Jon Cooper always counted on seeing a familiar face at the start of training camp.
The Tampa Bay Lightning head coach would blow his whistle and Steven Stamkos — captain, franchise icon — was there to lead the group.
This year represented a marked change.
A team that had already seen an exodus of key players and personalities since winning the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 experienced the biggest of them all over the summer.
Stamkos walking out the door.
Unable to agree on a new contract with the team that drafted him first overall in 2008, the star forward joined the Nashville Predators on a four-year, US$32-million deal in unrestricted free agency after 16 seasons in Tampa.
“With every day, it’s a little less (strange),” said Cooper, who has led the Lightning since March 2013. “Coming into camp and not having him there, there was definitely a different feeling.”
Stamkos put up 555 goals and 582 assists for 1,137 points across 1,082 regular-season games with Tampa. He twice won the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal-scorer, with a high-water mark of 60 in 2011-12.
The Markham, Ont., product added 101 points (50 goals, 51 assists) in 128 playoff contests, which included four trips to the final and those two Cup victories.
“It’s been different,” Tampa centre Brayden Point said. “He’s played here for so long, great captain. You never can replace a guy like Stammer, but you have to move on. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
The locker-room dynamic, however, has shifted.
“There’s probably a lot more voices now,” Cooper said. “I don’t think there was a better ambassador for our team than Steven Stamkos, but now there’s more collaboration with him gone.”
Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman, who played 15 seasons with Stamkos, was named captain last month and now heads the leadership group.
“Everyone has stepped up,” he said. “We’re gelling really well early on.”
Two natural disasters also played a significant role.
Hurricane Helene’s devastating storm surge in late September flooded swaths of the neighbourhood where many of the players live. The team then evacuated to North Carolina with their families roughly two weeks later ahead of Hurricane Milton’s ferocious winds.
“Seeing all that water come up with the first storm was tough,” Hedman said. “You’re just praying that it wouldn’t get into your house. Some guys were luckier than others. I have a lot of neighbours and people in my community that pretty much lost everything.”
Lightning winger Jake Guentzel, who effectively replaced Stamkos on the roster after signing a seven-year, $63-million contract on July 1, was in the process of organizing his new house when Helene took the first run at Florida’s west coast.
“I had all my boxes in my garage during the first hurricane — four feet, five feet of water in the garage,” he said. “Been dealing with quite a bit. It’ll be nice just to get all settled and into the house. It’s been a lot.”
“Not the greatest way to start his Tampa tenure,” Cooper added. “But everybody was safe, so that’s the most important thing.”
The Lightning have banded together through a trying four weeks and own a 4-2-0 record through six games.
“Could easily sit there and say, ‘Guys, we can make an excuse,'” Cooper said. “But they haven’t done that … I’m proud of the guys, how they’ve handled it.”
TAKING NOTE
Cooper will wear a second coaching hat in February when he leads Canada’s entry at the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
But while members of the management team have fanned out to scout hopefuls — Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill took in Monday’s game between the Maple Leafs and Lightning in Toronto — Cooper isn’t chatting with opposition players on the bubble as the schedule progresses ahead of a Dec. 2 roster deadline.
“I’m not in a position to tip your hand at who’s going to be on that team,” he said. “Gathering information, there’s no doubt. The management staff’s doing a pretty thorough job.”
THAT’S ONE
Predators general manager Barry Trotz can finally exhale.
Nashville, which splurged in free agency July 1 with the big-money signings of Stamkos, winger Jonathan Marchessault and defenceman Brady Skjei, picked up its first points of the season Tuesday with an impressive 4-0 victory over the Boston Bruins.
That pushed the Predators (1-5-0) — a club with title aspirations — out of the NHL’s basement and above the rebuilding San Jose Sharks (0-5-2).
Nashville will look to make it two straight Friday in Chicago against Connor Bedard’s Blackhawks.