If I am an owner, executive or coach in the NFL, I am placing a call to the Tampa Bay Lightning to see if I can get a behind-the-scenes look at how they quietly built this hockey dynasty.
The Lightning not only just won their second consecutive Stanley Cup, but they have been in the conversation as one of the top teams in the league for nearly a decade. And the franchise’s consistent excellence provides a number of crossover learning lessons that could produce similar results in other sports leagues, including the NFL.
To be fair, I’m no hockey aficionado, but I appreciate greatness, and there is no denying Tampa Bay is one of the premier organizations in the sport today. The team has played in three Stanley Cup Finals — and five Eastern Conference Finals — over the past seven years. So, how did general manager Julien BriseBois and head coach Jon Cooper build such an impressive operation in an area that isn’t exactly known as a hockey hotbed?
After taking deep dive into the Lightning’s back-to-back titles, here are three lessons NFL team-builders can utilize to construct an elite squad in an ultra-competitive league:
1) Patience pays off. Jon Cooper is currently the longest-tenured coach in the NHL, boasting a 384-197-53 mark over eight regular seasons — that’s a points percentage of .647, which is second all-time to the legendary Scotty Bowman among coaches who’ve logged at least five seasons. The two-time Stanley Cup winner has guided his team to an impressive 70-46 record (.603) in the postseason. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to see why the Lightning have kept the ultra-successful coach in place. But it’s important to remember the franchise’s decision to stick with him after Tampa Bay came up short in some big games before this recent title binge. The team lost a Stanley Cup Final in 2015, fell short in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016 and ’18, and suffered through an embarrassing sweep in the first round of the 2019 playoffs after posting the league’s best regular-season record by a wide margin. This trajectory not only led to questions about whether Cooper was the right man to lead the team, but it prompted observers to suggest that management should blow up the squad after repeated shortcomings in the playoffs.
To their credit, the Lightning did not overreact to the team’s postseason setbacks, and their patience has been rewarded with back-to-back championships. In the NFL, the combination of high standards and low patience has prompted some teams to move on from successful coaches (SEE: Andy Reid in Philadelphia). And despite their immense success, guys like Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh haven’t been immune to hot-seat rumors when certain seasons didn’t end well.
The most important thing for coaches to show management is that they are capable of building a consistent winner. While I am not suggesting that regular-season success should completely trump playoff performance, it must carry legitimate weight in the final evaluation. If you want to win championships, you have to consistently get in the playoffs in the first place. (A no-brainer point, yes, but one that many people often overlook.) And you can’t overreact to early exits. Despite the heartbreaks and headaches, the best coaches and teams eventually find a way to the winner’s circle, using prior failures to build a grittier squad that is capable of overcoming adversity and hoisting the trophy.
2) Draft, develop and re-sign your stars. The best way to build a consistent contender is to stockpile the roster with homegrown talent. Teams that identify and develop their stars from Day 1 have the capacity to build a championship team around a nucleus of young players who grow up in the system together and establish a culture that embodies the franchise. In a perfect world, a championship roster features a mix of top picks playing like superstars and developmental guys making key contributions in designated roles. That’s definitely the case with the Lightning. C Steven Stamkos (No. 1 overall pick in 2008), D Victor Hedman (No. 2 overall in 2009) and G Andrei Vasilevskiy (No. 19 overall in 2012) are blue-chip performers on the ice, while RW Nikita Kucherov (No. 58 overall in 2011) and C Brayden Point (No. 79 overall in 2014) have outplayed their draft status to flourish as cornerstone players for Tampa Bay. With those last two, the coaching staff and scouting department deviated from NFL norms to select a pair of players without the prototypical physical dimensions. In each case, the Lightning opted for speed and skills over size and strength, and they were rewarded with spectacular returns on investment.
Looking at the NFL for a similar comparison, I would point to the Kansas City Chiefs’ success with their homegrown approach. The Chiefs plucked a superstar in Patrick Mahomes by utilizing an aggressive draft-day trade to land their QB1. The team has surrounded him with an explosive cast of playmakers possessing speed, athleticism and playmaking skills. Considering that Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman lacked prototypical dimensions and/or traditional playing styles, K.C.’s ability to identify and develop players outside of the first round reminds me of the Lightning’s team-building approach.
The NHL’s back-to-back champs and the Chiefs also have utilized similar retention tactics to keep the nucleus together. Both have found ways to manage their salary situations while retaining their core players with deals that pay them well … but below market value on paper. The clever accounting maneuvers have enabled each team to maintain a well-rounded contender year in and year out.
