from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

As I tweeted Friday night, to me the Lightning with a healthy roster posed the greatest threat to Washington's potential march to the Stanley Cup finals. But without Stralman, I'm a bit shaken in that belief.

Not only is he's a mammoth fixture on Tampa's top D-pairing and a key on special teams, but this is a team that tried all season before the trade deadline to acquire another top-four, right-handed defenseman because the Bolts felt they had a glaring need there. Imagine that hole now with their top right-handed defenseman out. Mercy.

Teams overcome injuries. I think the Lightning can do that, but that's about as brutal an injury both in terms of the importance of the player and the specific role he plays that I can imagine for any club in the Eastern Conference. Just brutal.

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