NHL EDGE stats for Tampa Bay Lightning

As part of NHL.com's 32 in 32 series, we will identify key EDGE stats for each team to preview the 2024-25 season. Today, we look at the impact of three advanced metrics for the Tampa Bay Lightning:

1. Forward Brayden Point ranked third in the NHL in 20-plus mile per hour speed bursts (436) last season behind Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche (717) and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers (457). Point also had the fourth-fastest max skating speed (24.15 mph).

The Lightning, as a team, ranked third in 20-plus mph speed bursts (2,037) behind the Avalanche (2,911) and Oilers (2,417), and top-line forwards Point and Nikita Kucherov continue to be among the fastest and most potent offensively in the NHL. Kucherov, on top of leading the NHL in points (144) and power-play points (53) last season, had strong advanced metrics ranging from top skating speed (23.23 mph; 91st percentile) to speed bursts over 20 mph (161; 90th percentile), total skating distance (284.95 miles; 98th percentile), midrange shots on goal (99; 97th percentile) and midrange goals (13; 96th percentile).

2. Forward Jake Guentzel was 10th in the NHL in high-danger shots on goal (109) last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes and was in the 93rd percentile in high-danger goals (17).

It's been an eventful offseason for the Lightning, who traded defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to the Utah Hockey Club on June 29 and saw franchise icon Steven Stamkos sign with the Nashville Predators on July 1. But on June 30 they acquired Guentzel in a trade with the Hurricanes and a day later signed him to a seven-year contract. That move should help offset the loss of Stamkos. Guentzel, despite playing 67 games last season and changing teams, still finished in the upper echelon in high-danger areas, proving he was not just a product of longtime Penguins linemate Sidney Crosby and that he likely will be a fixture on the Lightning's first power play with Kucherov, Point and elite defenseman Victor Hedman.

Guentzel also ranked 22nd among NHL forwards in 5-on-5 shot attempts differential (plus-315) and was among the EDGE stat leaders in speed bursts over 20 mph (153; 89th percentile) and top skating distance on the power play in a single game (1.60 miles for Penguins against Florida Panthers on Jan. 26). That versatility could give Guentzel an even higher goal ceiling than the past (two seasons with NHL career-high 40 goals) if he shares enough ice time with Kucherov and Point.

3. Another standout around the net for Tampa Bay was forward Nicholas Paul, who was in the 93rd percentile in high-danger goals (17) and 88th percentile in high-danger shots on goal (68) last season.

Tampa Bay, which also saw forward Anthony Duclair leave in free agency (signed with New York Islanders), could lack the scoring depth it had last season, not to mention the impact of other key departures since its recent Stanley Cup runs (won championships in 2020 and 2021, reached Cup Final in 2022). But Paul, with an NHL career-high 24 goals last season, was a crucial secondary scorer; he was fourth on the Lightning in power-play goals (nine), behind Stamkos (19), Point (15) and Kucherov (13), and was tied for 43rd in the NHL in that category playing mostly on the first unit for the League's top power play (28.6 percent).

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