Tampa Bay Lightning Invite Goaltender Ray Emery To Training Camp

The Tampa Bay Lightning has extended an invite to former Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ray Emery to attend the Lightning’s upcoming training camp.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has an incredibly tough decision in front of them; one that could have some serious impact on the lineup between the pipes when the new season kicks off.

The 2015-16 season is still weeks away from kicking off, and the Tampa Bay Lightning has already been bitten like a starving vampire by the injury bug. As most of you know by now, Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy will be sidelined for the next 2-3 months after undergoing successful vascular surgery to remove a blood clot.

As we mentioned before, this leaves the Tampa Bay Lightning in a rather interesting predicament. Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop, who is still recovering from a torn groin muscle suffered during the Lightning’s Stanley Cup Finals series against the Chicago Blackhawks, should be ready to go by the time the new season starts. Unfortunately, every good goaltender needs a backup.

The Lightning has a number of options they can pursue to rectify the situation. The obvious go-to would be to have Syracuse Crunch netminder Kristers Gudlevskis pack his gear and make his way to the Bay Area until Vasilevskiy can get back on his feet.

It seems as if the Lightning have started down that path as Gudlevskis is already right here in Tampa Bay and has started working out with the team; however, the Bolts have also opened another door which could lead to a rather interesting time at training camp.

According to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, the Tampa Bay Lightning has extended an invitation to Free Agent goaltender Ray Emery to attend the Lightning’s training camp, which is set to kick off on September 17^th.

In one of Smith’s previous articles, he quotes Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman as referring to the current goaltending situation as a “wait and see” situation and that he wanted to see how Gudlevskis and York performed during training camp before making a decision to bring in a new goaltender to back up Bishop until Vasilevskiy is recovered.

While we can’t blame Yzerman for wanting to have all of his bases covered and every potential option open, it seems rather curious to us that he would extended an invite to a veteran goaltender to camp after making his previous statements.

Emery has been between the pipes for the Philadelphia Flyers over the course of the last two seasons. Before that, he spent two seasons with the Lightning’s Stanley Cup Finals opponent, the Chicago Blackhawks. Unfortunately, Emery’s last two seasons have been questionable at best. In the 2014-15 season, Emery played in 31 games with the Flyers, in which time he maintained a 10-11-7 record.

The former Flyers netminder has had his fair share of injuries as well, including one that could have been a career ender. In 2010, Emery was diagnosed with avascular necrosis in his right hip. Emery’s determination to get back on the ice led to a successful recovery and a second chance in the National Hockey League. Towards the end of last season, Emery was once again bitten by the injury bug as he was sidelined by a lower body injury.

Despite his struggles with injuries, a veteran presence like Emery’s could be beneficial to a young Tampa Bay Lightning team as they start the next step in their journey towards another run at the Stanley Cup.

It will most certainly be interesting to see how all of this plays out as the Tampa Bay Lightning kick off their training camp in just over a week. There are many avenues in which this journey can take, but at the end of the day we trust that Yzerman has the team’s best interests at heart and will do what it takes to set the Tampa Bay Lightning on the right path to begin the new season.

What do you think about the Tampa Bay Lightning extending an offer to veteran Free Agent netminder Ray Emery to attend training camp? What kind of an impact do you think he could have on the Lightning lineup? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Next: Could Nikita Nesterov Make The Main Roster In 2015-16?

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