Last Word on Hockey’s Puck Drop Previews are back for the 2024-25 season! As the regular season approaches, Last Word will preview each team’s current outlook and stories to watch for the upcoming year. We’ll also do our best to project how things will go for each team throughout the campaign. Today, we’re previewing the 2024-25 Tampa Bay Lightning.

2025-2026 Tampa Bay Lightning

2024-25 Season

The Bolts finished third in the Atlantic Division last season and, as usual, made the playoffs. Because let’s face it: what’s spring hockey without Tampa, besides melted ice. Sure, the postseason didn’t end with another parade down Bayshore Boulevard, but with all the miles this core has put on the odometer, they’ve earned a pit stop or two. Nikita Kucherov casually dropped 121 points. Brayden Poi

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