With a team built on ample amount of star power, Alex Killorn has put himself in the middle of the action.
The ties between Alex Killorn and Lightning Coach Jon Cooper go back to 2012, when the Norfolk Admirals captured the the American Hockey League's Calder Cup championship.
The Admirals missed the playoffs in their first three years under the Lightning affiliation, but by year two of Jon Cooper's leadership, they captured the title, winning 28 straight games.
Several players from that team went on to contribute to the success the Lightning have seen in recent years. Some familiar names include; Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and GM Julien BriseBois.
"I joined a team that won 19 straight games in the AHL", Killorn told the Associated Press. "There were some players that got hurt and I got in the lineup and didn't come out of the lineup, but we wound up winning a Calder Cup."
Killorn went on to find similar success in the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
When the Lightning reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2015, he turned heads with a no-look backhanded goal five minutes after puck drop. When they won the Stanley Cup in 2021, Killorn was tied with Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos for second in goals behind Brayden Point. With a team built on ample amount of star power, he has confidently put himself in the middle of the action.
After having his most productive regular season in 2022-23, Killorn doubled down in the postseason, scoring three goals in the six games against Toronto. His 93 goals across the past four seasons puts him in the league’s top 50.
Killorn's seven-year contract is set to expire at the end of June and he admits that he spent much time this season assessing his future in Tampa Bay. He is currently the longest-tenured player in the Lightning organization amongst the current roster but his impact goes well beyond the ice.
In 2020, he was handed the nickname "The Influencer" after hosting three episodes of "Dock Talk with Killer" which helped raise $50,000 for the Hillsborough Education Foundation. It immediately became a hit with fans when he jet skied from his Davis Island home over to his teammate's docks, all while taking questions from fans in real time.
“I love playing here,” Killorn said during his 2023 exit interview. “I love everything about Tampa. I love it. I don’t want to leave. You just have to look at all the angles, for sure, to make sure that you make the right decision.”