Stamkos, Lecavalier or St. Louis: Who are the five best Tampa Bay Lightning players ever?

Legends as they should be. Many great players have passed through the Lightning organization, but only a few of them can be counted among those without whom Tampa would not be the club it is today. After all, selecting the top five is always an extremely difficult task. So which players should we pay tribute to?

Steven Stamkos

The current Tampa captain, Steven Stamkos, must not be missing from this list. The thirty-one-year-old Canadian, who was linked with a move to Toronto a few years ago, has finally decided to stay. And he did the right thing – he won two Stanley Cups in a row with the Bolts in 2020 and 2021.

Obviously, he is the Lightning’s greatest legend and no one will be surprised if his number is also retired in a ceremonial fashion after his active career is over. Stamkos is Tampa’s all-time leader in the scorers’ chart and he also leads the power play goals.

He was drafted by Tampa Bay in 2008 as the number one pick in the first round. In 2012, he received the Maurice Richard Trophy, which is awarded to the player who scores the most goals in the regular season.

Stamkos and Alexander Ovechkin are also the only players since Mario Lemieux (1996) to score 60 goals in a single season. Stammer received the same award two years earlier, when he managed to score 51 goals.

In total, he has played 881 games for the Bolts, scoring 458 goals and 456 assists. He is currently second in the team’s scoring so far with 914 points. He has served as captain in Tampa since the 2014-15 season.

In addition to the two aforementioned Stanley Cups, he has also won gold at the 2016 World Championships and silver in 2009.

Martin St. Louis

The other Canadian and in the selection is Martin St. Louis, who is also Tampa’s all-time leader in Canadian scoring. He played in 972 games for the Lightning, and was a member of the team from 2000 to 2014. During that time, he managed to score 365 goals and 588 assists.

However, his first NHL appearance was with the Calgary Flames, against whom he played in the Stanley Cup Final in 2004. That year’s tied final ended in a 2-1 victory for Tampa, who beat the Flames in the seventh game. Both goals were scored by Ruslan Fedotenko.

He retired from St. Louis at the end of the 2014-15 season, but not with the Lightning. He scored another sixty points in the Rangers organization. He served as an assistant in Tampa for seven years, and became its captain in 2013/14.

During his career, he has won several awards, including the Ted Lindsay Award, the Hart Trophy, the Art Ross (he even won this award twice) and the Lady Byng (3 times). In addition to the Stanley Cup, he also has an Olympic gold medal from 2014 at home, as well as a gold medal for Canada’s World Cup championship in 2004.

Under the roof of Amalie Arena, the number 26 is both displayed and retired in his honour.

Vincent Lecavalier

The third and final Canadian is Vincent Lecavalier. Yes, even his number (4) can no longer be worn in the Lightning booth. The number one overall pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft has already led the Lightning offensive line in his second season in the NHL.

He was elected Tampa’s captain in 2000-01, but spent the next six years as an assistant. The captains during that period were Dave Andreychuk and Tim Taylor, the former in particular being the true leader of the booth.

Like St. Louis, Lecavalier was instrumental in helping the Lightning win their first ever Stanley Cup, in 2004 of course. He was also able to wear a World Cup gold medal around his neck that year.

During his 17-year career, he also achieved various personal successes – like Stamkos, he won the Maurice Richard Trophy. He has also been awarded the King Clancy Trophy, which combines player and human qualities.

In a way, he can also be particularly proud of the NHL Foundation Player Award, which was an award given annually by the NHL (National Hockey League) to a player who brought the core values of hockey into the lives of others.

He ranks third in Tampa’s historical points table with 874 points (383+491). No one has played as many games for the Bolts as Lecavalier. The player who wore the number four on his back in the NHL has played an impressive 1,037 games for the Lightning!

However, he ended his career in Los Angeles, where he was traded from Philadelphia in the 2015-16 season. Prior to that trade, he spent two seasons in the Flyers organization, during which he recorded 57 points.

Victor Hedman

From the defensive ranks, it can’t be anyone other than this Swedish defenseman. Hedman is simply an extraordinary type of defenseman who can combine his height and speed to great effect. In addition, he has excellent hockey sense, so he is often in the right place at the right time.

He is also agile for his height and has a hard and accurate shot. However, what makes him arguably the best defenseman in the world right now is his winner’s instinct and desire to be the best at what he does. And he’s doing that.

He started his hockey career in Modo, Sweden, and was drafted by Tampa Bay in 2009 with the second overall pick. So far, he has played 857 games for the Lightning, collecting 561 points on 123 goals and 438 assists.

The thirty-one-year-old native of Örnsköldsvik has managed to reach two Stanley Cups in his career so far (2020 and 2021). The Swedish national team member also won a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships and a bronze medal in 2010.

In the 2017/18 season he received the prestigious Norris Trophy, and in 2020 he could enjoy the Conn Smythe Trophy. He has also been awarded the Swedish Player of the Year award several times.

Nikita Kucherov

The last player in this selection is Russian sniper Kucherov. It’s very hard not to pick players from the current season, and that’s because Tampa has had the best of its history in recent years and is at the very top.

After all, a number of great players have come through the Lightning organization. A prime example is Brad Richards, captain Dave Andreychuk, goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who was also a key factor in the chase for victory in the 2004 season, or the absolutely superb defenseman Dan Boyle.

And let’s not forget Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is without a doubt one of the best goalies in the world right now and an absolute sure thing for the Lightning.

But Kucherov is, by and large, an incredible machine. A member of the Bolts’ elite power-play killing line (Stamkos – Point – Kucherov), he has collected 562 points on 226 goals and 336 assists so far for Tampa Bay. He ranks fourth in the Lightning’s historical scoring history.

He was drafted by Tampa Bay in the second round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. In his second season, however, he has already scored nearly thirty goals, with his biggest goal and point fireworks coming in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

In those years, he scored an incredible 100 and 128 points, for a total of 228 points (80+148) in just two seasons! That’s already a solid contribution to the NHL stats.

No Russian player in the NHL has ever recorded that many points in a single season. The record in this respect was held by Alexander Mogilnyj (127 points) from the 1992/93 season. Kucherov also matched Jaromir Jagr’s record from the 1995/96 season with eighty-seven assists.

He also hoisted the Stanley Cup twice and has two bronze medals from the World Championships.

In the 2018-19 season, he won the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award and was named the World Championship’s best forward and Russia’s best hockey player of the year. He rounds out the Tampa Bay Lightning’s five all-time best players in a very convincing way.

Sources: NHL, Tampa Bay Lightning, Eliteprospects