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It’s Tampa Bay Lightning day at PHT

Tampa Bay Lightning Practice

PITTSBURGH, PA - MAY 15: Steven Stamkos #91 of the Tampa Bay Lightning takes a break during a off-day practice session prior to Game Two of the Eastern Conference Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2016 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 15, 2016 at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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On paper, the 2015-16 season was a less impressive version of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s impressive 2014-15 run.

They made a deep run, but they couldn’t quite get to the Stanley Cup Final another time. The Bolts finished second in the Atlantic Division once again, but only with 97 standings points instead of the outstanding total of 108 from 2014-15.

In reality, the Lightning finished the year with a lot to be proud of, though.

They weathered some serious storms last season, most clearly with injuries to Ben Bishop and Steven Stamkos, not to mention endless questions about Stamkos’ future with or without the team.

All things considered, there were a lot of positives to take from pushing the eventual champs to a Game 7.

Off-season

If you weren’t impressed by the Lightning’s work during the season, maybe an impressive off-season did the trick?

GM Steve Yzerman answered to huge questions in the affirmative by re-signing Stamkos (eight years, $68 million) and Victor Hedman (eight years, $63 million) to long-term contracts at very reasonable rates.

Along with those massively important contracts, Yzerman locked down other important players in Andrei Vasilveskiy and Alex Killorn. He still has a tough nut to crack in re-signing Nikita Kucherov, but he’s laid the groundwork for that to happen.

If hitting all the right buttons with Stamkos and Hedman wasn’t enough, the Lightning made some very nice value moves.

There’s a chance Cory Conacher could re-discover some of the brief magic he enjoyed before Tampa Bay traded him for Bishop. Handing James Wisniewski a PTO could leave the Bolts with one of the deepest defenses in the NHL (or at least provide a nice Matt Carle replacement).

There’s still work to do, but overall, the Lightning’s outlook is very sunny. PHT explores the team’s biggest questions on Monday.