Advertisement

Are the Lightning the NHL's super team?

Though it’s extremely difficult to quantify or define exactly what a “Super Team” is in professional sports, the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning are probably pretty close to being labelled as such no matter how you slice it.

Boasting a lethal group of forwards complimented by an elite defence corps and arguably the NHL’s top netminder, there aren’t many, if any, holes to be found throughout the NHL leader’s lineup.

Would you take Tampa over any of the league’s other 30 teams to win it all, though? That, like whether or not to classify the Bolts as the NHL’s “Super Team,” isn’t an easy question to answer — as NHL writers Justin Cuthbert and Andrew Zuber discussed on the latest episode of The NHL Spin.

(Getty)
(Getty)

“A great goalie (Vasilevskiy) on a great team is a scary thing to think think about,” said Zuber. “So you know what, I will take Tampa Bay — you can have the field.”

“I will take the field. I do think there is immense pressure on the Lightning coming in,” Cuthbert said. “There’s going to be pressure because they haven’t done it yet. And we’re getting to the end of their window because they have three unrestricted defencemen. They have Brayden Point, who’s a tremendous player but his salary is going to multiply next year because he’s performing on a bargain bin salary. It’s too tight to pick one team over the rest because there’s a lot of talent in the league.”

Whether or not you think the team as a whole should be considered a super-team juggernaut and the hands-down favourite to lift Stanley in June, the halfway-mark numbers are pretty sensational.

The Lightning are on a 15-0-1 run in their last 16 games — on pace for 132 points which would be the most we’ve ever seen in an 82-game season.

More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports: