Tampa Bay looking to break the single-season wins record

[StuntMan12]

Currently 57 wins in 74 games played. The record is 62 set by the Detroit Red Wings back in 95/96. I know the new shoot-out rule has brought more wins into the NHL but would still be impressive if the record was beat. I hope they do it.

[Pengwin7]

Funny story.
About 5 years, a certain Sens-homer and I were having a discussion (here on the forums) about which team had the longer-range of future success in them.
I said TB.
He said OTT.

I'm declaring myself the winner of that discussion.

[ericdaoust]

It's amazing how they keep bring up new players through their system even after becoming a yearly contender and not getting any more high 1st round picks. In the past few years it's been Gourde, Cirelli, Point, Joseph, Erne and Cernak. Now they just have to win a Stanley Cup.

[Eskimo Brother]

It's amazing how they keep bring up new players through their system even after becoming a yearly contender and not getting any more high 1st round picks. In the past few years it's been Gourde, Cirelli, Point, Joseph, Erne and Cernak. Now they just have to win a Stanley Cup.

And they still have some middle of the pack depth in their prospect cupboard.

[StuntMan12]

What's also amazing is Vasilevsky missed quite a few games this season.

48 games played, 36 wins

It's a shame he got hurt, who knows, maybe he would be going for Brodeur/Holtbys record (48) right about now.

[ericdaoust]

And they still have some middle of the pack depth in their prospect cupboard.

Thing is it looks middle of the pack until they get called up and mixed in with TB's talent and they exceed expectations like the prospects before them.

Barre-Boulet/Raddysh/Volkov/Foote/Stephens are all looking good for the future.

[McDeichel]

It's amazing how they keep bring up new players through their system even after becoming a yearly contender and not getting any more high 1st round picks. In the past few years it's been Gourde, Cirelli, Point, Joseph, Erne and Cernak. Now they just have to win a Stanley Cup.

Kucherov was also a late 2nd round pick, incredible scouting there.

[newfcollins]

Kucherov was also a late 2nd round pick, incredible scouting there.

How much of it is scouting, and how much of it is Tampa having a great developmental program?

[Axeman33]

How much of it is scouting, and how much of it is Tampa having a great developmental program?

Probably a bit of both. Good systems in their minors and NHL teams help players succeed as well. All in all, a model franchise. That being said, they still only have one Stanley Cup in their record books and that was 15 years ago.

- - - Updated - - -

How much of it is scouting, and how much of it is Tampa having a great developmental program?

Probably a bit of both. Good systems in their minors and NHL teams help players succeed as well. All in all, a model franchise. That being said, they still only have one Stanley Cup in their record books and that was 15 years ago.

[ericdaoust]

There's a lot of factors at play including luck which plays a big role in the outcome. Teams are drafting players at 18 based on what they've done before even becoming legal adults.

[SeaDawg]

There's been a lot of talk about Tampa breaking the record for most wins and Kucherov scoring over 130 pts, etc, but I don't see either happening.

I hate to say this, but I really think Tampa is going to shutdown a lot of their top players over the next couple of weeks, giving them games off and reducing their playing time. They've already earned the President's Trophy and Kucherov has the Art Ross virtually wrapped up, so there isn't much to play for over the next couple of weeks.

This is really going to suck for me personally because I'm in the final round of my H2H league and I need Point and Kucherov to continue putting up solid numbers if I want a chance to win the Championship.

[metaldude26]

Funny story.
About 5 years, a certain Sens-homer and I were having a discussion (here on the forums) about which team had the longer-range of future success in them.
I said TB.
He said OTT.

I'm declaring myself the winner of that discussion.

To be fair, about half of the current Lightning roster wasn't in the system five years ago.

The disparity between these two franchises today is VAST, and even over the last five years Tampa Bay has been clearly more productive so sure, a win. However, a team with good ownership/management probably keeps together a core of Karlsson, Stone, Zibanejad, Turris, Lehner, Hoffman, Ryan, etc. so you can at least understand excitement about that Senators core, which only makes where the franchise is now all the more alarming.

[metaldude26]

There's a lot of factors at play including luck which plays a big role in the outcome. Teams are drafting players at 18 based on what they've done before even becoming legal adults.

Definitely. I have a tough time figuring out how much credit to hand out when teams simply have so few draft picks each year that you really can't assess how much better they are than others. If we had each team's draft list for a five-year period, we'd know a lot more. What we can conclude is that they aren't infallible. Just looking at a draft like 2014 where they made out like bandits drafting Point in the 3rd, but if they were really that good they would have taken Point at 19 with their highest pick rather than with their fourth selection in the draft.

They do deserve credit for seeing where the game was headed in terms of need for speed/skating. They have specifically avoided drafting the lumbering types that teams still take shots on with high picks but simply do not pan out. Just by avoiding a certain player type they have increased their odds of hitting with a higher percentage of their picks, which is perhaps the best a team can do.

[Pengwin7]

To be fair, about half of the current Lightning roster wasn't in the system five years ago.

But I don't think saying "about half" is a fair qualifier.
Stamkos, Kucherov, Johnson, Palat, Killorn, Hedman, Stralman, and Vas were all obvious future parts of the team in 2014.
Those 4/3/1 were their protects at the Vegas draft, with Callahan & Namestnikov & Coburn the others.

And they had some good assets:
Drouin was flipped for Sergachev... and that was a key to skirting an extra player keep across the Vegas draft day.
Namestnikov+ was flipped for McDonagh/JT Miller.
TB also moved Bishop, pre-Vegas draft, for picks & Erik Cernak.

Obviously, teams could only protect 7F/3D/1G thru the Vegas draft anyways.
That's 11/23 rostered players, so yeah, half is about the best anybody could do by a "count".
But 80% of a team's strength is in the top half of their roster.

Brayden Point AND Yanni Gourde were both in the TB system in 2014. Erne too.
I don't think anybody knew back then, in fairness, that Point & Gourde would pan out so well.
That can be said, yes.

But still... it was a good call to foresee that group would blast off...
(ps. Is there a way to find that thread... golly, what I would give to re-find that thread... maybe 4 years ago... IDK...)

[ericdaoust]

Definitely. I have a tough time figuring out how much credit to hand out when teams simply have so few draft picks each year that you really can't assess how much better they are than others. If we had each team's draft list for a five-year period, we'd know a lot more. What we can conclude is that they aren't infallible. Just looking at a draft like 2014 where they made out like bandits drafting Point in the 3rd, but if they were really that good they would have taken Point at 19 with their highest pick rather than with their fourth selection in the draft.

They do deserve credit for seeing where the game was headed in terms of need for speed/skating. They have specifically avoided drafting the lumbering types that teams still take shots on with high picks but simply do not pan out. Just by avoiding a certain player type they have increased their odds of hitting with a higher percentage of their picks, which is perhaps the best a team can do.

They probably do a better job than other teams at figuring out who is actually the best player available at a given pick, which in turn gives them better odds of turning prospects into NHLers. They also likely do a better job than other teams integrating new players in their roster. Oh and luck/randomness.