Tampa Bay Lightning Salary Cap Situation Going Forward

Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman faced many questions going into this year’s off-season, and now that we’re midway through, let’s take a look at what he has accomplished and how the salary cap fares going forward.

Space. It’s something that we all need, especially when it comes to dealing with money, getting away from others, and after a large meal when the pants get a bit tighter. Sometimes we just can’t get all of the space we need or desire and that leads to some unwanted problems. However, Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman has worked well with the salary cap space given to him and the organization finds itself in good standings moving forward.

The main questions or daunting tasks the respected GM had to face once the Lightning were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season likely gave him some unwanted anxiety and pressure, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

Thus far, a couple of those questions have been answered in that captain Steven Stamkos and top defenseman Victor Hedman were re-signed to long-term contracts and the goaltending situation in Tampa Bay has been somewhat redefined given the future financial situation.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The young Andrei Vasilevskiy will be a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning for at least another three seasons, which means the Lightning won’t likely have enough money to pay current starter, Ben Bishop, what he deserves. With Stamkos, Hedman, Vasilevskiy, and all the recent signings the past few weeks, there is not much cap space left to work with and Bishop will likely be on his way out sooner or later, though not guaranteed.

Not to forget, key pieces in forwards Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Jonathan Drouin will all be restricted free agents next year, each looking for a new contract. Center Brian Boyle, one of the top penalty killers and leaders on this team, will be an unrestricted free agent in 2017, only adding to the list of players that need to be fit under the cap after next season.

In addition, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that Alex Killorn has been signed to a seven-year contract with an average annual value of $4.45 million and a modified no-trade clause attached to it. With that recent signing, the Lightning have around $8.5 million to sign Nikita Kucherov, who is a must-keep player, Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Nesterov, and Yanni Gourde, who is with the Syracuse Crunch for those not familiar.

You do the math: it’s going to be tight regardless of what happens. Either someone from that group has to go or the Lightning have to move a player or players via trade or a buyout, which they’re not considering, per Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.

This is a business after all and the Tampa Bay Lightning have to do whatever they can to stay under the league’s upper limit of the cap when the regular season rolls around in October.

With $8.5 million to spend, there’s obviously not much to work with money-wise and signing Kucherov immediately is of the utmost importance at this point. A player of his caliber would warrant a contract of around $6 million per season for six seasons and that’s what I would expect from Yzerman, though his offer might fluctuate above or below those terms.

In a sense, this whole salary cap situation the Lightning have to deal with now isn’t the worst thing ever, especially since they’re trying to sign world-class players pivotal to winning a championship, but the hope is that the team won’t end up like the Chicago Blackhawks, an organization fighting to stay under the cap for years now, from a financial standpoint.

Related Story: Lightning Sign Alex Killorn To 7-Year Contract Extension

But, that’s what three Stanley Cup Championships in six seasons will do to a team, as their fans like to say. Oh well.

In order to free up some much-needed cap space, the Lightning could move forward Valtteri Filppula, who carries a $5 million cap hit the next two years, defenseman Jason Garrison, who has provided some stability and veteran leadership on the blueline, and of course, goaltender Ben Bishop, one of the top players on this team and in the league the past few seasons.

Filppula would have to be protected for the expansion draft in 2017, which is probably not something Yzerman wants to do given where the Finnish forward is at in his career, and Garrison and Bishop both have great trade value, as the Lightning could get something great in return. Of course, the longer he waits to possibly trade the two, the more their trade value goes down.

Those are just some possibilities that may not happen at all, but they would certainly free up some cap space and make it a bit easier on Yzerman and his staff.

Next: Analyzing The Methodology Of Recent Lightning Signings

Over the past few seasons, the Tampa Bay Lightning have had much success and have come ever so close to winning it all. Along the way, there have been many integral players that have contributed to the success of the team and unfortunately, not all of them can stay long-term. General Manager Steve Yzerman has done well working with the cap space given to him and now it’s just a matter of fitting the last few key pieces under it all.