The Tampa Bay Lightning have had an insane offseason, going from winning the Stanley Cup to having virtually no cap space, to facing injuries and now having their team set for the 2020-21 season. The Lightning were projected to have a difficult time repeating as Stanley Cup Champions, but with the moves they have made, they have kept their core intact.
However, the sole reason that the Lightning were able to keep their core the same was due to the injury of star forward Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov is undergoing hip surgery which will keep him out of the regular season. This is a tough blow to the Lightning, being without their best player, but when they put Kucherov on LTIR, they would be able to clear enough cap space to be under the cap (after putting players on the taxi squad).
Also with the start of the season and Kucherov’s injury, the LIghtning were able to sign all of their RFAs and UFAs that were a huge part of the Stanley Cup victory.
Mikhail Sergachev: $4.8 million x 3 years
Anthony Cirelli: $4.8 million x 3 years
Erik Cernak: $2.95 million x 3 years
Jan Rutta: $1.3 million x 2 years
Mathieu Joseph: $737,500 x 2 years
Alexander Volkov: $700,000 x 1 years
Projected Lineup for 2020-21
Palat-Point-Stamkos
Killorn-Cirelli-Johnson
Goodrow-Coleman-Gourde
Maroon-Paquette-Volkov
Hedman-Cernak
McDonagh-Sergachev
Coburn-Schenn
Vasilevskiy
McElhinney
Taxi Squad
Joseph
Stephens
Rutta
Foote
Barre-Boulet