Jeff Vinik's dedication to the Tampa Bay Lightning has not been ignored. Earlier today, ESPN's Ultimate Rankings ranked the Tampa Bay Lightning the best franchise out of 122 teams across all four US sports leagues. When informed about the honor, both Ryan Callahan and Jon Cooper pointed immediately to the magician behind the curtain, praising Vinik's role in raising the franchise's value from 70th in ESPN's rankings in 2010 when he bought the team, to third last year, to first.
#TBLightning named top professional franchise among all four major US sports leagues (out of 122 teams) by ESPN's Ultimate Rankings 2016.