from Dan Rosen of NHL.com,

This is the preseason edition of the Super 16. It will return on Oct. 16, nine days after the start of the regular season, and will run every Friday for the duration of the season....

The Lightning, Eastern Conference champions last season, return almost wholly intact this season, save for Erik Condra replacing Brenden Morrow in the bottom-six forward group. They are fast, skilled, experienced and yet still young with the average age of their expected opening-night lineup 26.5.

Expectations are appropriately high for coach Jon Cooper's team, but examined further, Stamkos' words hold more weight than originally thought. The Lightning might be a favorite in the Eastern Conference, but a study of their first 20 games of the season reveals the road back to the postseason will have its bumps.

Twelve of Tampa Bay's first 20 games are on the road, including seven of its first 10 and 11 of its first 16. Only eight of its first 20 games are against teams that made the playoffs last season, but seven of those games are on the road, including one at the Chicago Blackhawks, the defending Stanley Cup champions, on Oct. 24.

This isn't to suggest that the Lightning are in serious jeopardy of missing the playoffs because of their early-season schedule, but it wouldn't set any kind of precedent if they did.

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