About the Tampa Bay Lightning

The unlikely location of Tampa, Florida, was awarded an NHL franchise in 1991. The Tampa Bay Lightning hired Bruins star Phil Esposito as president and general manager, and former Flyers player and Calgary Flames coach Terry Crisp as head coach. Esposito's American partners backed out, and he had to hire a group of Japanese businessmen headed by golf course owner Kokusai Green as partners to keep the team.

The team made history in preseason when Marion Rheaume became the first woman to take the ice in an NHL game, though she would never play in the regular season. The Lightning destroyed the Blackhawks in first game, 7-3, and went to the top of their division within a month before eventually falling into last place. However, their 53 points in the 92-93 was one of the best ever first seasons by an expansion team.

After two more disappointing seasons, they made the playoffs for the first time in 1995-96, losing the first round series in six games to Flyers. Plagued by injuries the next season, they just barely missed playoffs. It would be six years before the Lightning would make a comeback. By 2000-01, the Lightning would become the first NHL team to post four straight 50-loss seasons.

The teams business end was also a messthe Lightning was on the brink of bankruptcy as early as their second season, and rumors buzzed that the team was a money laundering scheme for the Yakuza. The IRS investigated the team in 1995 and, in late 1997, Forbes called the Lightning the worst-off franchise in any professional sport, with a debt equal to 236 percent of its value. The Japanese businessmen finally sold the team after losing more than $100 million in six years to motivational speaker Art Williams, who also knew very little about hockey. He worked on wiping out the debt hed inherited from Kokusai Green and increased the teams payroll by $6 million to try turn the club around.

After losing $20 million in the 98-99 season alone, Williams sold the team for $115 million to Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson, one of the bidders in 98 who had lost to Williams. He appointed Ron Campbell as team president and manager, talked Ottawa Senators GM Rick Dudley into taking over operations, and hired IHL team Detroit Vipers coach Steve Ludzik as new coach. After transferring most of Detroits talent to Tampa, dooming the Vipers, he was replaced in 2001 by NHL assistant John Tortorella. After his first full year in 2001-02, Tortorellas team started to show some improvement.

Tampa entered the 2002-03 season with a young roster, but finished with 93 points, breaking 90 point barrier for the first time in team history. Only 2 years after their four-year 50-game losing streak, they won the Southeast conference over the Capitals, losing against their second round opponent the New Jersey Devils. They finished the 2003-04 season first in the Eastern Conference with 106 points, second-best in the league. They beat the New York Islanders in first round of playoffs, and swept the Canadiens in four straight games in the second round. Finally, they beat the Flyers to earn their first-ever Eastern Conference Championship and Stanley Cup finals, where they beat the Calgary Flames 4 games to 3 for their first Stanley Cup on June 7, 2004. After the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the Lightning came back to the playoffs in 2006 to lose in the first round to the Ottawa Senators.