After over a month of counting down the 25 greatest goal scorers in Tampa Bay Lightning history, we are finally at number one. Being a relatively new franchise at only 25 years old, the list seemed quite underwhelming at times. Still, as the countdown moved along, it is apparent that the Bolts have already seen their fair share of great goal scorers.
Before we reveal the greatest goal scorer in Lightning history (I know the suspense is killing you), let's take a look at the other 24 players that made the list...
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 Number 10: Tyler Johnson Number 9: Petr Klima Number 8: Vinny Prospal Number 7: Brad Richards Number 6: Fredrik Modin Number 5: Brian Bradley Number 4: Nikita Kucherov Number 3: Vincent Lecavalier Number 2: Martin St. Louis
Number 1: Steven Stamkos
Since his days in the Ontario Hockey League, Steven Stamkos has been a natural goal scorer. In his two seasons with the Sarnia Sting, he recorded an eye-opening 100 goals which made him the top prospect in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
After winning a league-worst 31 games in the 2007-08 season, the Tampa Bay Lightning were awarded the first-overall pick in the draft and took Stamkos without hesitation. Since his NHL debut in the 2008-09 season, Stamkos has been an incredibly impactful member of the Bolts and their best player when healthy.
In 586 games over nine seasons with Tampa, Stamkos has recorded an astounding 321 goals. He has scored over 40 goals in a season on four separate occasions and even tallied a whopping 60 goals in 2011-2012.
As all Lightning fans know, Captain Stamkos has been hampered by injuries the last two season and was limited to only 17 games in 2016-17. If he can remain healthy and return back to form, there is no doubt that Stamkos become the all-time leader in goals score among Lightning players.