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 Number 10: Tyler Johnson Number 9: Petr Klima Number 8: Vinny Prospal Number 7: Brad Richards
Number 6: Fredrik Modin
Fredrik Modin was taken in the third round (64th overall) in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He would make his NHL debut for Toronto in 1996 and play the first three seasons of his career there. Modin's talents as a scorer were never truly on display for the Maple Leafs as he failed to ever score over 16 goals in a season.
On October 1st, 1999, Modin was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Cory Cross and a seventh round pick in the 2001 draft. Modin immediately picked up his scoring production once he joined the Bolts, scoring 22 goals his first season and 32 the following year. While with Tampa Bay, he would score 30-plus goals twice and come just short in 2003-04 with 29.
Modin played 445 games over six years with the Lightning, helping the team win its first and only Stanley Cup. He scored 145 goals, notching 32 on the power play and 23 game-winners.
On June 30th, 2006, Modin was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets, along with Fredrik Norrena, in exchange for Marc Denis. After four years with Columbus, Modin would spend some time playing for the Kings, Thrashers, and Flames. He would eventually announce his retirement in May of 2011 after fighting a lingering back injury for two seasons.