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
Brad Richards was selected 64th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, the same draft that the Bolts took Vincent Lecavalier first overall. Richards made his National Hockey League debut in the 2000-01 regular season, playing all 82 games. In his rookie campaign, he recorded 21 goals and 41 assists. Richards had the second-most votes for the Calder Memorial Trophy, falling only behind Evgeni Nabokov.
Richards had an impressive seven-year career with the Bolts, helping the team win their only Stanley Cup in 2004. He was crowned the Conne Smyth Trophy winner that postseason in which he scored a record seven game-winning goals.
When the time in Tampa Bay finally came to an end during the 2007-08 season, Richards had played in 552 games and scored 150 goals. Similar to many people on this list, he was a key contributor on the power play and scored his fair share of game-winners.
After 15 years in the NHL, Richards announced his retirement on July 20, 2016.