from John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times,

“Going forward, I expect us to remain a Stanley Cup contender,” general manager Julien BriseBois said Tuesday. “If I look at our roster right now, we have elite players at all the key positions. And they are either in their prime or just entering their prime.

“So, I have a lot of reason to believe we are going to remain a Stanley Cup contender and hopefully the stars align again for us, just as they did the past two years, and we can go on another magical run and bring back the Cup one more time.”

That is not wishful thinking. BriseBois is absolutely correct when he says the Lightning will still be a contender next season. The difference is the margin of error will tighten dramatically. The Lightning can expect to compete for the Cup, as opposed to being expected to win the Cup.

So how will the team change? At the moment, that’s impossible to say.

It’s going to depend on how much interest there is around the league in trading for some of Tampa Bay’s veterans, and how willing some players will be to waiving no-trade clauses.

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