1998–99 Tampa Bay Lightning season
The 1998–99 Tampa Bay Lightning season was the franchise's seventh season of operation in the National Hockey League.
Offseason
NHL Draft
Tampa Bay's draft picks at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft held at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York.| Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club Team |
| 1 | 1 | Vincent Lecavalier | Rimouski Oceanic | |
| 3 | 64 | Brad Richards | Rimouski Oceanic | |
| 3 | 72 | Dmitri Afanasenkov | Torpedo Yaroslavl | |
| 4 | 92 | Eric Beaudoin | Guelph Storm | |
| 5 | 121 | Curtis Rich | Calgary Hitmen | |
| 6 | 146 | Sergei Kuznetsov | Torpedo-2 Yaroslavl | |
| 7 | 174 | Brett Allan | Swift Current Broncos | |
| 7 | 194 | Oak Hewer | North Bay Centennials | |
| 8 | 221 | Daniel Hulak | Swift Current Broncos | |
| 9 | 229 | Chris Lyness | Cape Breton Screaming Eagles |
Regular season
The Lightning again finished last in scoring, with just 179 goals for. They also allowed the most goals of all 27 teams, with 292 goals against.All-Star Game
The 49th National Hockey League All-Star Game took place on January 24, 1999, at the Ice Palace in Tampa Bay, Florida, home to the Tampa Bay Lightning. It would be Wayne Gretzky's last All-Star Game.Season standings
Game log
Playoffs
For the third consecutive year, the Lighting were unable to qualify for the playoffs. They also finished in last place for the second consecutive year as well.Player stats
Regular season
;Scoring| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PPG | SHG | GWG |
| RW | 82 | 21 | 22 | 43 | 176 | -34 | 8 | 2 | 3 | |
| LW/D | 65 | 28 | 14 | 42 | 35 | -25 | 11 | 0 | 2 | |
| RW | 64 | 12 | 21 | 33 | 22 | -10 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| C | 82 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 23 | -19 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| C | 52 | 7 | 19 | 26 | 102 | -20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| C | 62 | 11 | 14 | 25 | 50 | -12 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| C | 38 | 4 | 18 | 22 | 10 | -13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 68 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 80 | -33 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| LW | 58 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 24 | -15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| RW | 43 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 18 | -8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 67 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 92 | -25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 78 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 81 | -22 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| D | 34 | 1 | 16 | 17 | 53 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 32 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 2 | -12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 67 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 135 | -22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 20 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 4 | -2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 54 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 28 | -20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| C | 22 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| C | 24 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 6 | -10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 46 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 69 | -19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 28 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 6 | -8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 37 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 14 | -11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 40 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | -8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 46 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 38 | -6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 14 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | -5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| C | 34 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 27 | -15 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| G | 40 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 33 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 18 | -21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 20 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 21 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 24 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | -7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| C | 23 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | -8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 26 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 43 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 16 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 24 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 19 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 15 | -3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| G | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
;Goaltending
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV | SV% |
| 2146 | 40 | 8 | 25 | 3 | 126 | 3.52 | 0 | 1153 | 1027 | .891 | |
| 691 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 33 | 2.87 | 2 | 350 | 317 | .906 | |
| 1568 | 32 | 3 | 18 | 3 | 102 | 3.90 | 1 | 858 | 756 | .881 | |
| 238 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 2.77 | 0 | 118 | 107 | .907 | |
| 253 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 3.08 | 0 | 128 | 115 | .898 | |
| 59 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2.03 | 0 | 21 | 19 | .905 | |
| Team: | 4955 | 82 | 19 | 54 | 9 | 287 | 3.48 | 3 | 2628 | 2341 | .891 |