Goalie Mask History Since the Lightning's establishment as an NHL expansion franchise in 1992, five ownership groups have headed the organization and aided in its journey toward becoming the world-class, championship contender that it is today. Although Williams was widely seen as being in over his head and was an easy target for ridicule from his fellow NHL owners, who called him "By the spring of 1999, Williams had seen enough. For the 1996–97 season, the Lightning added a third jersey, primarily blue with a In their first two seasons, the Lightning used a stylized block font for player names, with gaps in the upper loops of letters such as A, B, D, and R. The numbers were standard block numbers with As with all NHL teams for the 2007–08 season, the Lightning debuted in new Reebok "Rbk Edge" jerseys.
Rumors abounded as early as the team's second season that the Lightning were on the brink of bankruptcy and that the team was part of a Even in their first playoff season, the team was awash in red ink and Kokusai Green was looking to sell the team; however its asking price of $230 million for the team and the lease with the Ice Palace deterred buyers.Nearly all of Kokusai Green's investment in the team and the Ice Palace came in the form of loans, leaving the team constantly short of cash.Finally, in 1998, Kokusai Green found a buyer. Records Lightning Partners Ltd. • 1991-98
The victory stripes were also eliminated. In Game 4 of the series, the Lightning trailed 3–0 at the end of the first period. Two rival groups from the Tampa Bay Area decided to bid for a franchise: a St. Petersburg-based group fronted by future Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes owners Peter Karmanos and Jim Rutherford, and a Tampa-based group fronted by two Hall of Famers—Phil Esposito and his brother Tony. Events
Another showing of the team's poor play was the difference from the previous season's success in the overtime/shootout periods. He lost $20 million in the 1998–99 season alone, as much money in one year as he had estimated he could have reasonably lost in five years.Davidson remained in Detroit, but appointed Tom Wilson as team president to handle day-to-day management of the team. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.These are the top-ten playoff point-scorers in franchise playoff history. GM History Only the On February 13, 2008, it was announced that Palace Sports & Entertainment had agreed to sell the Lightning to OK Hockey LLC, a group headed by The Lightning were active during the trade deadline, similar to the previous season. Initially, the colors that were to be used were simply blue and white, but by popular demand, black was later added as a trim color on the numbers. Also, like several other NHL teams, the Lightning updated their team logo. It retained the "BOLTS" wordmark, while adding white accents in a similar manner as the The Lightning made some minor tweaks to their current uniform set following the NHL's move to A third sweater was not used during all of 2017–18 and much of the 2018–19 season.
However, Tampa Bay was eliminated in the first round, losing to the Montreal Canadiens in a four-game sweep.On June 25, 2014, the Lightning agreed to terms with Ryan Callahan, who was slated to become a free agent in the off-season, signing him to a six-year, $34.8 million contract extension.In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Lightning and the Rangers split the first two games of the series in New York, with the Lightning winning Game 2 of the series thanks to a Despite finishing with 46 wins and 97 points, the Lightning had a very slow start to the The Lightning ended up defeating the Red Wings in five games after winning 1–0 at Amalie Arena. Finishing with 94 points, they were beaten to the second wildcard by the Toronto Maple Leafs, with 95 points. Art Williams • 1998-99 Palace Sports & Entertainment • 1999-2008