Tampa Bay Lightning season preview:

After hiring new general manager Geoff Smith in early August, the Tampa Bay Lightning have undergone a comprehensive off-season overhaul. In spite of having played in the Cup Finals last year, Smith made wholesale changes to his lineup.

Goalies:
In: Carey Price, Brandon Halverson, Filip Larsson
Out: Henrik Lundqvist, Evan Sarthou, Ilya Samsonov

Possibly the most significant change in the lineup, the Lightning convinced Carey Price to take a pay cut in exchange for playing with a top team. At barely over $1M/season, Price will carry the bulk of the load in Tampa this season. Halverson and Larsson are set to battle for the backup role, but neither are expected to play much this season.

Defense:
In: Victor Hedman, Dustin Byfuglien, Mattias Backman, Alex Coulombe, Ronald Knot, Jamieson Oleksiak, Nikita Okhotyuk
Out: Kevin Klein, Pavel Yelshansky, Kevin Shattenkirk, Tim Gleason, Jared Cowen, Nick Schultz, David Shields, Alex Petrovic, Mike Komisarek

The only returning starting defenseman from last year, perrenial Norris trophy candidate Cam Fowler gets a new (and improved) playing partner in big Victor Hedman. Byfuglien, Backman, Coulombe and Knot will fill out the starting roles, while Jake Gardiner (who spent last season in the AHL) and Oleksiak will likely battle to be the 7th d-man in a group where nobody is under 6'2. The blueline isn't expected to provide a ton of offense, but the overall defensive skill will certainly ease the burden on Carey Price.

Forwards:
In: Steven Stamkos, Joe Colborne, Sami Vatanen, Ryan Martindale, Zach Budish, Evgeni Svechnikov, Aapeli Rasanen, Dalton Smith, Brian Hart, Axel Holmstrom
Out: Tyler Seguin, Colin Wilson, Ales Hemsky, Ryan Kesler, Nikolai Zherdev, Tuomo Ruutu, Nick Foligno, Patrick Berglund, Alexander Avtsyn, Carl Klingberg, Greg Nemisz, Alexander Frolov

Sidney Crosby, Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Gaborik continue to lead the way up front, but wholesale changes up front see 9 new players in starting roles. Star forward Tyler Seguin headles the departures, but the acquisition of 40 goal scorer Steven Stamkos is sure to offset the loss. Several younger players are hoping to make use of increased icetime that wasn't afforded to them with their previous teams, most notably Svechnikov, Rasanen, and converted dman Vatanen. Veteran forwards Smith, Colborne, Budish, Hart and Martindale are joined by the young Swiss Nando Eggenberger, who is coming off a solid debut season in the AHL. Veteran centre Bryan Little looks to be the odd man out up front, and has been rumoured to have asked for a trade.

Predictions: Top 3 in the Eastern conference, and another long playoff run.