With the Tampa Bay Lightning’s season over, it’s time to start looking ahead to the draft. Looking over recent drafts, as well as how the Lightning’s prospects on the farm have developed, there is still a clear need for defensemen that can develop into top-four roles.
The Lightning have done exceptionally well identifying and developing forward talent. They also hit the lottery on Andrei Vasilevskiy in net. On defense, their evaluation both of prospects and established NHLers seems to have been a little off the mark. This would be a great time for the scouting department to hit the bullseye on a defenseman.