THE TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING HAVE WON THE CUP!
Now, the important question. What player’s names will go on the Cup?
In a normal year, there are three ways to automatically qualify; play at least 41 regular season games (and not get traded away) or play in one Stanley Cup Final game or be the back-up goalie in a Stanley Cup Final game. With the season shortened, I wonder if the league will change it to “half of the team’s regular season games” which would be 35 games for the Lightning. The other way to qualify, is for the team to request a waiver. This is usually used for players that were injured and didn’t otherwise qualify, or contributed in a significant way without qualifying. Back in 2004, Eric Perrin was one such player even though he played four regular season games and 12 playoff games, but none in the Final.
So, we’ll break the players down into each of those categories.
Qualified By Playing in a Stanley Cup Final Game or as Backup Goaltender in a Stanley Cup Final Game
- Zach Bogosian
- Erik Cernak
- Anthony Cirelli
- Blake Coleman
- Barclay Goodrow
- Yanni Gourde
- Victor Hedman
- Tyler Johnson
- Alex Killorn
- Nikita Kucherov
- Pat Maroon
- Ryan McDonagh
- Curtis McElhinney
- Ondrej Palat
- Cedric Paquette
- brayden Point
- Jan Rutta
- Luke Schenn
- Mikhail Sergachev
- Kevin Shattenkirk
- Steven Stamkos
- Andrei Vasilevskiy
- Cater Verhaeghe
- Alexander Volkov/
Qualified By Playing In 41 Regular Season Games
No one not already Qualified.
Qualified If Playing in 35 Regular Season Games Counts
- Braydon Coburn
- Mitchell Stephens
- Mathieu Joseph/
Potentially Through a Waiver
Braydon Coburn
This was seems like it would be an automatic yes. He played in 40 games, which is technically one short, but more than half of the team’s games. He’d be an easy yes by the NHL, even though he only played in three playoff games.
Mitchell Stephens
Likewise, Stephens would qualify if the threshold is 35 games instead of 41. Considering he played in seven playoff games, and played in over half of the team’s regular season games with 38, he’d likely also be an easy yes.
Mathieu Joseph
Joseph didn’t make it into a playoff game, but he also is over the half games threshold with 37 games played. He also took warm ups pretty often during the playoffs. He may not have played in the playoffs, but he still sacrificed to be apart of the team in the bubble.
Scott Wedgewood
The only reason that Scott Wedgewood might make it on to the Cup, despite not playing a single minute of regular season or playoff hockey for the Lightning in 2019-20, is that he went into the bubble as the third goaltender. These were odd times. They were different. They were unique. Might that be enough for the NHL to agree to let his name be etched onto the Cup? He did get to celebrate with the team, and was the last player to lift the Stanley Cup for the Lightning.
