theScore is previewing each team leading up to the 2016-17 season.
The Tampa Bay Lightning came within one win of a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final last season, and head into the 2016-17 campaign with a roster loaded with enough talent to finish the job this time around.
Here's a look at the projected depth chart for 2016-17.
Forwards
LW
C
RW
Alex Killorn
Steven Stamkos
Jonathan Drouin
Ondrej Palat
Tyler Johnson
Nikita Kucherov
Vladislav Namestnikov
Valtteri Filppula
Ryan Callahan
Cedric Paquette
Brian Boyle
J.T. Brown
Callahan is expected to start the season on the sidelines after offseason hip surgery, giving Cory Conacher and Erik Condra a chance to move down from the press box and into the opening-night lineup.
Defensemen
LD
RD
Victor Hedman
Anton Stralman
Jason Garrison
Andrej Sustr
Braydon Coburn
Nikita Nestorov
Slate Koekkoek
James Wisniewski will attend training camp on a professional tryout, and he'll have a good shot at cracking the top six if healthy, and if the Lightning can free up some cap space.
Goalies
G
Ben Bishop
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Vasilevskiy appeared ready for prime time when called on to fill in for an injured Bishop during the Eastern Conference Finals, and there's a good chance the latter - an unrestricted free agent next summer - will finish the season on a different team.
Auston Matthews is in for a wild ride, and his Air Canada Centre debut at the World Cup is just the beginning.
So says North American linemate Connor McDavid, who knows a thing or three about being a much-hyped rookie stepping into a hockey-crazed market.
"There was a bunch of pressure, (but Auston's) probably going to have it worse here in Toronto than I did in Edmonton," McDavid said Sunday, per Mark Masters of TSN. "He’s going to go though a lot, but he’s ready for it. He’s a good player with a good head on his shoulders."
In fairness, McDavid didn't get to play through a full season with the Oilers after suffering a serious shoulder injury back in November that forced him out of half the campaign.
Had he played in all 82 games and been in the running for, say, a scoring title and playoff spot, then perhaps the pressure would have been ramped up a little higher.
Nevertheless, Toronto is a special animal in the hockey landscape, and Matthews is seen as the strongest building block for a Maple Leafs team looking to return to competitiveness.
After a trade request that was made, not met, and later rescinded, New York Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic is looking forward to a fresh start.
Hamonic went to training camp last season with a desire to be closer to his home of Winnipeg, Manitoba because of a family issue, and let it be known to general manager Garth Snow that he wanted to be dealt.
Unable to find a suitable trade partner, Snow held on to a defenseman deemed important to the long-term success of the club. Looking back, Hamonic is content remaining with the Islanders, especially now that the family issue is behind him.
"Reflecting on it during the summer, I was really appreciative of everyone’s respect, letting me deal with what was going on," Hamonic said upon arriving at this season's camp, per Arthur Staple of Newsday.
"Things solidified themselves in that situation and I’m excited to head into camp with a clear head, clear heart, and ready to rock. Just keep moving forward. I’m happy as hell to be here."
The 26-year-old remains under contract for four more seasons at a very team-friendly $3,857,142 cap hit, meaning Snow's likely just as happy to have been able to put this situation in the past.
theScore is previewing each team leading up to the 2016-17 season.
A Stanley Cup Final loss at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2014-15; a Game 7 Eastern Conference Final loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015-16.
Here are three question facing one of the NHL's most legitimate contenders:
Is Ben Bishop a goner?
Heading into the final year of his contract and facing unrestricted free agency next summer, Ben Bishop's future is one of the biggest question marks hanging over the Lightning.
General manager Steve Yzerman is on record as taking a strong "maybe, maybe not" stance in regards to whether he'll be forced to trade one of his goalies prior to the 2017 trade deadline, but the reality is only one can be protected in advance of an expansion draft, and the team has already re-upped with Andrei Vasilevskiy on a three-year, $10.5-million contract that kicks in at the beginning of next season.
As good as Bishop has been for Tampa Bay - and make no mistake, he's been as important as anyone to the team's success in recent years - Vasilevskiy is younger, and proved he's up for the task of taking the starting job when pressed into action for an injured Bishop during the playoffs.
The Lightning could very well win the Cup this season, but with Vasilevskiy serving as the goalie of record.
Is the Drouin saga really over?
If we look at Jonathan Drouin's performance in the playoffs, it'd be logical to assume the five goals and nine assists recorded in 17 games were a natural and fitting conclusion to a breakout season for the third overall pick in 2013.
Not so, as Drouin's season was marked by a demotion to the AHL, a public trade request, a team suspension for failing to report to a game, and, ultimately, a reunion made necessary by Steven Stamkos' absence in the postseason due to a blood clot.
The 21-year-old can indeed be a big-game player when put in position to succeed, and while the two sides appear to have hugged it out, questions remain as to how head coach Jon Cooper will use Drouin in the context of a fully healthy lineup, and whether player and team can come to an agreement on his next contract once Drouin hits restricted free-agent status next summer.
How long can the band stay together?
Yzerman drew praise for inking Stamkos and Victor Hedman to reasonable long-term extensions during the offseason, but there remain a few murky contract situations that could prove difficult to resolve.
With the World Cup set to begin, star winger Nikita Kucherov remains without a contract for 2016-17, and he's arguably the most important forward in Tampa Bay apart from Stamkos.
On top of that, Drouin, Tyler Johnson, and Ondrej Palat are all set to become restricted free agents at season's end, and all three will command and deserve significant raises.
Even if Bishop is sacrificed on the altar of cap space, Yzerman will need to shed another contract or two (Ryan Callahan, Valtteri Filppula, and Jason Garrison come to mind) in order to keep all these core pieces.
Ovechkin's mother, Tatyana Ovechkina, won a pair of Olympic gold medals in women's basketball, as well as a World Championship, and six European Championships.
She currently runs Russia's women's national basketball program.
His father, Mikhail Ovechkin, is also a former professional soccer player.
His mother swears this story is true: When Alexander Ovechkin was a 2-year-old toddler, she brought him to a toy store. Those were the dwindling days of the Soviet Union, when stores didn't have as much as today. But they had toy hockey sticks and they had toy helmets and little Sasha, as he is called, waddled right over to them and wouldn't let go.
Don't believe it? "We have a picture with him wearing tights and holding a hockey stick," his mother, Tatyana, insists.
3. Early tragedy fueled passion for the game
When Ovechkin was 10, his older brother Sergei died following a car crash. The next day, Ovechkin took to the ice for a youth hockey game, and, in 2015, he opened up about the experience.
"It was hard, I was crying. I remember I was crying that day. I was on the bench, I was crying. But my shift, my coach said okay, go play. And I played and I was crying. It was hard but at 10 years old, you obviously [don’t] realize what’s happening. It was a hard moment for my mom and dad, for all my family because oldest son passed away. It was a hard time."
After Sergei's death, Ovechkin said he was more motivated than ever to succeed in hockey since it was up to just him and his other brother, Mikhail, to support their parents as they aged.
4. Panthers attempted draft circumvention
Despite being born two days prior to the 2003 NHL Draft class cutoff date, the Florida Panthers attempted to select Ovechkin in each of four rounds.
Florida General Manager Rick Dudley attempted in four different rounds to draft Ovechkin, arguing that, if leap-year dates were taken out of the equation, Ovechkin actually would turn 18 four days before his recognized birthday and thus have been eligible for 2003. The NHL rejected the Panthers all four times, but the league did comply with Florida's request to make the final one in writing. This way, if it is ruled that the Panthers were in the right, they could justify a claim on Ovechkin.
Good try, good effort.
Ovechkin was drafted first overall by Washington the following year.
5. Greatest goal of all time?
Ovechkin scored quite possibly the greatest goal of all time during his rookie season.
Words don't do it justice.
6. Biggest raise of all time?
Coming off his entry-level deal with the Capitals that paid him $984,200 per season, Ovechkin signed a 13-year, $124-million contract extension, the biggest in NHL history to that point.
Heading into 2016-17, Ovechkin ranks 33rd on the NHL's all-time goals list with 525. If he equals his output from last season (50), he'd rise to 21st, two behind Mark Recchi.
The all-time leader, of course, is Wayne Gretzky, who recorded 894 goals in 1,487 games, good for a goals-per-game average of 0.60. Ovechkin's average is actually higher (0.63), meaning he has a shot at breaking the Great One's record if he stays in the NHL past his current deal.
At any rate, he already belongs in the conversation as one of the game's greatest goal scorers, ranking behind only Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux in goals per game among players with at least 500 career appearances.
Ovechkin is celebrating his birthday in Toronto, preparing for Russia's World Cup opener against Sweden on Sunday.
His first appearance at the senior international level was at the 2004 World Championships, followed by the World Cup that same year. Since then, he has represented his country at the Winter Olympics in 2006, 2010, and 2014, and has appeared in eleven World Championships, winning three gold medals.
Ovechkin ranks fourth among Russian-born players in NHL scoring, only 213 career points behind Sergei Fedorov, and with plenty of hockey yet to play.
He may not medal at the Olympics - although he's determined to play in 2018 - but he will no doubt go down as their greatest player ever to hail from Russia.
theScore is previewing each team leading up to the 2016-17 season.
The Islanders aren't as deep as they were last season, but they're well positioned to make another playoff push in 2016-17.
New York won its first postseason series since 1993 last spring, but lost Kyle Okposo, Frans Nielsen and a trio of grinders to free agency, bringing in Andrew Ladd and P.A. Parenteau - solid replacements, but inferior to their predecessors,
That offseason turnover should create opportunities for a couple of promising young players.
Forwards
LW
C
RW
Andrew Ladd
John Tavares
P.A. Parenteau
Anders Lee
Brock Nelson
Ryan Strome
Nikolay Kulemin
Mathew Barzal
Josh Bailey
Jason Chimera
Casey Cizikas
Cal Clutterbuck
Strome remains unsigned as training camp looms, but Nelson was in the same boat as a restricted free agent last season, and he signed a three-year deal on the eve of training camp.
Barzal has a legitimate chance to make the team and some are projecting he'll crack the top-six. Parenteau led the Toronto Maple Leafs in goal-scoring last season.
Defense
LD
RD
Nick Leddy
Travis Hamonic
Calvin de Haan
Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Hickey
Ryan Pulock
Gone is veteran rearguard Marek Zidlicky, but that's good news for Pulock, who should lock down a spot on the NHL club.
Goalies
G
Jaroslav Halak
Thomas Greiss
Halak is the unquestioned starter in Brooklyn when healthy, but that's been anything but a certainty over the last four years. Greiss has proven to be more than capable as a backup, and he actually played five more games than Halak last season.
NHL Depth Charts
ANA| ARI | BOS | BUF | CGY CAR | CHI | COL | CBS | DAL DET | EDM | FLA | LA | MIN MTL | NSH | NJD | NYI | NYR PHI | PIT | OTT | STL | SJ TB | TOR | VAN | WSH | WIN
