This time last year the Tampa Bay Lightning were preparing to take on the Montreal Canadiens in the sixth game of the 2019-20 season. They were sitting at 2-2-1 having played inconsistently (to be nice) as they would for the next month or so. They did win that night, thanks to a strong start by Andrei Vasilevskiy. Despite the victory they were still far from the dominating team that would run roughshod through the playoffs.
This year, the players are scattered to the winds recouping from their two-month whirlwind of hockey while their general manager is trying hard to assemble a team that will take the ice whenever the next season starts.