The Tampa Bay Lightning made the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. They came within a win of returning last season and did it without captain Steven Stamkos, who had surgery to repair a blood clot and didn't play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs until Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.
The biggest question entering the offseason was whether general manager Steve Yzerman would be able to keep enough of the team together under the NHL salary cap to contend for the Cup again this season and into the future.
But Stamkos signed an eight-year, $68 million contract instead of testing the market as an unrestricted free agent, and defenseman Victor Hedman followed.