Given the fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning have played and received key contributions from so many rookies over the last few years, it wouldn’t be foolish to assume that the team’s prospect pipeline should be empty.
For context, consider that last season’s crop of rookies manage to score a league-leading 142 (!) points in the NHL. And yet, even with all that ‘graduated’ talent gone, ESPN has ranked Tampa’s prospect pool as the second best in the entire NHL.
Corey Pronman, ESPN’s NHL prospect guru, released his organizational
prospect pipeline rankings only a few short days after publishing his top-100 prospects list. After finishing in first place last season, the Bolts now sit second.
From Pronman:
Tampa Bay has graduated a lot of talented young players over the past few seasons. Tampa had 20 players age 25 or younger play a game this past season, many in significant roles. They still have yet to graduate some of their most high-end players in left wing Jonathan Drouin and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, along with some more quality names in the system. The depth is obviously a much different story now than from their run of Calder Cup contending teams in the AHL, with most of their former top AHL players now NHL regulars.
That depth he references in the last sentence? He’s talking about guys like Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Brett Connolly, and Alex Killorn, among others. What Lightning fans have to be happy about is the fact that a lot of the depth previously seen with the team’s minor league affiliates is now contributing at the National Hockey League level. It’s a testament to the team’s strong development system.
While many of the players who made up the bulk of that depth are no longer prospects, it’s not like the Bolts have nothing coming up through the pipeline. Look no further than their silver medal in the rankings as evidence of that.
At the high end, as Pronman mentions, there’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jonathan Drouin. In case you’ve forgotten – Pronman has Drouin ranked as the number one prospect in hockey, and Vasilevskiy ranked as the number one goaltending prospect in hockey. Both are Tampa Bay Lightning property. Don’t hesitate to smile about that.
Beyond those two, there’s still a talented crop of players waiting in the wings.
Defenseman Slater Koekkoek is 'slated' to make his professional debut this year, likely with the Syracuse Crunch. The 10th overall pick from 2012 took a huge step forward offensively in his final year of Junior, as he scored 15 goals and 53 points in 62 games.
Vladislav Namestnikov is still kicking around in the American Hockey League. The hard-working pivot had a big season in Syracuse last year, and even got a small taste of NHL action when the injury bug haunted the Bolts.
There’s Adam Erne, the team’s 2013 second round pick. The power-forward from the Quebec league has tallied 134 points in his last 116 Junior games.
What about Anthony DeAngelo? He was the team’s 2014 first round pick. A player many thought would drop into the second round, DeAngelo was selected 19th overall by the Lightning. He was the most offensively gifted defender available in June’s draft.
I could go on, and on, and on. Thankfully I don’t have to. The good people over at Bolt Prospects have got you covered for this sort of thing. All I’m trying to do with this blog is highlight the fact that the Lightning have a lot of really talented players coming up through the system.
Will all of them be success stories? Likely not. Will all of them make the NHL? I’d bet against that too. Even so, there’s a lot to like about what Steve Yzerman has done with the team’s prospect pool.
This is an organization that was once one of the league’s worst teams at drafting and developing young talent. Times sure have changed.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter. 
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