from Diana C. Nearhos of the Tampa Bay Times,

Jeff Vinik started by wishing people a Happy New Year.

To the Lightning owner, the start of the season represents a more relevant passage of time than Jan. 1.

He said the offseason always feels too long and the season opener too far away, so this year isn’t any different. But he cited something Victor Hedman said last season about the 2015 Stanley Cup Final loss to Chicago:

“I don’t think we ever get over it,” he said. “It’s tough, we had a really good team. We had a really good opportunity and for whatever reason things didn’t go our way. We’re disappointed by it. We’ll learn from it and hopefully we can have a better outcome.”

continued