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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

Ruslan Fedotenko went undrafted and entered the National Hockey League after being signed by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1999. He got his first taste of NHL action in the 2000-01 season, playing 76 games and scoring 16 goals.

After his second season in Philadelphia, Fedotenko was traded to Tampa Bay, along with two second round draft picks, in exchange for the Lightning's first round pick. The pick turned into Joni Pitkanen.

Fedotenko would play the next four seasons in Tampa Bay, lacing his skates for 313 games and scoring 74 goals. He helped the Bolts win their first and only Stanley Cup in 2004, scoring both goals in Game 7 against the Calgary Flames. The season after, he would post a career-high number in goals with 26.

After his time with Tampa Bay, Fedotenko would spend time playing for the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, and eventually the Flyers once again. In 863 career games, he scored 173 goals.

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