Tampa Bay Lightning Needs To Retain Ben Bishop
The Tampa Bay Lightning needs to remain steadfast and retain goaltender Ben Bishop once his contract expires at the end of the 2016-17 season.
The Tampa Bay Lightning had quite a rollercoaster season in 2015-16. The team was forced to overcome many obstacles including, but not limited to, injuries, illnesses, contract drama, and indignant public disputes. Both on the ice and off, the 2015-16 season was a turbulent one for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
When it comes to the on-ice portion of the game, the Lightning were forced to deal with many inconsistencies. While many of those inconsistencies were corrected in the off-season, throughout the course of the regular season and beyond, there was one player who seemed to rise above all the negativity and remain a consistent asset for the Tampa Bay Lightning. That player’s name is Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop.
Whether Bishop was dealing with nagging injuries or attempting to make his way back onto the ice after a more significant injury, Ben Bishop was always the first player to go above and beyond the call of duty and leave everything out on the ice so the Tampa Bay Lightning could emerge victoriously.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Now, the National Hockey League is about to experience something that is new to some hockey fans. As most of you know by now, the City of Las Vegas has been awarded a franchise. This means at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season, the Las Vegas team will have an opportunity to pick and choose which players they want to claim from the other 30 teams in the National Hockey League.
There has been all manner of discussion and reports as to which players should or should not be made available in the upcoming expansion draft. One of the players who’ve had their name mentioned on more than one occasion is, guess who…Ben Bishop.
We have heard the arguments from both sides of the matter. Some worry the Tampa Bay Lightning won’t have the money to retain Bishop once his contract expires at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season. Others feel it is time for the younger generation, also known as Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to take the reins.
As you can tell, there are many differing opinions on the situation. If you ask us, the Tampa Bay Lightning needs to do whatever they can to ensure Ben Bishop remains a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning for many seasons to come. While this may take some masterful wheeling and dealing to accomplish, if there is any General Manager in the NHL who can get the job done, it’s Lightning GM Steve Yzerman.
Let’s take a closer look at why the Tampa Bay Lightning should make the moves necessary to retain Ben Bishop once his contract expires at the end of the 2016-17 season.
The first of all is consistency. As we have mentioned many times before, despite the lack of assistance in front of the net Bishop would receive on any given night, Big Ben always put his best effort forward and left everything out on the ice in an attempt to help lead the Lightning to victory. Sure, like every other player in the NHL, Ben Bishop had a bad game every once in a while. Then again, no player is exempt from this.
If you take a closer look at his statistics, Ben Bishop has always scored towards the top of the ranks in the NHL. Bishop has been nominated as a finalist not once, but twice, for the Vezina Trophy throughout his time here in the Bolts Nation. Bishop was also selected to represent the Tampa Bay Lightning at the 2016 NHL All-Star Game.
Last season, Ben Bishop played in a total of 61 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In that amount of time, Big Ben was able to maintain a record of 35-21-4 along with a Goals Against Average of 2.06 and a Save Percentage of .926.
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In terms of wins, Ben Bishop would rank 4th in the NHL, being surpassed only by San Jose Sharks goaltender Martin Jones, Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, and the Presidents Trophy winning Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby respectively. In terms of goaltenders who played more than half a season, Bishop came in 1st place in the NHL in Goals Against Average and 2nd place in Save Percentage.
Since making his way to Tampa Bay in April of 2013, Ben Bishop has led the Tampa Bay Lightning to three straight berths in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals and two consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference Finals. This is not the kind of talent you allow to go by the wayside.
Now, this is not to say that Andrei Vasilevskiy is not a viable goaltender. He has proved on more than one occasion that he has earned his right to be on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s roster. While he did not have the same success as Bishop last season, there were many factors that attributed to this.
One of the most apparent is his lack of playtime. With Bishop holding down the fort so well, there was little opportunity for Vasilevskiy to shine. Thankfully, Steve Yzerman and Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper had the idea to send Vasy to the Syracuse Crunch for a couple of stretches to ensure no rink rust built up on the young Russian netminder.
We have always been a proponent of Yzerman’s overall plan of building a solid team for the future. There is no doubt that Andrei Vasilevskiy has the skill needed to be the future of the Tampa Bay Lightning. At the same time, you cannot sacrifice the now in order to build for the future. The present of the Tampa Bay Lightning is, in fact, Ben Bishop.
After reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for two seasons in a row and having tasted some manner of success in the Stanley Cup Finals, this team is ready to make the surge and fight for the Stanley Cup. If you remove someone like Ben Bishop from the picture, the Lightning have a much more difficult road ahead of them. Vasilevskiy has not been rightfully tested and could honestly use another couple of seasons beside Ben Bishop.
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This is the time when we look to Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman to pull out the magic wand he has been using to make all the of the wonderful deals he’s made since joining the franchise, and figure out a way to preserve the Lightning’s future without harming the present. If there is anyone who can figure this all out, it will be Steve Yzerman.