralman, TJ, Carle, Coburn, Cally, Filppula, and Boyle (PK). To go out and trade your new shiny toy in Conacher, and trade your Captain who demanded a trade to one team and win it by far is something special. Then trading your 7^th overall (Connelly) for a few other picks is smart. I’m putting this team success fully on Yzerman. Not the scouts, or the other GM who got Stamkos and Hedman, but on Yzerman.

Teams need luck, but something tells me this is the only team that could find success without solid picks, but with depth added picks, and then FA for stars.

Yzerman doesn't go the the rinks every game and scout Kucherov, Palat, Johnson, etc. so you have to give credit to the scouts as well. And yes being hired to be GM and having Stamkos and Hedman is pretty big but you do have to build around them. I don't have every team memorized but Columbus would seem to be fit that mold (Dubinsky, Foligno, Bobvrosky, etc.), Ottawa (Turris, Anderson, Ryan, MacArthur, Methot), New York (Nash, McDonagh, Yandle, Boyle, Zuccarrello, etc)...so I would imagine a good chunk of teams have many pieces that were FAs or trades.

[Pengwin7]

I like what Tampa Bay has done.
But a huge amount of credit here should go to Cooper.
He's a fantastic coach who has gotten every ounce of skill & hockey sense out of his players.
The next Babcock of the NHL.
Yzerman deserves enormous credit (for sure)... but I've not read Cooper mentioned enough when I see these threads/articles. (a shame)

[Big Ev]

I like what Tampa Bay has done.
But a huge amount of credit here should go to Cooper.
He's a fantastic coach who has gotten every ounce of skill & hockey sense out of his players.
The next Babcock of the NHL.
Yzerman deserves enormous credit (for sure)... but I've not read Cooper mentioned enough when I see these threads/articles. (a shame)

Agree with you but the problem is we don't know how to judge that. We don't know the guy other than in interviews. You are probably right but it's easier to judge how the team is built rather than how it's coached - a coach is usually only as good as his players in the longish run. We've seen coaches have great success then suddenly the team stops paying attention to him. If Chicago wins again, I'd rather be considered the next Quenneville than the next Babcock

[Pengwin7]

Agree with you but the problem is we don't know how to judge that. We don't know the guy other than in interviews. You are probably right but it's easier to judge how the team is built rather than how it's coached - a coach is usually only as good as his players in the longish run. We've seen coaches have great success then suddenly the team stops paying attention to him.

I agree that most people have no idea how to judge a coach from what they see on TV.

[JagrBomb]

Agree with you but the problem is we don't know how to judge that. We don't know the guy other than in interviews. You are probably right but it's easier to judge how the team is built rather than how it's coached - a coach is usually only as good as his players in the longish run. We've seen coaches have great success then suddenly the team stops paying attention to him. If Chicago wins again, I'd rather be considered the next Quenneville than the next Babcock

I think Babcock would rather be Quenneville too if it meant he got to coach Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, Seabrook, etc.

[Big Ev]

I think Babcock would rather be Quenneville too if it meant he got to coach Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, Seabrook, etc.

Let's not act like Babcock didn't have anything to work with in Detroit and that people didn't gobble Ken Holland and the scouts' knobs during that time about how great of an organization they are...

[fungchen3]

Tampa is a working example of a great collaboration IMO. The GM, coach, scouts and players all have done excellent work to make this team great. I don't think Yzerman deserves more credit than the coach, the scouts or the players. Yzerman gets paid to make tough decisions and offer leadership, but he does not get on the ice and up the Triplets' game. Everyone deserves credit here.

[JagrBomb]

Let's not act like Babcock didn't have anything to work with in Detroit and that people didn't gobble Ken Holland and the scouts' knobs during that time about how great of an organization they are...

my point is that coaching a team led by toews and kane who have yet to even reach their prime, combined with one of the best top pairing D groups in the league and a great supporting cast, is much, much easier to be successful than coaching a team where your best players are datsyuk and zetterberg who are well past their prime. Detroit's D is almost as bad as Torontos, the fact that they even made the playoffs this year is amazing.

i'm not discounting what quenneville has done, he's easily a top coach in the league. but getting a team like detroit to consistently make the playoffs is very impressive.

[LawMan]

Good read, thanks for posting. Best paragraph in the whole read:

How great has that trade worked out for the Lightning? Not only has Bishop been an above-average goaltender since joining the team and recorded a pair of Game 7 shutouts this year, he also has seven points offensively during the 2014-15 regular season and playoffs. Conacher, who spent the season playing for the New York Islanders, had three points.