The last time an NHL team won three Stanley Cups in a row, the league had 21 teams, helmetless players and a player nicknamed the Great One who led all scorers with 212 points.
That number had previously been a bowling score, not a potential point total.
It was 1981-82 and the New York Islanders were in the midst of winning their third of four consecutive championships. The Islanders’ run, as impressive as it was, wasn’t novel. The Montreal Canadiens had won four in a row from 1976-79. In the 1960s, the Maple Leafs had won three in a row. Montreal had won four in five years. In the 1950s, the Habs won five in a row. Winning multiple titles in succession wasn’t uncommon.
Even after the Islanders’ streak ended, the Oilers won four over five seasons. But they never won three in a row. Next season will be the 40th anniversary of the Islanders third consecutive title. It will be marked by the Tampa Bay Lightning’s quest to be the first team to win three in a row to accomplish that since the Bryan Trottier-Mike Bossy-Denis Potvin Islanders did it. It’s easy to find multiple reasons to conclude that the Lightning’s chances are minimal. The NHL grows to 32 teams next season, and parity is alive and well. The difference between the top teams and lower teams isn’t as pronounced as it was in the 1980s.
Through the years, quality teams have tried and failed. It’s hard to believe those dominating 1980s Oilers teams couldn’t win three in a row. The 1992-93 Penguins, 1998-99 Red Wings and the 2017-18 Penguins couldn’t make it happen.
Plus, next season’s Lightning won’t look like this season’s Lightning. The heat of salary cap hell is finally going to burn them.
They presumably won’t cap space to keep their free agents such as Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow and David Savard.
They will likely lose another desirable player or two to the expansion Seattle Kraken. The second player would come from the Kraken helping the Lightning to become salary cap compliant. If they don’t give up assets to the Kraken, assets will go to another team that helps them. The Lightning are roughly $5 million over the salary cap.
Their depth will be eroded this summer. Lightning coach Jon Cooper said during their recent championship run players discussed that they had to win now because the band was breaking up.
Odds are against three in a row. But don’t sell the Lightning short. They have the world’s best goaltender in Andrei Vasilevskiy and the top defenseman in Victor Hedman. Not many players are more proven in the playoffs than Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. We haven’t even gotten to Steven Stamkos yet. The Lightning have 11 desirable forwards and five high-grade defenseman under contract.
More importantly, the team has a coach and players who seem to have a doctorate degree understanding of how to win in the postseason. They have 32 playoff wins in the past 23 months. The Buffalo Sabres don’t have that many playoff wins in the last 21 years.
The Lightning do have some quality young players who will step in and fill some roles. They also have a capable general manager who will likely make a deadline move next season with the hope of finding another Coleman or Goodrow.
Tampa Bay shouldn’t be a favorite to win it all next season. But you can’t rule them out either. That’s a sign of a well-constructed organization.