Top 5 sports stories in Tampa Bay for 2017
It was an interesting year in Tampa Sports. From the Lightning missing the playoffs in April, to the Bucs getting a ton of national media attention from being featured on Hard Knocks, to the Rays slashing payroll and trading the franchise Evan Longoria, it was a topsy turvy year in Tampa sports in 2017.
5. Let’s start with the Lightning and their disappointing end to the 2016-17 season. The season began with the hopes of the Stanley Cup being raised in June and ended with a dud as the Lightning missed the playoffs by one point. The Lightning traded their best goaltender in history in Ben Bishop and turned the goalie reigns over to Andrei Vasilevskiy. Steven Stamkos suffered another season ending injury in early November and Ryan Callahan played in only 17 games as he missed the majority of the season recuperating from hip surgery. Yes the injury bug hit the Lightning hard. In late January, the Lightning were in last place in the Eastern Conference. The Lightning went 13-5-2 the last two months of the season and that wasn’t enough to secure a playoff bid.
4. The Rays fire sale. On July 18th the Rays were seven games above .500 at 51-44 and challenging for a wild card spot. The Rays added some pieces they thought would put them over the top. Sergio Romo, Dan Jennings and Lucas Duda. The Rays went 29-38 the rest of the way and finished last in the AL East at 80-82. Stuart Sternberg told the front office to begin cutting payroll immediately. the Rays did that by not re-signing Alex Cobb, Trading Brad Boxberger and Evan Longoria. The Payroll will be in the 70-80 million dollar range this year. Every other team in the division has a payroll North of 150 million dollars. Hard to compete when your payroll is half of your competitors. More payroll will be cut before the 2018 Season.
3. The LIghtning start to the 2017-18 season. After barely missing the playoffs last season, the Lightning are off to the best start in franchise history at 27-8-2 with 56 points. The Lightning are on pace for a franchise record 116 points. Nikita Kucherov is on pace for 50 goals and 104 points. Steven Stamkos is on pace for 100 points which would be a personal best. There are so many success stories on this Lightning team. The Play of Andrei Vasilevsky, Rookie Mikhail Sergachev with his play will be a Calder Trophy nominee. The signing of Dan Giradi. His play and his locker room presence has been a real asset to this team. Stanley Cups are not won in December and Januray, so the Lightning must continue to play at a high level.
2. The Buccaneers disappointing season. One of the most disappointing season in Bucs history is about to end. What started as a season with so much promise came crashing down with the Jameis Winston injury and the Bucs have never seemed to recover. The Bucs were featured on Hard Knocks and were the National Media darlings. Jameis Winston became a household name. Many predicted a return to the playoffs for the Bucs and a few living on planet delusional even predicted a Super Bowl appearance. As the season winds down the Bucs are 4-11, and have a ton of issues that need to be addressed to get back to respectability
1. The trade of Evan Longoria. No one really expected it and the community was shocked when it was announced that the most popular player in Rays history and the franchise had been traded to the San Francisco Giants. Sternberg has talked before about dumpling salary due to the small market economics that the Rays operate in, but no one really thought Longoria would be part of the salary purge.
What will 2018 bring? A Stanley Cup? Will the Bucs be the team we thought they would be in 2017? What kind of team will the Rays put on the field with all of the salary dumping? I assure you there will be a lot of great moments in 2018 and Tampa Bay Pro Sports will be there to give opinions and analysis on the top stories of as they develop.
