The 5 Tampa Bay Lightning Goaltenders to Make 100 Starts – The Hockey Writers – Tampa Bay Lightning

The history of the Tampa Bay Lightning continues to assemble a growing body of work. Part of that history is the growing list of goalies who have taken the team’s crease.

According to Hockey Reference, 54 goalies have seen ice time for the Lightning in franchise history. Just five of these goalies have started 100 or more games for the franchise.

It’s not a crazy number in particular. Franchises of similar ages have a similar number of goalies who have started at least 100 games. The Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks have six. The Ottawa Senators have seven.

Having this many goalies to reach this benchmark doesn’t speak of their franchise in any particular way. At most, there could be an argument that Andrei Vasilevskiy‘s tenure (more on him shortly) has allowed them to have one fewer than some counterparts.

This is strictly a history piece. So, without further ado, here is the background of the five Lightning goalies to start 100 games. This will go in descending order from the most to the fewest.

Andrei Vasilevskiy, 588 Games Started

Nobody else comes close to where Vasilevskiy stands in this team’s history. He’s started more than double the number of games than anybody else and has won more games than anybody else has started (370 wins).

He’s the only Lightning goalie to have won the Vezina Trophy, and he has two. He’s won a Conn Smythe Trophy, which he took home for his efforts in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

If you’re a goalie guy, you may even go to the length of saying that he’s the best Lightning player of all time. Others will have him top five or even top three.

It’ll be a long time before any other goalie comes close to what Vasilevskiy has meant to the Lightning. However, there are some other goalies fans hold close to their hearts.

He could have belonged to the Detroit Red Wings, but they chose to throw a first-round draft choice the Lightning’s way for defenseman Kyle Quincey. The rest is history.

Ben Bishop, 223 Games Started

Before Vasilevskiy, there was the surprise star he backed up, Ben Bishop. He, too, came over in what proved to be a franchise-altering trade. What’s crazy to look back on is that it’s a hindsight evaluation of the trade.

At the time, he was a 26-year-old who had played 23-career NHL games. He looked good that season at the time of coming over, with a .920 save percentage (SV%), but it was far from a blockbuster move. It only cost the Lightning forward Cory Conacher and a 2013 fourth-round pick.

Fast-forward to the next season, his first full one as a starter, and he finished as a Vezina finalist. The season after that, he helped lead the Lightning to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 2004.

At the time of his departure, a trade to the Los Angeles Kings ahead of the 2017 Trade Deadline, he was the franchise leader in virtually every statistical goalie category. He was the first Lightning goalie to start 200 games and win 100.

Many Lightning fans were left stunned by the move at the time, no matter how promising that Vasilevskiy guy was (and proved to be). It worked out, and arguably for the better. However, Bishop went down as a major sparkplug for the current success.

There is one last twist to this story. After Bishop left, he finished as a Vezina finalist a third and final time (2018-19). Who did he lose to? His old backup.

Daren Puppa, 198 Games Started

The first franchise goalie, so to speak. He was the first Lightning goalie to start at least 50 games and play at least 58 games between the pipes, full stop, let alone 100.

Puppa’s highlight season came during 1995-96. He finished as a finalist for the Vezina, the first time a Lightning goalie received this honor. Hart Trophy votes also came his way with a 15th-place finish. He also helped lead the team to its first-ever playoff appearance that same season.

For first-generation fans of the team, he’ll always mean something to that group. Being one of the pioneers of southern hockey is no small footnote.

Nikolai Khabibulin, 186 Games Started

Those who cheered on the Lightning in the early 2000s remember Khabibulin fondly. After all, it’s a name that brings back championship nostalgia. He’s the first starting Lightning netminder to have his name etched onto the Stanley Cup.

A clutch save by him in the final seconds of Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Final helped finish off the Calgary Flames in their final push.

At the time of his departure in free agency, following the lockout-canceled 2004-05 season, he was the all-time wins leader for the franchise with 83. You can see how far the bar has risen over the last two decades.

Mike Smith, 109 Games Started

Yes, this is the same Mike Smith who spent time in Phoenix and Edmonton. Some younger fans likely need that clarification.

Smith never truly established himself as the starter for the Lightning while he was in town. Still, he found a way to reach 100 games started in net for the franchise. Other goalies he overlapped with stuck in the zeitgeist a bit more, such as 2011 Stanley Cup Playoff standout Dwayne Roloson.

Nonetheless, it’s Smith who emerged to be one of the five goalies to start 100 games for the Lightning. Meanwhile, Roloson started just 75. He still gets some acknowledgement in this story, but it’s in relation to Smith.

It’s going to be a while before somebody else joins the 100-starts list for this franchise. Jonas Johansson, in theory, isn’t far off with 65 starts. Another goalie appears to be taking his place, though. Dennis Hildeby has arrived in a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs. This could be it, or the number of starts could grow at a much slower pace.

Eventually, that sixth member will arrive. Once he gets there, he’ll have the bragging rights of being part of an exclusive group. The fun part about this one is that goalies don’t necessarily have to be perennial All-Stars to be part of it. They just have to show they’re worthy of sticking around long enough to leave a mark.