Taking no offense to their rivals in the National Hockey League’s Atlantic Division, the Tampa Bay Lightning remain well-armed to go to war and wreak havoc on them next season.
Even though head coach Jon Cooper’s team lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, it’s not to be expected that they will lay down their arms so easily in the coming season, warns veteran Anthony Cirelli. Finally, the Florida team still counts on Andrei Vasilevskiy, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman. His experience in recent years, shaped by two Stanley Cups in a row (2020 and 2021) and three finals in a row, should also help.
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“We’ve played a lot of games in that time, but that’s not really an excuse. “We want to go far again,” the forward commented recently on website NHL.com after being hit at Toronto’s Sobeys Stadium, home of the men’s round of the National Bank Open tennis tournament. “Admittedly, it’s a bit of a long summer, so the boys have the opportunity to rest, go to the gym and work on things that they couldn’t improve on before.”
“You never want to lose, but it’s good to have a little more time to prepare for the upcoming season.”
A challenge
Cirelli is aware that the Lightning are still a target to defeat in the Eastern Conference. If the team has excelled over the past few years, it is largely thanks to the work of General Manager Julien BriseBois, who has remained active. While losing Corey Perry and Alex Killorn, among others, he got his hands on Conor Sheary.
“It’s sad to lose elements and it remains the reality of business.” Things like that happen, but we’re in control. Julien has hired players like Sheary and it won’t hurt. boys come and others go. It’s part of the sport. Management did a good job replacing those who left the company,” said Cirelli.
In 2022–2023, Tampa Bay finished third in the Atlantic with 98 points before losing the flag to the Leafs in six games.