Tampa Bay Lightning Prospect Profile: Kristers Gudlevskis

The future of Tampa Bay Lightning looks as bright as ever with young netminder Kristers Gudlevskis waiting for his moment in the spotlight.

As we have said on numerous occasions, ever since Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman took over the reins for the Lightning he has done a tremendous job of acquiring and cultivating new talent. One of the many people that the Lightning has acquired since then is Syracuse Crunch goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis.

Kristers Gudlevskis was originally drafted in the 5^th Round (124^th Overall) by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. This is the same draft year in which the Lightning acquired such talented players as Jonathan Drouin, who made his debut with the Lightning last season, and Adam Erne, who is looking to make the jump to the States next season.

Unlike some of the other players in the National Hockey League, Kristers Gudlevskis has competed on just about every professional level you can imagine. He has played with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s former ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades, the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, and for a short period of time, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s main roster.

In addition to all of that, he also competed for his native Latvia at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia as well as the World Championships. Before we even get to his performance from last season, we would be remiss in our duties if we didn’t reflect back on the amazing performance that Gudlevskis put up during the Olympics.

Gudlevskis and his teammates on Team Latvia were set to take on the mighty Team Canada in the Quarterfinal Round. Team Canada has many high powered players like Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, Patrick Sharp (who at the time played for the Chicago Blackhawks), former Tampa Bay Lightning captain Martin St. Louis, and many more.

It seemed as if the odds were stacked against them from the beginning, but if Latvian goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis had anything to say about it, it was going to play out much differently. Gudlevskis was barraged with shot after shot from some of the best snipers in the National Hockey League and yet none of them were getting through.

When all was said and done, Team Canada would come up with the win, but this was not for a lack of effort on Gudlevskis’ part. Gudlevskis faced with a barrage of shot after shot, but in the end he only allowed two goals to get past him; stopping a magnificent 55 of 57 shots on goal. That is one hell of an effort from such a young and largely untested goaltender.

Now that we have taken a short trip down memory lane, let’s fast forward a little bit to the 2014-15 season. Kristers Gudlevskis spent his season with the Syracuse Crunch. In the 46 games he played in last season, he was able to maintain a record of 25-14-0 with a Goals Allowed Average of 2.81 and a Save Percentage of .900.

We will admit that the very first year that we saw him at Prospect Camp we had our reservations about his abilities, but after watching him play for the last two seasons we assure you that our perspective has shifted greatly. The Tampa Bay Lightning struggled with goaltending issues for longer than anyone here in the Bolts Nation would like to admit, and it gives us a certain amount of comfort that we have such talent waiting in the wings to fill in at a moment’s notice.

While we are pretty certain that Gudlevskis will remain with the Crunch next season, as it is anticipated the Andrei Vasilevskiy will remain with the Tampa Bay Lightning roster into the 2015-16 season, we are sure that it won’t be very much longer before Gudlevskis gets another chance on the Lightning bench.

He has incredible speed, reflexes, and a determination to succeed that makes some others pale in comparison. We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait to see what he will bring to the ice in the seasons ahead. Things are going to get interesting at the conclusion of this season as, much like a number of other players in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization, will be eligible to become a Restricted Free Agent.

It is way too early to make any assumptions on what Steve Yzerman has in store, but judging by what we have seen from him thus far, he will be one of the players who will be negotiating new contracts at the end of the season; at least we hope so.

What did you think of Kristers Gudlevskis’ performance in the 2014-15 season? What kind of impact do you think he will have on the future of Tampa Bay Lightning goaltending? Do you think he will re-sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning after the expiration of his contract? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Next: Can The Tampa Bay Lightning Survive The Potential Loss of Steven Stamkos?

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