Tampa Bay Lightning: Expect Andrei Vasilevskiy To Play More Minutes
With Andrei Vasilevskiy recently signing a three-year contract extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning, expect to see him between the pipes more often.
Since their heartbreaking Game 7 loss in the Eastern Conference Finals, things have been going very well for the Tampa Bay Lightning and most fans are already anxiously counting down the days until the first puck drop next season.
Both Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman have been signed to matching eight-year franchise contracts, the whole Jonathan Drouin fiasco is finally behind us for good, and multiple depth forwards such as J.T. Brown, Cedric Paquette, and Cory Conacher were given contract extensions. Pair all that with a successful draft and there’s a lot to look forward to next season.
At the same time, not everything is working out perfectly for the Bolts. With little available cap space, Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov have yet to be signed for next year. Having solidified themselves as crucial pieces to the Lightning’s offense, losing either or both would be a crushing blow.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Both Killorn and Kucherov are Restricted Free Agents and contract talks between them and the Lightning have been kept very hushed with little to no details being revealed other than Alex Killorn opting for salary arbitration. That being said, there is a much larger uncertainty facing the Lightning next season with their goaltenders.
The Lightning have been blessed with an extremely talented goaltending duo in Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy. At the same time, they have been cursed with an upcoming expansion draft for a currently unnamed Las Vegas Team and little cap space to work with. Ben Bishop will be an Unrestricted Free Agent at the end of next season, so he will be able to sign with whoever he chooses. This will most likely be whoever offers him the most money.
Coming off of a record season in which he was a finalist for the Vezina trophy, Bishop rightfully should expect a pretty hefty contract at the end of next season which the Lightning most likely won’t be able to give him.
Bishop is not the only one who will need a new contract at the end of next season. Big names such as Jonathan Drouin, Ondrej Palat, and Tyler Johnson will also be due for new deals which will all carry a hefty price tag. Andrei Vasilevskiy, on the other hand just signed a three-year deal with the Lightning, solidifying his spot on the roster for the near future.
Facing what will probably be his last season in a Bolts sweater, expect Bishop to be sharing the net more often. Andrei Vasilevskiy should be getting more nods next season which will serve multiple purposes to the Lightning organization.
The first of these is to give Vasilevskiy more experience and practice in the NHL. He will most likely be the starting netminder for the Lightning two seasons from now when Bishop is gone.
Vasilevskiy will need more experience to hold his own against the range of teams the NHL has to offer, from President’s trophy winner all the way to draft lottery winner. He got a lot of experience during the playoffs last year but that was only a taste compared to the workload Bishop handles regularly.
The second benefit of Vasilevskiy receiving more playing time is keeping Ben Bishop healthy. The Lightning will hopefully be Stanley Cup contenders next season and in order to bring home the championship, they will need healthy goaltenders.
Next: Tampa Bay Lightning Fans Have Much To Look Forward To
Ben Bishop has been rather prone to injury in the last few seasons in the most inopportune times. Keeping him healthy will be the key to a successful season and hopefully postseason also. I expect Vasilevskiy play more often next season against less talented opponents and in closely scheduled games while Bishop will remain the mainstay of the Lightning.