Q
The Candidate: Kevin Quick
The Choice: Kevin Quick
Well, that was easy, wasn’t it? Quick is the only player with a last name beginning in Q that has ever suited up for the Lightning. A third round pick out of the University of Michigan in 2006, Quick played six games for the Bolts in 2008-09 before bouncing around the AHL and ECHL before his career came to a close in 2013 with the Rockford Icehogs of the AHL.
Miscellaneous: Special consideration went to former NHL defenseman Kyle Quincey, who played for six NHL teams, none of them being the Lightning. So why’s he getting brought up here? It’s not just because his last name starts with a Q. On February 21, 2012, former Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman traded Steve Downie to Colorado in exchange for Quincey. Yzerman promptly flipped Quincey to the Detroit Red Wings for a 2012 first round pick. The player used with that pick is current Lightning goalie and reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy. I’d say that worked out pretty well.
R
The Candidates: Yves Racine, Herb Raglan, Rob Ramage, Karri Ramo, Bill Ranford, Paul Ranger, Mark Recchi, Joe Reekie, Jeff Reese, Darren Reid, Mikael Renberg, Tanner Richard, Brad Richards, Luke Richardson, Stephane Richer (the forward), Stephane Richer (the defenseman), Mattias Ritola, Shawn Rivers, Gary Roberts, Normand Rochefort, Dwayne Roloson, Dale Rominski, Andre Roy, Mathieu Roy, Gaetan Royer, Jason Ruff, Darren Rumble, Jan Rutta
The Choice: Brad Richards
Much like Andreychuk, Hedman, and Lecavalier before, the decision to go with Richards was about as easy as an empty net goal from five feet away while on a breakaway. A runner-up for the Calder Trophy in 2000-01, Richards would go on to win the Lady Byng Trophy in 2003-04 while also currently residing in the top 10 in Lightning history in games played, goals, assists, points, even strength goals, power play goals, shorthanded goals, and game-winning goals.
However, Richards forever cemented his legacy in Tampa Bay when the Lightning won their lone Cup in 2004. He put up 12 goals and 26 points during that championship run. Seven of his goals turned out to be game-winners, earning him the Conn Smythe Trophy for that memorable title run.
S
The Candidates: Sami Salo, Kjell Samuelsson, Cory Sarich, Denis Savard, Luke Schenn, Corey Schwab, Brandon Segal, Alex Selivanov, Alexander Semak, Anatoli Semenov, Mikhail Sergachev, Ryan Shannon, Kevin Shattenkirk, David Shaw, Jeff Shevalier, Mike Sillinger, Martin Simard, Reid Simpson, Andrei Skopintsev, Matt Smaby, Gemel Smith, Mike Smith, Trevor Smith, Radek Smolenak, Corey Spring, Marty St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, Mitchell Stephens, Shayne Stevenson, Karl Stewart, Cory Stillman, Anton Stralman, Andrej Sustr, Rich Sutter, Jaroslav Svejkovsky, Alexander Svitov, Petr Svoboda, Darryl Sydor, Mical Sykora, Paul Szczechura
The Choice: Marty St. Louis
Despite the presence of a tremendous amount of depth, solid contributors to both the 2004 Cup champs (Sarich, Stillman, and Sydor) and the Lightning of the Jeff Vinik era (Sergachev and Stralman), and a franchise superstar in his own right (Stamkos), there’s only one choice for the letter S. St. Louis easily takes this one in a walk.
By now, you’re probably pretty familiar with his accomplishments
As of right now, he still ranks first in franchise history in assists, points, shorthanded goals, and game-winning goals. He sits second on the Bolts’ all-time list in games played and third in goals, even strength goals, and power play goals. There’s one First Team and four Second Team All-Star selections. Not to mention, the 03-04 Lester B. Pearson and Hart Trophies, two Art Ross Trophies, three Lady Byng Trophies, a Stanley Cup ring from 2004, induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018, and his number hangs in the rafters of Amalie Arena. I think that pretty much covers it.
Miscellaneous: When it’s all said and done, there’s a really good chance that Stamkos could be holding the honor of being the best player in Lightning history whose last name begins with an S. But for now, that distinction firmly still belongs to St. Louis.
T
The Candidates: Rick Tabaracci, Peter Taglianetti, Alex Tanguay, Matt Taormina, Nick Tarnasky, Tim Taylor, Nate Thompson, Ryan Tobler, Dustin Tokarski, Jeff Toms, Pavel Torgaev, Darcy Tucker, John Tucker, Dana Tyrell
The Choice: Tim Taylor
Although there are players in this letter who produced more offense with the Lightning (Thompson and the two Tuckers), Taylor had a very similar impact to Andreychuk in that he helped provide a calm, veteran voice to a locker room featuring a lot of youth when he joined the team along with Andreychuk in 2001. Like the Hall of Famer who kicked off this alphabetical listing, Taylor was a bottom-six forward who proved to be a valuable part of the 2004 Cup team’s leadership group. After Andreychuk retired, Taylor took over as captain and served in that role until his retirement in 2007.
Miscellaneous: John Tucker was an inaugural member of the Lightning who remained with the franchise through their first-ever playoff season in 95-96 before finishing up his career overseas. Thompson was a solid bottom-six contributor to the team’s 2011 Eastern Conference Finals run.
U
The Candidate: Igor Ulanov
The Choice: Igor Ulanov
The only choice available for the letter U in Lightning history, Ulanov arrived in a trade from Chicago on March 20, 1996, just in time for the Lightning’s first-ever playoff appearance. The team traded him to Montreal on January 15, 1998 as part of a six-player deal. In between, the 6’3″, 220-pound left-handed defenseman provided some physical jam on the Lightning’s blue line and proved to be an irritant to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first playoff series in Bolts history. His most memorable moment in Tampa was when he went toe-to-toe with Eric Lindros in the closing minutes of Game 6 when the Flyers all but had the series wrapped up. Unfortunately for Ulanov, he also got the worst of this scrap.
V
The Candidates: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Stephane Veilleux, Carter Verhaeghe, Joel Vermin, Mike Vernace, Alexander Volkov, Radim Vrbata, Vladimir Vujtek, Mick Vukota
The Choice: Andrei Vasilevskiy
Seriously, this one wasn’t even close. Since taking over the starting goaltending job for good in February 2017, Vasilevskiy has owned the Lightning’s crease and he’s not giving it up any time soon. The 25-year-old Vasilevskiy is already the franchise leader in wins (159), saves (7,934), and shutouts (21) while also sitting in second place in team history in save percentage (.919) and third in goals-against average (2.55). On top of that, he was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2018 and won the award last June. Having signed an eight-year extension last summer, the Lightning’s crease belongs to Vasilevskiy now and for the foreseeable future.
W
The Candidates: Matt Walker, Tim Wallace, Kyle Wanvig, Jason Ward, Todd Warriner, Kevin Weekes, Noah Welch, Jay Wells, Jason Wiemer, David Wilkie, Derek Wilkinson, Shane Willis, Ty Wishart, Luke Witkowski, Craig Wolanin, James Wright, J.T. Wyman
The Choice: Jason Wiemer
Much like the letters E, N, Q, and U, there wasn’t a lot to choose from for the letter W. As a result, I went with the player who leads this particular group in team history in games played (232), goals (27), assists (27), and points (54). The Lightning chose Wiemer with the eighth overall pick in the 1994 draft. Making his debut in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, Wiemer spent three-and-a-half mostly unremarkable seasons in Tampa Bay before being shipped off to the Calgary Flames on March 24, 1998.
However, Wiemer is a part of a couple of bits of Lightning trivia. On March 1, 1996 in a game at San Jose, Wiemer and Brian Bellows each recorded a hat trick in a 7-3 Lightning win. Not only was it the only hat trick of Wiemer’s career, it’s still the only game in Bolts history in which two Lightning players tallied a hat trick in the same game.
As for that deal that sent him to the Flames? In return, the Lightning received Sandy McCarthy and Calgary’s third and fifth round picks in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. The player they picked with that third rounder? Brad Richards.
X
None
Y
The Candidates: Juha Ylonen, Wendell Young, Paul Ysebaert
The Choice: Paul Ysebaert
We’ll give Ysebaert the nod here out of default for a couple of reasons. For starters, his five-year tenure with the Bolts far outlasted both Young and Ylonen. On top of that, he served as the first captain in team history in 1995-96 and 1996-97. In 215 games in a Lightning uniform, Ysebaert tallied 42 goals and 66 assists. In 1998-99, he found himself in the IHL, finishing out the season there after playing just 10 games in Tampa that year. He finished his career in Switzerland in 2000.
Z
The Candidates: Rob Zamuner, Thomas Ziegler, Andrei Zyuzin
The Choice: Rob Zamuner
This alphabet-fueled exercise comes to a close with an inaugural member of the Lightning’s roster. Signed as a free agent on July 13, 1992, Zamuner spent seven seasons with the Lightning before being traded to the Ottawa Senators on June 29, 1999. In beetween, Zamuner carved out a role as an excellent penalty killer who occasionally chipped in offensively. His best statistical season came in 1996-97 when he finished with 17 goals and 33 assists for a total of 50 points. Those assist and point totals turned out to be career-best marks for him, as he also finished seventh in voting for the Selke. In addition, Zamuner still sits in second place in franchise history with 14 shorthanded goals.
The following season, Zamuner was selected as a member of Team Canada for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The first Winter Olympics to feature NHL players, Canada’s roster featured the likes of Rob Blake, Ray Bourque, Martin Brodeur, Wayne Gretzky, Lindros, Chris Pronger, Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Brendan Shanahan, Scott Stevens, and Steve Yzerman.
Miscellaneous: Not only does this list end with Zyuzin’s name, but if you go to Hockey Reference’s player index for every player that has ever suited up in the NHL, Zyuzin’s name is also the last name you’ll see there as well.
