The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2004. The team is commonly referred to as the Bolts , and the nickname is used on their current third jersey. They play their home games at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.
Franchise history
Early years
In the late 1980s, the NHL announced that it would expand. Two rival groups from the Tampa/St. Petersburg area decided to bid for a franchise: a St. Petersburg-based group fronted by future Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes owners Peter Karmanos and Jim Rutherford, and a Tampa-based group led by two Hall of Famers – Phil Esposito and his brother Tony.
On paper, it looked like the Karmanos/Rutherford group was the frontrunner. Not only was the Karmanos/Rutherford group better financed, but one of Esposito's key backers, the Pritzker family, had backed out a few months before the bid. Esposito eventually recruited a consortium of Japanese businesses headed by Kokusai Green, a Japanese golf course and resort operator. The prospect of Japanese backing tipped the scales in the Esposito group's favor, and they were awarded an expansion franchise for the 1992–93 season, as was a group in Ottawa (which became the Ottawa Senators). One of the limited partners in the new Tampa Bay team was New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner (who lives in Tampa during the year).
According to former NHL president Gil Stein, another factor was that the Karmanos/Rutherford group wanted to pay only $29 million before starting play, while the Esposito group was one of the few willing to pay the $50 million expansion fee without reservations.
After being awarded the franchise, the team's management brought in star power before they had any players. Phil Esposito installed himself as president and general manager, while Tony became chief scout. Terry Crisp, who played for the Philadelphia Flyers when they won two Stanley Cups in the mid-1970s, and coached the Calgary Flames to a Cup in 1989, was tapped as the first head coach. The team was named the Lightning, after Tampa's status as the "Lightning Capital of North America."
Phil Esposito initially attempted to recreate the mystique from the powerhouse Bruins of the 70s; he hired former linemate Wayne Cashman as an assistant coach, former Bruin trainer John "Frosty" Forristal as the team's trainer, and the inaugural team photo has him flanked by Cashman and player Ken Hodge, Jr., son of his other Bruins' linemate. The team turned heads in the preseason when Manon Rhéaume became the first woman to play in an NHL game, making her first of two NHL appearances in an exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues.
The Lightning first took the ice on October 7, 1992, playing in Tampa's tiny 11,000-seat Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds. They shocked the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 7-3 with four goals by little-known Chris Kontos, a scoring mark unmatched by any Lightning player. The Bolts shot to the top of the Campbell Conference's Norris Division within a month, behind Kontos' initial torrid scoring pace and a breakout season by forward Brian Bradley. However, they buckled under the strain of some of the longest road trips in the league — their nearest division rival was St. Louis, over 1,000 miles from Tampa — and finished in last place. Their 53 points in 1992-93, however, was one of the best showings ever by an NHL expansion team. Bradley's 42 goals gave Tampa Bay fans optimism for the next season; it would be a team record until the 2006–07 season when Vincent Lecavalier passed it with a career high 52 goals.
The following season saw the Lightning shift to the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division, as well as move into the Florida Suncoast Dome (a building originally designed for baseball) in St. Petersburg, which was reconfigured for hockey and renamed "the Thunderdome." The team picked up goaltender Daren Puppa, left-wing goal scorer Petr Klima and aging sniper Denis Savard. While Puppa's play resulted in a significant improvement in goals allowed (from 332 to 251), Savard was long past his prime and Klima's scoring was offset by his defensive lapses. The Lightning finished last in the Atlantic Division. Another disappointing season followed in the lockout-shortened 1995 season. Still, the Lightning appeared to be far ahead of their expansion brethren, the Ottawa Senators. In marked contrast to the Lightning, the Senators showed almost no sign of respectability in their first four seasons.
From great success to utter failure
In their fourth season, 1995–96, with Bradley still leading the team in scoring, second-year forward Alexander Selivanov scoring 31 goals, and Roman Hamrlik (the team's first-ever draft choice in 1992) having an All-Star year on defense, the Bolts finally qualified for the playoffs, nosing out the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference by a single game. Although they lost their first-round series in six games to the Philadelphia Flyers, it still remains a magical season for Lightning fans. The Thunderdome crowd of 28,183 for the April 23 playoff game against the Flyers was the largest crowd for any NHL game, a record that stood until the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton.
The Lightning picked up sniper Dino Ciccarelli from the Detroit Red Wings during the 1996 off-season, and he did not disappoint, scoring 35 goals in the 1996–97 season, with Chris Gratton notching another 30. The team unveiled a glittering new arena, the Ice Palace (now the St. Pete Times Forum) and appeared destined for another playoff spot. However, the Lightning suffered a devastating rash of injuries early in the season. Puppa developed back trouble that would limit him to a total of 50 games from 1996 until his retirement in 2000. Bradley also lost time to a series of injuries that would limit him to a total of 49 games from 1996 until his retirement in December 1999. Center John Cullen developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and missed the last 12 games of the 1996–97 season; he would eventually be forced to retire in 1999. Decimated by these ailments, the Lightning narrowly missed the playoffs. It would be seven years before the Lightning would even come close to the playoffs again.
Most of the Lightning's early stars were gone by 1998 due to free agency and trades by Phil Esposito which backfired. Crisp was fired eleven games into the 1997–98 season and replaced by Jacques Demers. Though Demers had presided over the resurgence of the Detroit Red Wings in the 1980s and helmed a Stanley Cup run in Montreal in 1993, he was unable to change the team's fortunes, and the Lightning ended up losing 55 games.
By all accounts, the Lightning's plunge to the bottom of the NHL was due to the way Kokusai Green ran the team. Rumors abounded as early as the team's second season that the Lightning were on the brink of bankruptcy and that the team was part of a money laundering scheme for the yakuza (Japanese crime families). Its scouting operation consisted of Tony Esposito and several satellite dishes. The Internal Revenue Service investigated the team in 1994 and 1995, and nearly slapped a lien on the team for $750,000 in back taxes. The situation led longtime NHL broadcaster and writer Stan Fischler to call the Lightning a "skating vaudeville show."
Even in their first playoff season, the team was awash in red ink and Kokusai Green wanted to sell it; however, the sale was hampered by the team's murky ownership structure. Even some team officials (including Crisp) did not know who owned the team, and one person listed as a major shareholder reportedly did not even exist. Another problem was that Kokusai Green initially demanded $230 million for the team, including the lease with the Ice Palace.
It later emerged that Kokusai Green's owner, Takashi Okubo, had never met with Esposito or with NHL officials in person prior to being awarded the Lightning. During his seven years as owner, Okubo never watched his team play, and never even visited Tampa. Esposito never met him personally in his hunt for investors, for instance. Nearly all of Kokusai Green's investment in the team and the Ice Palace came in the form of loans, leaving the team constantly short of cash. In fact, the first time anyone connected with the Lightning or the NHL even saw him was in the spring of 1998. Many of Esposito's trades came simply to keep the team above water. The team's financial situation was a considerable concern to NHL officials; rumors surfaced that the league was seriously considering taking control of the team if Okubo failed to find a buyer by the summer of 1998.
Forbes wrote an article in late 1997 calling the Lightning a financial nightmare, with a debt equal to a staggering 236% of its value — the highest of any major North American sports franchise. Even though the Ice Palace was built for hockey and the Lightning were the only major tenant, Forbes called the team's deal with the arena a lemon since it would not result in much revenue for 30 years. It was also behind on paying state sales taxes and federal payroll taxes.
Finally, in 1998, Kokusai Green found a buyer. Although Detroit Pistons owner William Davidson was thought to be the frontrunner, the buyer turned out to be insurance tycoon and motivational speaker Art Williams. Williams walked into
Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Team Home Page - FOX Sports on MSN
Tampa Bay Lightning home page, team center for Tampa Bay Lightning news, videos, NHL team reports, roster depth charts, results, stats, schedule and more.
Tampa Bay Lightning Top Hockey Prospects & News
Get up to date News about the Top Tampa Bay Lightning hockey prospects and rookies and follow their progress throughout the year. Hockey's Future is the #1 Online Hockey prospects ...
Team Home: Tampa Bay Lightning
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947.
Tampa Bay Lightning/NHL | tampabay.com — St. Petersburg Times and ...
Injuries; Teams; Players; Statistics; Standings; Odds ... The Stanley Cup journeyed the world as Tampa Bay Lightning players ... Time-lapse movie: Conversion from hockey arena to ...
Tampa Bay Lightning
enter tampabaylightning.com
Tampa Bay Lightning NHL Hockey Front Page
Miami Heat; Orlando Magic; Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Tampa Bay Devil Rays; Tampa Bay Lightning ... source of news and information, and is not affiliated with any school, team, or ...
Category:Tampa Bay Lightning - Wikimedia Commons
Media in category "Tampa Bay Lightning" The following 32 files are in this category, out of 32 ... Categories: National Hockey League teams | Tampa, Florida | Ice hockey teams in the ...
Caseworks Tampa Bay Lightning Team Logo Single Hockey Puck Display ...
Buy Caseworks Tampa Bay Lightning Team Logo Single Hockey Puck Display Case - Proudly display your collectible puck in your home or office with this NHL® team logo single hockey ...
The Official Web Site - Tampa Bay Lightning
Share your love for the Tampa Bay Lightning with friends and family. READ ... NHL Conference logos are trademarks of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks and NHL team ...
Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Team
For Customer Service please call +1 (800) 992-2388 Download either of these forms instantly and place your order. Product Order Form Prizes!