Tampa Bay Lightning: Which Player Will Wear 89 Next Season?
The Tampa Bay Lightning have two players who don the number 89 on their jerseys, but which one will still be in possession of the number next season?
There have been a lot of changes to the Tampa Bay Lightning roster since the start of the off-season. There are some players who have made their way to a new home for the start of the 2016-17 season, and there are some players who have secured their long-term future here in the Bolts Nation.
Someone once said, you can never go home again. Well, the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed determined to prove someone wrong this season. Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman was able to come to terms with former Lightning forward Cory Conacher on a one-year deal that would once again see the 26-year-old center in Lightning blue.
Unfortunately, Conacher’s return to the Bolts Nation presents a tiny problem heading into the new season. As most of you who remember Conacher from his first run here in Hockey Paradise, Conacher dons the number 89 on his jersey. It just so happens there is someone else on the team who wears the number 89 on their jersey as well, Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov.
Tampa Bay Lightning
This poses a very interesting question…which player will be wearing the number 89 on their jersey when the 2016-17 season kicks off. Needless to say, there are a plethora of “what ifs” when it comes to nailing down an answer to this particular question.
The biggest, and most glaring, of those what ifs is whether or not Steve Yzerman is able to secure a new contract for Nikita Nesterov for the upcoming season. Should something go south and Nesterov make his way to a new team next season, the number problem will go away on its own.
On the other hand, if for some reason Cory Conacher fails to make the Tampa Bay Lightning’s main roster and spends the next year as a part of the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, the aforementioned problem goes by the wayside as well.
While neither one of these is particularly a favorable outcome to the situation, there are a few other ways this can go. Given the fact that Cory Conacher was the first of these two players to wear the number 89 on their jersey as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nikita Nesterov could waive his rights to the number and allow Conacher to have the number for the remainder of his time here with the Lightning.
This would not be the first time something like this would occur. As most of you who have been longtime Lightning fans will remember, when Simon Gagne in the 2010-11 season he donned the same number 12 worn by former Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Malone. Malone would forego his number and wear the number 6 allowing Gagne to wear the number 12.
At the same time, the Lightning could always consider Nesterov to be “grandfathered in” to the number and force Conacher to take a new number for the upcoming season. Unfortunately, there are very few people who know for sure just how this situation is going to turn out.
Next: Steve Yzerman Expects To Sign Nikita Nesterov
As the start of the regular season comes closer, we are sure the bigger picture will start to become a lot clearer and fans will get the answers to the many questions they’ve been holding out for all off-season long. Which player will wear the number 89 when the 2016-17 season kicks off? If we had to guess, we’d put our money on Cory Conacher, but we’ll have to wait and see just like everyone else.