It’s lonely at the top. And usually, there’s only one place to go from there.

The Tampa Bay Lightning pulled off the rare feat of winning back-to-back Stanley Cups, but they did so through an array of salary-cap tricks, including acquiring multiple LTIRetired players who wouldn’t get a second of ice time for them and shelving a recent MVP for the entire regular season.

All technically above board and not really worth complaining about unless you’re an aggrieved fan of a team they eliminated. Everyone outside of those fanbases is justifiably sick of hearing the words, “$18-million above the salary cap.” The Lightning did nothing wrong this season, at all, but now is the time when being that far above the cap ceiling matters.

Talk to most in-the-know hockey people and they’ll tell you that the