When the puck drops for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s first game of the season vs. the Nashville Predators October 10 at AMALIE Arena, the Bolts will be playing their first hockey game in 164 days.
At the start of the 2022-23 campaign, the Lightning were coming off a third-straight appearance in the Stanley Cup Final and had 107 days of offseason to rest and recover. The year before that, Tampa Bay had just 97 days to heal up. And the year before that, another offseason of just 107 days.
This summer was the longest for the Bolts since the team fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets in four games during the First Round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With the long offseason, players on the roster had a lot of time on their hands. Time to relax. Time to recover. Time to train. And, maybe most importantly, time to think. After bowing out to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the First Round last season, the Lightning enter training camp motivated, excited and ready to prove that they are still a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
“We're going to battle, even though people are not going to pick us to win or even make the playoffs,” said Victor Hedman at the Lightning’s media day Wednesday. “We still believe in our group. We believe in what we have. We’ve got all the pieces and we’ve just got to put everything together.
“The bottom line is that you don't want to have these long summers. You want to be doing rehab and stuff because you’ve obviously gone far, but at the same time, three long years and two Cups. I wouldn't change that for the world.
“For us to be back now and have a little bit of a different shape to our team, we’ve just got to get to work right away and try to get these new guys into our systems and just get ready. Training camp isn’t that long and we're going to get underway very quickly, so you just need to be focused and sharp from the start.”
Most years, players typically begin to trickle back into town a couple weeks before the beginning of camp to participate in some informal skates with teammates and start getting back into game shape. But this year, a multitude of players on Tampa Bay’s roster were back much earlier than usual in preparation for the upcoming season.
“They’re excited,” said Bolts captain Steven Stamkos. “Obviously, we didn't like how last season ended. I thought our play was pretty good. We didn't see the results. That's the frustrating part.
“We've had a long time to kind of just digest everything that has happened and, like I said, it sucked losing the First Round, but it gave us a chance to regroup physically and mentally, and guys seem to be in a really good spot.
“This is probably the first time in a while that the core group of this team has had this long to digest what happened last year, but also kind of just have a great summer of resting and getting ready, getting the body and the mind ready for the season.
“I don't know how many of you guys have out to the skates in Brandon, but it feels like this is the most guys we've ever had here for the last three, four weeks that I've seen since being part of this organization. That just goes to show how excited and hungry this group is this year.”
With the salary cap increasing by just $2 million over the past five seasons, players on the Lightning roster have become all too familiar with the process of losing valuable pieces every offseason. This summer, the Bolts said goodbye to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ian Cole, Ross Colton, Brian Elliott, Alex Killorn, Pat Maroon and Corey Perry.
In response, the team will turn to some new faces in Logan Brown, Calvin de Haan, Luke Glendening, Jonas Johansson, Tyler Motte and Conor Sheary to fill the void.
“That’s the way it is,” Stamkos said. “It's the business side of the sport and when you’ve had as much success as we've had and the cap has kind of stayed flat, it's tough. You lose some really good players and not only really good players, but really good people and guys who meant a lot to this organization on the ice and in the room too.
“But the guys that we brought in are really good players as well and they're going to come in and have a big role on this team and we're excited about the opportunity that they're getting.
“That's just been something that management always has been able to do. When we lose really good players, they go out and find some guys and it’s usually worked out.
“It’s a motivated group. It's a group that has some younger guys that are going to come in and play a bigger role obviously.
“Look at some of the players we lost. We lost a lot of veteran guys and leadership, so guys are going to have to step up in that regard and maybe get into some areas that they aren't quite comfortable with. But that's how you progress as a player and as a team, when those younger guys start to really gain that valuable experience in different areas.
“Like I said, there's no excuse. We had a lot of rest. Guys are coming in, feeling really good, and we're excited about that.”
With the departure of Colton and Killorn, the Lightning are losing a combined total of 43 goals from last year’s regular season. One addition that will play a big role in generating some of that offense will be the 31-year-old Sheary, who has shown a propensity to play with highly talented offensive players like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin throughout his career.
“I think I'm starting to become a little bit of an older guy as well, which is weird to say, but you kind of get used to playing with really good players,” Sheary said. “I was thrown into it my rookie year, right into playing with some star power. Nerve wracking at times, but looking back, it was definitely a benefit for my career.
“Every team in this league has star players, but each stop I've been at, it seems I have been able to play along some really good star players. I've just been really fortunate with where I've ended up.”
Sheary, who signed a three-year deal worth an average annual value of $2 million this offseason, said the consistent success Tampa Bay has sustained over the years was the biggest draw for him in signing with the Bolts this summer.
“It just seems that they're always a playoff team, no matter what the year is,” said Sheary. “I think, like I said, that's built on the culture that a lot of guys that have been around here a long time have built.
“On the ice, coming into this building was always a hard task. They always played a fast game and it was overwhelming at times. To be on this side of it is a lot better I think, to be that home team.
“It's hard to sustain success for that long and that speaks to the culture of the organization, the players in the locker room and the staff and all that. They've done a really good job.”
Two of the biggest contributors to building the culture in Tampa Bay are Stamkos and Hedman, a pair of franchise pillars who are prepared to guide a group that they believe has everything it needs to lift the Stanley Cup at the end of the year.
“We have to lead the way and that's the bottom line,” said Hedman. “We've been here for a very long time, but I’m turning 33 in December. I’m not in the beginning of my career, so you’ve got to take advantage of these opportunities when you get to play for this organization and play for this team.
“It’s going to be a different shape, but I’ve got to go out there and be as good as I can, and the same goes for the rest of the guys. We've got to lead the way from the start and get ready to go here when the fun starts October 10.”
“I don't think our window is closed,” Stamkos added. “We have the goaltender. We have the defense. We have some elite forwards.
“You try to build your team around that and, to me, it's still open. Some other teams have had to make adjustments too with the salary cap, so we’re looking forward to being a competitive team and if you get in the playoffs, you never know.”
Speaking of the goaltender, there may not be a player on Tampa Bay’s roster that will benefit from the rest more than Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has spent more time on the ice than any other goalie across the NHL over the past four seasons.
“I didn’t do much,” said Vasilevskiy when asked about his offseason. “Just tried to stay away from hockey obviously. I would say that was the biggest part of my offseason. Spend as much time as I can with the family as possible. Just forget about everything and now I’m well rested and ready to go.
“We didn't have that much time off for a while the last few seasons. I hope we have that fire in our eyes again. No excuses about the rest now.”
After saying he wants to spend more time focusing on recovery at the end of last season, Vasilevskiy shared Wednesday that he tweaked his offseason training program and is paying “a lot” more attention to his recovery. With that being said, Vasilevskiy shared that he doesn’t envision himself playing fewer games in 2023-24.
“I don't think it'll change the amount of games I’ll play this season, but I’m pretty sure it will help me feel better during those games,” said Vasilevskiy. “I’m just paying attention to my recovery after games and practices.
“I got a bunch of recovery devices at home. I just bought a bunch of stuff and I’m just spending more time at the arena after practice now stretching and stuff. I’d been doing that before, but now I’m just kind of doing it more often.”
With medicals, testing and media day out of the way, the Bolts are set to take the ice for the first practice of training camp tomorrow morning at TGH Ice Plex in Brandon. The first group will be on the ice at 8:30 a.m. and all sessions are open to the public.
