According to former NHL president Gil Stein, another factor was that the Karmanos/Rutherford group wanted to pay only $29 million before starting play, while the Esposito group was one of the few willing to pay the entire $50 million expansion fee up front.

After being awarded the franchise, the team’s management brought in star power before they had any players. Phil Esposito installed himself as president and general manager, while Tony became chief scout. Terry Crisp, who played for the Philadelphia Flyers when they won two Stanley Cups in the mid-1970s, and coached the Calgary Flames to a Cup in 1989, was tapped as the first head coach. The team was named the Lightning, after Tampa’s status as the “Lightning Capital of North America.”

The following season saw the Lightning shift to the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division, as well as move into the Florida Suncoast Dome a building originally designed for baseball in St. Petersburg, which was reconfigured for hockey and renamed “the Thunderdome”. The stadium, built originally as the Florida Suncoast Dome, was first used in an attempt to entice the Chicago White Sox to relocate if a new ballpark were not built to replace the aging Comiskey Park. The governments of Chicago and Illinois eventually agreed to build a New Comiskey Park now known as U.S. Cellular Field in 1989.

The 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs for the National Hockey League began on April 7, 2004, following the 2003 – 2004 regular season. The playoffs ended with the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the Stanley Cup with a seven game series win over the Calgary Flames on June 7. It was Tampa Bay’s first Stanley Cup victory. It was the Flames’ third final appearance, as they came this far in 1986 and 1989, winning the latter. The sixteen qualified teams, eight from each conference, played best-of-seven games for conference quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. The winner of each conference proceeded to the Stanley Cup Finals. The format was identical to the one introduced for the 1999 playoffs. Don Cherry called this the greatest playoffs he has seen in 20 years.