Tampa Bay Lightning Expansion Draft Breakdown: Goaltenders
With Las Vegas being named the location of the NHL’s newest expansion team, an expansion draft in 2017 could be catastrophic for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
As the NHL prepares for a new expansion team, there is excitement around the entire league. A new challenge on the schedule of every team, a new fan base in a new city, and the beginning of a new legacy as a team. As a more recent expansion team, Tampa Bay Lightning fans understand this better than most.
But there is a huge downside to a new expansion team, especially for the Lightning. That downside is the expansion draft.
An expansion draft requires each team to offer up some of their rosters to be drafted by the team-to-be. Each team has two options, they can either protect seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie, or eight skaters total, either blueliners or forwards and one goalie.
The Lightning have a very strange predicament in which they have too much talent. A double edged sword indeed as the Lightning made a deep playoff run again this season but, when contracts need to be signed and now an expansion draft is in the works, decisions have to be made and the cold hard truth of it is that not all of the players we would like will remain in Lightning sweaters.
Both options pose a huge problem without even looking into the fine details of the Lightning’s roster. No matter what, the Lightning will have to offer up one of their goalies. Whichever one is offered up is almost guaranteed to be taken as the expansion team must take three goalies. So, do the Lightning offer up their young gun and keep their Vezina trophy finalist? Or instead invest in the future and offer up their current starter?
Personally, my belief is that Andrei Vasilevskiy will be protected by the Lightning. Vasilevskiy is only 21 years old. At this age, he already has a fair amount of playoff experience and has proved that he can keep up against high caliber NHL Teams. Ben Bishop, however, will be 30 early into the 2016-2017 season.
The years Bishop has on Vasilevskiy, of course, means more experience, but also means less playing time left for him with any team. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Bishop is an outstanding goaltender and am as big of a fan of his as anyone, but I think that offering Bishop up is the most realistic option for the Lightning.
must read: Top 10 Draft Picks In Lightning History
However, there is something key in play that may prevent the Lightning from losing either goalie. If Bishop is offered up, he has a sort of draft replant on him that Vasilevskiy doesn’t. At the end of the 2017 season, Ben Bishop will be an Unrestricted Free agent. This won’t change if Bishop is drafted by the new Las Vegas team.
It is entirely possible that Bishop will not be chosen purely for this reason. There is no guarantee that Bishop will even be playing for the Lightning if he is not drafted in the expansion draft.
I believe that Andrei Vasilevskiy can be the future for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Our own franchise goaltender. With time, practice, and experience, I believe he can turn into our own Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur, or Patrick Roy. I know that not all Lightning fans share this belief and even our own writers here at Bolts By The Bay have differing beliefs but I personally believe this is the smartest move for the Bolts.
Next: Defenseman Matt Carle A Likely Buyout Candidate
Next week, I’ll break down the expansion draft’s impact on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s defenders. Throughout this series, I encourage you to leave your opinions in the comments below and let me and other Lightning fans know what you think about the situation.