After advancing to back-to-back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals between 2020-22, and winning two of them, the Tampa Bay Lightning have been ousted in the first round of the postseason in each of the last two campaigns. For a team that has been a contender in the Eastern Conference for the better part of the last decade, that was unacceptable to the front office.
General manager Julien BriseBois made some really difficult decisions in the summer, both by trading key defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and by letting captain and face of the franchise Steven Stamkos walk. The front office also managed to land one of the big fish of free agent frenzy, trading for and then signing Jake Guentzel to a lucrative deal.
While the 2024-25 Bolts certainly look different than past iterations of the roster, most of the core remains intact. Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point continue to lead the way offensively, while Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel have emerged into terrific second-line forwards. Victor Hedman continues to hold down the defensive core, and Andrei Vasilevskiy has been excellent between the pipes for most of the campaign.
All of that to say, the Lightning are 21-15-2 and currently fourth place in the Atlantic Division. Despite being just two points up on the currently non playoff bound Pittsburgh Penguins, the expectation is that Tampa Bay will still be playing at the end of April for the eighth consecutive season.
And in that quest, BriseBois and the front office will probably be trying to add a piece or two ahead of the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline.
Lightning will likely be looking to add at trade deadline
As it stands, the team only has around $1 million in cap space to work with ahead of the deadline, per PuckPedia. But BriseBois has made significant moves at each of the last three deadlines. He acquired Hagel and Nick Paul in March of 2022, Tanner Jeannot in February of 2023 and Anthony Duclair, Matt Dumba and Ryan McDonagh in 2024.
Unfortunately for Tampa’s brass, the additions made in each of the last two seasons haven’t been able to get the roster out of the first-round. It lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023 and eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in 2024. But the acquisitions of Hagel and Paul were excellent moves a couple years ago, and helped the Bolts come within two victories of capturing the threepeat.
This time around, it’s going to be difficult for BriseBois to make the roster too much better considering the salary cap constraints. But the crafty GM always finds a way to make moves, and it should be no different in 2025.
Although the Lightning will undoubtedly be looking to get better ahead of another hopefully deep postseason run, they could look to shed some salary before March 7. And one player who probably should be getting a change of scenery is veteran forward Cam Atkinson.
The Cam Atkinson experiment hasn’t worked out in Tampa Bay
A strong offensive player throughout his NHL career, Atkinson was still effective in 2021-22, managing 23 goals and 50 points with the Philadelphia Flyers. Unfortunately, the 35-year-old missed the entire 2022-23 campaign due to having a herniated disc while also needing to undergo surgery in his left tricep. He was shut down in training camp and placed on injured reserve.
Atkinson hasn’t been the same player since the ailments; the Riverside, Connecticut native chipped in just 13 goals and 28 points in 70 games in 2023-24, and was bought out by the Flyers at the conclusion of the season. The Lightning took a chance on the player in free agency — it was the first time ever that Atkinson was an unrestricted free agent — signing the American to a one-year, $900,000 contract.
Atkinson has been even worse offensively in 2024-25, with just three goals and five points over 22 games. The Bolts took a chance on a once prolific offensive player, but it’s clear that the well-liked forward’s best days are behind him.
Considering his playoff inexperience, Lightning must trade Cam Atkinson
Atkinson is currently playing on Tampa’s fourth line along with Zemgus Girgensons and Luke Glendening, and he’s averaging under 10 minutes of ice time per game. Considering that he’s only skated in 35 Stanley Cup Playoff games in his 12+ year NHL career, BriseBois should probably be including Atkinson in a package to improve the roster ahead of the deadline.
Although Atkinson has been solid in the playoff games he’s gotten into, he hasn’t played in the postseason since 2019-20, and it’s hard to see him making a bigger impact than he has with the team in the regular-season.
With a light $900,000 AAV, the team wouldn’t be recouping much in cap space by trading Atkinson, but every dollar counts, and it would be somewhat surprising if he was on the playoff roster in Game 1 of Round 1 — assuming the Lightning get in. The more likely scenario, if he doesn’t get traded, would be waivers.
But the Lightning haven’t done that yet, so it’s possible BriseBois is happy letting Atkinson play out the rest of his contract before allowing the veteran to move on in the summer. He’s an easy player to root for, and one that has overcome significant challenges in his NHL career. The fact remains, Atkinson is not an effective play driver anymore, and probably won’t be too much help to this team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It’s almost certain that BriseBois will be making at least one trade to bring an effective player to Florida before March 7. Whatever that package looks like, Atkinson should be on his way out, opening up a spot for a younger roster player to make a difference in the postseason.
The Eastern Conference has become quite crowded through one half of the campaign, and there’s no guarantee that the Lightning will even get in. But at its best, this is still a Stanley Cup contender, and as long as the roster stays healthy, the chances of Jon Cooper’s team advancing to the dance for an eighth straight year are still promising. It’ll be interesting to see how things change between now and early March.
