Tampa Bay Lightning Need to Avoid Blackhawks' Downward Spiral

The Chicago Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup Championship in six years on June 15, 2015. Since then, the Blackhawks have not been in the playoffs. Tampa Bay Lightning have won two Stanley Cups in three years. The Blackhawks are among the teams with the worst chance of winning the Stanley cup in 2022-23.

The NHL salary cap is supposed to keep overall costs down and maintain a competitive balance between clubs. It also prevents teams from keeping their core players. The Blackhawks made the worst trade of their post-Stanley Cup era in June 2017, when they traded Artemi Panarin, Tyler Motte, and a sixth-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Brandon Saad, Anton Forsberg and fifth-rounder in 2018. Saads was traded to Colorado Avalanche for Nikita Zadorov. Duncan Keith retired from the NHL and will now have a dead cap hit of more than $5.5 million this season and nearly $2 million next season.

Tampa Bay Lightning won the 2015 Stanley Cup with Ben Bishop as their starting goaltender. Andrei Vasilevskiy took over full-time in the 2017-18 season. Corey Crawford retired in 2020 after two concussions and has not played since. The Blackhawks have not had the same success with their current goaltender since Crawford's retirement.

Tampa Bay Lightning need to avoid Blackhawks' downward spiral. Successful teams need good management and some luck. Lightning have been fortunate to have their top players healthy. Blackhawks have missed Marian Hossa, who retired in 2017. He scored 415 points in 534 games and helped the team win three Stanley Cup titles. Patrick Kane believes Hussa's retirement has affected the Blackhawks.