1992-93: Chris Kontos scored four goals as the team won its first game 7-3 over Chicago before 10,425 fans at Expo Hall in Tampa. Brian Bradley led the team in scoring with 42 goals and 44 assists. The team finished 23-54-7.
1993-94: The team set attendance records at the ThunderDome in St. Petersburg, beginning with a single game record 27,227 fans for the home opener against Florida. Bradley led again in scoring with 24 goals and 40 assists, and Petr Klima led in goals with 28. Denis Savard played in his 1,000th career game. The team finished 30-43-11.
1994-95: Bradley again led in scoring with 13 goals and 27 assists for the 17-28-3 team in a lockout-shortened season at the ThunderDome.
1995-96: The playoffs! The team posted a 38-32-12 record and threw a first-round scare into the Flyers as it set a playoff attendance record at the ThunderDome with 28,183 fans. Bradley again led the way in scoring with 23 goals and 56 assists. Alexander Selivanov was the leading goal-scorer with 31.
1996-97: The team moved to a new home, the Ice Palace in Tampa, and won its home opener 5-3 over the Rangers. Chris Gratton led the way in scoring with 30 goals and 32 assists. Dino Ciccarelli, who led in goal scoring with 35, became the first Lightning player to start an All-Star game and had an assist. The team finished 32-40-10.
1997-98: Just before the season, Gratton, the third pick in the NHL draft in 1993, agreed to a free agent contract with the Flyers. The Lightning worked out a deal to receive Mikael Renberg and defenseman Karl Dykhuis as compensation for one of its rising stars. Not long after, the team gave up on its other building block, trading Roman Hamrlik, the first draft choice in its history and first overall in the 1992 draft, to Edmonton for five players, including defenseman Bryan Marchment and young centers Steve Kelly and Jason Bonsignore. Terry Crisp, the team's first coach, was fired after a 2-7-2 start. Rick Paterson filled in as interim coach until Jacques Demers was named Crisp's successor. Paul Ysebaert led the team in scoring with 13 goals and 27 assists. The team finished 17-55-10. Shortly after the season, Art Williams agreed to a $117-million deal to buy the debt-ridden team from original owners Kokusai Green, a Japanese company whose owner, Takashi Okubo, never had seen the team play.
1998-99: Two games into the season, general manager Phil Esposito, who originally sought a franchise for Tampa Bay, was fired. The team later reacquired Gratton along with Mike Sillinger from the Flyers in a trade. Darcy Tucker led the team in scoring with 21 goals and 22 assists. In the spring, Williams sold the team for $115-million to a group led by William Davidson, who owns the Detroit Pistons. Davidson's group said it had big plans for the Lightning, the Ice Palace and surrounding property. The team finished 19-54-9.
1999-2000: Under new general manager Rick Dudley and coach Steve Ludzik, the team made wholesale changes (52 players used) but ended up basically with the same record as the year before, 19-54-9-7. But through the series of moves, including trading Gratton again, the Lightning became the youngest team in the NHL. At 19, Vinny Lecavalier became the league's youngest captain and led the team in scoring with 25 goals and 67 points.
2000-2001: Rookie Brad Richards hit the league with a splash, scoring 21 goals and connecting for 41 assists to lead the team in scoring. Fredrik Modin had a breakout year to lead the team in goals with 32. But the team still was nowhere close to the playoffs with a record of 24-47-6-5. Ludzik was fired Jan. 6 with the team 12-25-2. He was replaced by assistant John Tortorella. Lecavalier, hampered by injuries, struggled and finished with 23 goals and 28 assists and a minus-26 rating. He scored nine goals in his final 42 games. A late-season trade for Nikolai Khabibulin brought high hopes for the future.
2001-02: After a contract dispute kept him out of camp, Lecavalier was stripped of his captaincy, setting the tone for another dismal season of injury and ineffective play. Still, he scored 20 goals to tie Richards for second on the team behind Dave Andreychuk, who had 21. Richards led with 62 points. The team rode Khabibulin most of the season and he delivered, playing 70 games, posting a .920 save percentage and helping the team improve to 27-40-11-4 for 69 points, still not good enough for the playoffs. Dudley was fired in February and replaced by assistant GM Jay Feaster.
2002-03: It took the eventual Stanley Cup champions to end the team's magical season. Tampa Bay won its first division championship and its first playoff series, eliminating the Capitals in the first round four games to two. But the New Jersey Devils proved too tough in the second round, eliminating the Lightning four games to one as they marched toward the championship. Vinny Prospal led the regular season in scoring with 79 points before leaving as a free agent. Vinny Lecavalier led in goals with 34. The team finished 36-25-16-5 for 93 points.
