With the NHL Draft taking place Friday and Saturday at Buffalo’s First Niagara Center, we thought now would be a good time to step back and review the greatest class the Tampa Bay Lightning assembled in their 24 attempts at drafting.
Five years ago, the Lightning completed their greatest draft haul, selecting six players who all continue to figure in the Bolts’ plans.
Tampa Bay netted two budding superstars in the 2011 Draft in Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat. The Lightning picked up two major contributors during their two lengthy playoff runs in 2015 and 2016 in Vladislav Namestnikov and Nikita Nesterov.