Just hand them the Cup. The most modern and complete team in the salary cap era is the Tampa Bay Lightning. Building through the draft, but also acquiring the right places, and having the right staff in the right place helps.
Debate is there: salary cap loopholes, state tax, the years they came close before. This team has it all: a strong captain that can score, the best defenseman and goalie in the world, and maybe the best Russian winger that is not Ovi. They also have the best trio down the middle since the 2009 Penguins.
After getting embarrassed by one of the top teams in the Metro; they now face one of the top teams of the Atlantic. Columbus had a series of roster moves due to health changes from protocol.
Zach Werenski is on COVID protocol with Gavin Bayreuther; Daniil Tarasov, Elvis Merzlikins, and Justin Danforth all have lower body injuries; and Alex Texier has an unrelated COVID illness. Hoffman continues to sit out, but all lines have been juggled.
Projected Lineups
Tampa Bay Lightning
Ondrej Palat—Steven Stamkos—Ross Colton Alex Killorn—Brayden Point—Anthony Cirelli Pat Maroon—Pierre-Edouard Bellemare—Corey Perry Boris Katchouk—Riley Nash—Mathieu Joseph
Victor Hedman—Jan Rutta Ryan McDonagh—Erik Cernak Mikhail Segerachev—Andrej Sustr
Andrei Vaslievsky Brian Elliott
Scratched— Cal Foote, Taylor Raddysh Injured— Nikita Kucherov, Zach Bogosian, Gemel Smith, Brent Seabrook Taxi Squad— Darren Raddysh
Columbus Blue Jackets
Patrik Laine—Cole Sillinger—Jakub Voracek Oliver Bjorkstrand—Boone Jenner—Emil Bemstrom Gustav Nyquist—Sean Kuraly—Max Domi Eric Robinson—Jack Roslovic—Yegor Chinakov
Jake Bean—Adam Boqvist Vladislav Gavrikov—Andrew Peeke Gabriel Carlsson—Dean Kukan
Jonas Korpisalo Jean-Francois Berube
Scratched— Gregory Hoffman, Scott Harrington Injured— Justin Danforth, Elvis Merzlikins, Daniil Tarasov, Alexandre Texier, Gavin Bayreuther, Zach Werenski
Players to Watch
Tampa Bay— Steven Stamkos— the happy and healthy captain of the threepeat is their leading goal and point scorer with 16 goals and 39 points in 33 games. The dude has still got it all, and has dealt with some of the worst luck in injuries that one can ever deal with.
Columbus— Adam Boqvist— the youngster is getting a chance to show his skill in his second game back, and will do so on the top paid with Werenski out sick tonight.
More to come…