The Lightning can sign Steven Stamkos to a new contract this summer. (USATSI)
The Tampa Bay Lightning can sign Steven Stamkos to a contract this summer. (USATSI)

Even though they came up short in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final against the Chicago Blackhawks, losing the series in six games, the Tampa Bay Lightning established themselves as one of the top teams in the NHL this past season.

And they are not going away. 

With a roster in the playoffs that featured 15 players age 25 or younger (and only one player, Brenden Morrow, over the age of 31), General manager Steve Yzerman and his staff have pieced together one of the most exciting teams in the NHL that should still have some room to grow and get better in the coming years. Especially with players like Jonathan Drouin, Nikita Nesterov, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Vladislav Namestnikov being on the verge of taking on larger roles. 

The 2014-15 season wasn't the end of a journey for a team that missed its window of opportunity. It was the beginning for a team that is still on the upswing in the NHL. 

Entering the offseason the only player on the roster that is up for unrestricted free agency is Morrow, while 10 players, including cornerstones Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Valtteri Filppula, Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman are all signed for at least two more seasons. With so many key players already signed -- and with most of them signed to pretty affordable contracts that are still bargains against the salary cap -- the Lightning not facing the same type of cap crunch that the more experienced and expensive Blackhawks could be facing this summer.

At least not yet.

They have a superstar in Steven Stamkos. A second line that is better than most team's first lines. And one of the best defense pairings in the NHL.

So what are some of the issues facing Tampa Bay this offseason?

Let's start with a new contract extension for Stamkos, because that is the big one, and something that Yzerman confirmed on Wednesday. 

Even though the Lightning don't have to worry about any major free agents this summer, the contract for Stamkos, their best player and one of the best goal scorers in the NHL, expires after the 2015-16 season. This summer will be the Lightning's first opportunity to sign him to an extension before it reaches that point.

And until he does sign an extension with the Lightning the vultures trying to look for reasons that he might be interested in leaving the Lightning will continue to circle overhead (I'm talking about you, Toronto).

Stamkos said at this year's All-Star break that his plan is to re-sign with the Lightning. 

Since he was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in 2008, Stamkos' 276 goals are second in the NHL, trailing only the 312 scored by Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin. Nobody else in the NHL has scored more than 237 goals since then. 

From a production standpoint, it was an up-and-down postseason for Stamkos. After a slow start that saw him record just three points (and no goals) in his first eight games, he had a huge scoring surge in the second and third rounds against the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers that saw him score seven goals and record six assists in 10 games, before being limited to just a single assist over the final eight games of the playoffs. 

The lack of production certainly wasn't for a lack of chances, especially in the Stanley Cup Final games when a potential game-tying goal in Game 4 was deflected just wide of the net by the stick of Brent Seabrook, and then two close calls in Game 6 when he ripped a shot off the crossbar and was stopped by a sensational Corey Crawford save on a breakaway. 

In the end, though, it wasn't necessarily just Stamkos going cold that did them in. On the other side of the ice, Chicago's superstar duo of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane was equally quiet on the scoresheet (they scored just two goals) but because of the production they received from the bottom of their lineup, especially from their third line and the two huge goals Antoine Vermette scored, they were able to score just enough to come out on top in what was one of the closest Stanley Cup Final series' ever. The Lightning did not get that type of secondary scoring in the final, or for most of the playoffs. Just consider that 47 of Tampa Bay's 65 goals this postseason came from just five players -- that is nearly 75 percent of the goals. By comparison, their top-five goal scorers during the regular season accounted for only 54 percent of the team's goals. The secondary scoring that made them such an unstoppable force during the regular season dried up in the playoffs. 

Stamkos is entering the final year of a contract that carries an average annual salary of $7 million per season and any new deal would obviously be worth significantly more, and probably on the same level as the recent contracts signed Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, all of which are in the $9 to $10 million per year range. 

But he's not the only player that could be in line for a new deal. Nikita Kucherov, one third of the new famous "Triplets" line, is entering the final year of his entry level deal and will be eligible for restricted free agency after this upcoming season. It might be wise to work something out with him sooner rather than later before his value skyrockets even more. 

Alex Killorn is in a similar situation. 

With their entire roster pretty much locked in for this season and the core players for a potential championship team already in place, the Lightning don't have many holes to fill this summer, and the ones they do have (whether it be on the fourth line or their bottom pairing on defense) can easily be handled from within the organization, as is their preferred method of doing things when it comes to filling such roster spots. 

With so few holes to fill this summer is all about staying the course and making sure their best player, who is still in his prime years, remains with the team for the long-term.