There has been no Tampa Bay Lightning hockey for a little under a month now. With teams still battling it out in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, offseason happenings have yet to enter full swing. This can lead to a lot of slow news days for the Bolts and other teams who did not have what it takes to make the postseason.
With this in mind, I have decided to take a look at the history of the Lightning through the numbers on the back of the sweaters. Throughout the offseason, I will write posts dedicated to a jersey number and briefly discuss each player who wore it for the Bolts.
Appropriately, we will begin with the number one. As you will see, all of these players were goaltenders.
Wendell Young
Wendell Young joined the Lightning for their inaugural in 1992, playing 31 games in net. During the 1992-93 season, Young went 7-19-2 with a 3.66 Goals Against Average and .872 Save Percentage.
Young played nine more games for the Bolts in the 1993-94 season, recording his only shutout for the franchise.
Jeff Reese
Jeff Reese did not suit up long for the Lightning, playing 19 games in the 1995-96 regular season. He went 7-7-1, allowing 54 goals on 464 shot attempts.
Zac Bierk
Zac Bierk was drafted by the Lightning in the ninth round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. Bierk spent time in net for the Bolts in three seasons from 1997 to 2000 but never played over 13 games in a season.
Through his 26 games with the Bolts, Bierk went 5-9-2 with a 3.78 GAA and .883 Save Percentage. He would play three more years in the NHL with Minnesota and Phoenix but never could amount to much.
Evgeny Konstantinov
The Lightning selected Konstantinov in 1999 with the 67th overall pick. However, he only played in two games from 2000-2003 for a grand total of 21 minutes.
Sean Burke
Sean Burke joined the Tampa Bay Lightning as a seasoned veteran at the age of 39 for the 2005-06 regular season. He played in 35 games with the Bolts going 14-10-4, recording a 2.80 GAA, .895 Save Percentage, and two shutouts.
Although Burkes time with Tampa Bay was limited, he played in 820 games throughout his career for eight different organizations.
Do you have a favor "number-one" of the Tampa Bay Lightning? If so, who was it?