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25 Greatest Scorers in Lightning History: #11 |
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In honor of the upcoming season, which is the franchise's 25th, I thought it would be fun to use this hockey downtime to countdown the 25 greatest goal scorers in Tampa Bay Lightning history.
In constructing this list, I not only took into account the number of goals a player scored while playing in Tampa, I also considered a number of games they suited up for the Lightning. As this list progresses over the next few weeks, you will notice that some players are ranked higher than others even if their goal total was less. This is because although someone scored slightly fewer goals, they reached those numbers in fewer games.
Due to the Lightning still being a relatively young franchise, a good deal of these players are still active, and some of them still take the ice for the Bolts.
Enjoy!
The List So Far
Number 25: Pavel Kubina
Number 24: Victor Hedman
Number 23: Mikael Andersson
Number 22: Roman Hamrlik
Number 21: Dan Boyle
Number 20: Rob Zamuner
Number 19: Valtteri Filppula
Number 18: Alex Killorn
Number 17: Chris Gratton
Number 16: Teddy Purcell
Number 15: Ruslan Fedotenko
Number 14: Ondrej Palat
Number 13: Dave Andreychuk
Number 12: Alex Selivanov
Number 11: Ryan Malone
Ryan Malone was taken in the fourth round of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. He made his NHL debut in 2003, becoming the first Pittsburgh-born and trained player to lace up his skates for the Penguins. In his rookie season, he played 81 games and scored 22 goals. He would score over 20 goals in three of his four years with Pittsburgh.
After an impressive 27 goals in 2007-08, the Penguins traded away Malone's exclusive negotiating rights to the Tampa Bay Lightning where he would sign a seven-year contract worth $31.5 million. Malone's first season with the Bolts was his best, scoring 26 goals in 70 games. His numbers would then take a decline scoring 21 the next season before scoring only 14 the following year. He would get the goal-number back up to 20 in 2011-12 but then only scored single-digit goals in his last two season with Tampa Bay.
On June 25, 2014, the Lightning would exercise their final compliance buyout to buy out the final year of Malone's contract. He would then sign with the Rangers and play his final season in the NHL.
Over six years in Tampa Bay, Malone played in 342 games and scored 92 goals. Thirty of those goals would come on the power play and 14 of them would be game-winners.
*Quick Note- I will be away from Hockey Buzz until August 13th, but don't you fret one little bit! We will get to the TOP TEN when I return.*
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