Jon Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning had grown accustomed to deep playoff runs in the NHL. The last couple of years were anything but that, though, with consecutive first-round losses to the cross-state rivals, the Florida Panthers. In hopes of turning the tide back in their favor, the Bolts head into a crucial season. However, drama has already emerged for Brayden Point and company.
Cooper and the Bolts have faced adversity before. More importantly, they’ve overcome it multiple times. Tampa Bay knows what it takes to win in the NHL, but its current roster is simply not getting it done at the moment.
Although the lineup is stacked with household names and star talent, something seems off for the organization in the Big Guava. Point, Kucherov, Hedman, Guentzel, and Vasilevskiy are just a few of the elite players in town. Even so, a major absence in the forward group might prove too much to overcome in the opening stretch of the 2025–26 NHL season.
“Forward Nick Paul had surgery last Friday for an upper body injury and is out until early November, per GM Julien BriseBois,” Lightning’s beat reporter Benjamin Pierce stated.
Nicholas Paul on October 10, 2023 in Tampa, Florida.
Paul can return to a celebration
Coming off a 41-point season with the Lightning, Paul will be sidelined to begin the 2025-26 campaign. That means his chase for the career 200-point mark will be put on hold for a while. However, as soon as he returns to the ice in Central Florida he’ll get the chance to reach the accolade, and more.
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As it stands, Paul is just one point shy of the 200th of his career. The 30-year-old forward is also only three goals away from the 100-mark. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but what could be better than a hat trick upon his return to capture both milestones? If that happens, the celebration in the locker room might call for Cigar City to outdo itself in production.
What’s missing?
The Lightning aren’t used to losing this early in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After the infamous 2019 sweep at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets—when Tampa Bay was coming off a record-setting regular season—the Bolts had hoped first-round exits were a thing of the past.
Still, the Panthers had other plans. While it’s unfair to pin postseason defeats on a single factor, goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy believes there’s one key area where his teammates keep coming up short.
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“We have to learn to score goals in overtime,” Vasilevskiy boldly said, per The Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo Encina. “No wonder we can’t win. The home record in the playoffs, terrible, in front of our fans getting (expletive)-kicked. Sometimes you have to play simple instead of trying to make hero plays”
