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Conor Geekie, Tampa Bay Lightning (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Lightning Would Benefit From an Increased Focus on Youth

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Harrison Smajovits | Last updated May 29, 2025 4:10 PM ET

It looks like the Tampa Bay Lightning‘s championship window is now in the review mirror after their third straight playoff exit in Round 1. The team is top-heavy, especially up front, and their key players are getting older.

The Lightning are still a good team. A bunch of scrubs wouldn’t finish with 102 points and the second-best goal differential in the regular season. However, they are no longer built to win championships, and to help them regain that competitive edge, they need to bring in young talent wherever possible.

For the record, I say “wherever possible” to avoid the implication of a full rebuild. The team doesn’t need that, given the talent that still leads the roster. A retool to bring in young talent should be the goal.

Impact of Young Talent On The Lightning

The Lightning have shown they can bring young talent together to go on a run. Those who were following the team a decade ago will remember “The Triplets” line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov. During the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the three combined for 31 goals and 30 assists for 61 points as the team made its first Stanley Cup Final since 2004.

The line didn’t stay together throughout, but they were all part of the Lightning teams that reached four more Eastern Conference Finals, two more Stanley Cup Finals and won two championships. Two of them were around for another run to the Final in 2022. If management can find the right combination of younger players, they could make magic happen again.

True, the Lightning haven’t had a first-round pick since 2019. It’s also fair to point out that the whole team was younger overall, meaning more of the team was in their prime years to complement The Triplets.

However, the Lightning didn’t use top draft picks to build “The Triplets.” Kucherov was a second-round pick, but Palat was a seventh-round pick, and Johnson went undrafted. They could find a similar combination now, only this time, they also have a 2022 first-round pick to include (acquired via trade with the Arizona Coyotes): Dylan Duke (left wing, fourth-round pick), Conor Geekie (center, first-round pick) and Ethan Gauthier (right wing, second-round pick).

Like Geekie, Kucherov played 52 games for the Lightning in his first season before becoming a Triplet. So, that’s fitting. It’s also OK that Duke and Gauthier have a combined two NHL games between them because Johnson and Palat only had a handful of games of experience the season before they both became full-time members of the roster.

Even though the Lightning’s key players are over 30 now – a decade older than Triplets season – they still rank among the top players in the league, and adding youth to the lineup would be a huge boost.

Other Lightning Roster-Building Benefits

Adding three prospects to the roster also means the team is saving money. Even if their contracts are coming to an end, they’ll still be on the affordable side as restricted free agents. This is music to the cap-constrained ears of the Lightning’s front office and provides added depth at a low cost.

The cap is expected to increase to $113.5 million by the 2027-28 season. Having an already lower payroll combined with an increasing budget means the Lighting will have more space to add more depth. If Tampa Bay wants to make a major splash in free agency, whether it’s this offseason or in the coming ones, there will be room for that. If they want to add more scoring depth to the bottom six or add some muscle, they can do that.

There is no simple fix, and it might be a gamble for management to add youth since there is no guarantee that history will repeat itself. There could be growing pains as players adjust to the NHL level. It’s why retools take time, even if they are supposed to be a faster route to the end goal. But the Lightning’s window is closing anyway. So, it would be worth the risk. In fact, it could be their best chance to win another Cup with the remaining championship pieces while they still have them.