Are the lightning bolts so good that they do not need to be upgraded?

Each Cup winner since 2010 has completed a futures exchange. The Lightning held firm. So either Tampa Bay will regret not trying to improve the best team in the NHL, or it will beat recent history. But, again, no winner of the cup, no team, since 2010 or already, had reached 98 points by the deadline. Chances are the Lightning already has everything it needs. They bet on it.

Here is the general manager Julien BriseBois, with a quote that confers a well-deserved confidence:

"We analyzed things rationally, coldly, with one goal in mind, and made those decisions accordingly. And the decision we made was to reach an agreement today because we thought we were closer to victory without having reached this agreement. "

There is not really any blatant weakness on this list. Yes, Nikita Kucherov will win the Hart and Andrei Vasilevskiy la Vezina, but it's a real team effort: the Lightning leads the league both on the powerplay and penalty. They have nine different players with double-digit goals. This is the kind of list that other GMs only want to emulate when they complete their own transactions on time.

But the gap between the Lightning and the rest of the league is necessarily a little thinner today, because several other contenders made get better, especially in the West. The Predators, who occupy first place, have become deeper and more difficult by adding Mikael Granlund and Wayne Simmonds; the Jets acquired a second-line center at Kevin Hayes; the Sharks have strengthened an already impressive arsenal with Gustav Nyquist; the Golden Knights won the biggest prize of the deadline to Mark Stone. In the East, the Bruins, Capitals and Leafs have all made small changes, while the Blue Jackets are quite confusing.

The Lightning could have done some things now and in the near future. They may have added a right-handed defender to a blue line that tilts the southpaw. On another side, they could have tried to find a way to alleviate the problem of tighter heading without getting worse on the ice. But most of all, they could have attacked Simmonds, who would have been an innovative player deep in this team, and, having seen what Nashville had procured for him, would come at a relatively advantageous price. Simmonds is big, he's tough, he can score points, he can work the boards, and he's a threat to the powerplay game – there's really nothing to dislike about his game, especially for a fairly talented line where he would have his place a third or fourth line.

Here again BriseBois, not specifically about Simmonds, but rather about Simmonds:

This is a point that sounds good at first but has less meaning when you think about it. Deeper is better in a sport where you have to roll lines. If you make your third line a bit more capable of scoring or stopping the top strikers, that's better. Would this upgrade have been worth it, especially for a team that will need its choices to push the ladder to continue its future dynasty once the crisis is over? This is another problem. Just like the idea, mentioned by BriseBois, that the chemistry on the ice and in the locker room is a real asset to the Lightning, and that it may not be worth it to go into it. simply occupy to make a minor update on paper.

All the good questions. And the playoffs being what they are, with a puzzle element that means that the best team does not always win a series and rarely wins four times in a row, we will probably never have firm answers. However, the only certainty of a week ago remains a certainty: the rest of the league is still pursuing the Lightning.