

That was a player suggestion, as it was during the team’s Global Series trip to Sweden in November where they came together on, and more importantly, off the ice. The rotating Cup on the front is something you won’t see on many other rings, and when you swing it, the word “Stockholm” is revealed. Vinik said they looked at more than a dozen other championship rings from years past, including those from the recent Cup champs like the Blues and Capitals. “The ring definitely tells the story of our season,” Vinik said. And Vinik said they wanted to make this ring a fitting way to commemorate it.

The team, which had spent 65 days in the “bubble” in Toronto and Edmonton on their playoff run, going through COVID protocols and away from their families, may have faced the toughest road to win a Cup. Vinik said the ring design was a collaborative effort, spearheaded by his wife, but included input from not only their four children but players and coaches from the Lightning. It sets a bar so high that I’m wondering what we’re going to do next.” “It changed the landscape of the industry. Of all the years I’ve been making rings, and we had over 90 percent of the championship rings the last 10-12 years, I could easily say that no ring comes close in terms of complexity and stone counts and incorporating the mechanism (twisting Cup on top). “There’s no doubt the new standard in championship rings is the ring the Lightning made,” said Miran Armutlu, Jostens’ master jeweller who has made 103 championship rings since 1990. The final totals? 557 diamonds, 81 custom-cut genuine blue sapphires, with a combined weight of 25 carats. This was the most elaborate, expensive and unique championship ring the company has ever made, wowing players and staff alike in the blue, wooden display case that included a video message and highlights from the Cup run. They’d go over countless different alterations over video calls with a Jostens’ ringmaker in the next several months, but in the end, the championship ring Lightning players received Friday in the backyard of Vinik’s home was based around that original sketch. “It might have literally been on a napkin,” Vinik said. They had no idea if it was doable, or how it would look in real life. She drew some pie-shaped sapphires in the background, with the Cup and a Lightning bolt on the front. It was simply said by then GM Theo Epstein that even though he wasn’t on the team when they won, there is no championship without Nomar Garciaparra.They knew they wanted to discuss the championship ring and Penny took initiative by starting to sketch one out. They dealt fan favorite Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs at the trade deadline before going on a historic postseason run and winning their first World Series in 86 years.Īfter that World Series, Garciaparra received a World Series ring. I think back to another team that won a championship in the same year as the Tampa Bay Lightning – the 2004 Boston Red Sox. He built them into a consistent contender and his fingerprints are (metaphorically) all over the Stanley Cup. You don’t have the 2020 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning without all the moves, relationships, and contributions that were created by Steve Yzerman. BriseBois was hand picked by Yzerman in 2010 – just two months after Yzerman got the job – to come in and run Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliates and he learned even more under Yzerman. It was his protégé, his assistant Julien BriseBois that made those moves. There were certainly key contributors like Blake Coleman, Pat Maroon, Kevin Shattenkirk, Zach Bogosian, and Barclay Goodrow that Yzerman didn’t have anything to do with – but by extension, he did.

Yzerman had his hand in nearly every piece of that Stanley Cup Championship team. Just a few days later, Victor Hedman signed his extension to match Stamkos’ contract length.
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Yzerman was able to work out a team friendly deal with captain and heavily sought after free agent Steven Stamkos back in 2016. He was able to deal the highly talented but very difficult Jonathan Drouin to Montreal in exchange for some defensive prospect named Mikhail Sergachev and a conditional second round pick that ended up not being sent due to Sergachev’s playing time. Louis and Ben Bishop to acquiring players like Ryan McDonagh, Ryan Callahan, and – well – also Ben Bishop. Yzerman flipped this team on its head in his time with them. It was the very next year that the Lightning would reach the Eastern Conference Finals. That was the day the Tampa Bay Lightning hired Steve Yzerman – Detroit Red Wings legend – to become their general manager.
