Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois knows how to keep a team in contention. His finishing touches on the team Steve Yzerman built have made Tampa one of the most consistently successful teams in the NHL over the last half decade. He’s been so successful, in fact, that Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic ranked the Lightning the most efficient team in terms of salary.
Luszczyszyn’s advanced analytics model takes contracts, age, term, total salary cap and past results into consideration when ranking teams.
“Now, the Lightning have exactly zero problem contracts on the books but several solid deals, and their forward core is locked in at an incredible price,” Luszczyszyn said. “Between Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Hagel and Cirelli, the Lightning are paying $40.8 million for $58.5 million of value.”
“That’s Tampa Bay’s superpower and it makes the Lightning one of the league’s scariest teams for the 2025-26 season and beyond.”
Depth, Value Biggest Strengths for Lightning
What makes the Lightning such a remarkably efficient team lies within their depth. “First and foremost is the electric pairing of Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli,” Luszczyszyn said. “As president of the Hagel fan club, even I would never have expected the leap he took last season into stardom, scoring 90 points. Cirelli’s own leap was also a big deal for the Lightning, giving the team two high-powered lines.”
“Both players saw their market value shoot up $3 million per year relative to last season, a huge jump that obviously added a lot of surplus value given how much term both players have left. Combined, the duo’s unexpected ascent added $40 million to Tampa Bay’s bottom line.”
Brandon Hagel’s contract, at $6.5M per season with seven years remaining, is the most efficient contract in the NHL, per Luszczyszyn. The team’s average positional value is 67%, with $107M of surplus value added from the performance of each player.
Lightning Full Steam Ahead for 2025-26
There doesn’t appear to be anything slowing down the Lightning next season.
“Erik Cernak is back to looking like a $5 million defender while Andrei Vasilevskiy proved his 2023-24 struggles were purely a result of injury,” Luszczyszyn added on. He’s still got it and is back to a $9 million valuation.Better depth (Jakob Pelletier and Pontus Holmberg) helps, too. But those are the driving forces.”
The two lowest-rated contracts on Tampa’s roster are Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde. The former’s deal ends this season, while the latter has six years left on his. This isn’t to say either player is inefficient, either. In fact, the only reason they’re ranked so low is because the rest of the roster is just that efficient. Even 35-year-old Ryan McDonagh adds value to the roster.
Dave Mishkin of the Tampa Bay Lightning interviewed BriseBois at the end of last season. When about the future, BriseBois was ecstatic.
“They have a Vezina finalist (Vasilevskiy). The back-to-back Art Ross winner, who is also a Hart finalist (Kucherov). A Selke finalist (Cirelli). BriseBois expects Hedman to finish fourth or fifth in the Norris voting. In the end, the message from Julien BriseBois was a clear, emphatic one. He likes his team.”
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