Tampa Bay Lightning Players Who Could Be Moved At The Trade Deadline
Tasha St. Pierre – Bolts By The Bay Site Expert
The Tampa Bay Lightning have been facing some tough times as of late. A defensive core that was once solid has started allowing turnovers quicker than a downtown bakery, a team full of snipers who are genuinely skilled at finding the back of the net couldn’t hit the braiding with a magnifying glass, and the Lightning’s netminders find themselves throwing their hands in the air as they are being left out to dry.
It’s getting increasingly difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of the issue. The Lightning is filled to the brim with talented players who all know how to get the job done at the highest levels of the game, but that simply isn’t showing this season.
A case could be made the ridiculous amount of injuries the team has been forced to deal with over the course of the first quarter of the season have contributed to the team’s struggles, but this is not really a new issue for the Lightning. This is not the first time they have been faced with this issue, and it surely won’t be the last.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The New Year is quickly approaching, and soon after 2016 fades into 2017, the movement within the NHL will be put to an end with the arrival of the 2017 NHL Trade Deadline. As it was mentioned previously, the Lightning will need to make some sort of change if they want to get back on the right track. Maybe, just maybe, an impending trade could serve to be the magic the team needs to find their way once again.
Keeping this in mind, the staff was asked to determine who, if any, the Tampa Bay Lightning should be looking to move before the NHL Trade Deadline. There is a very good possibility I will be the minority when it comes to this issue, but I remain steadfast in my opinions.
There are two players I can see the Tampa Bay Lightning moving before the NHL Trade Deadline comes to pass. The first of those players is Lightning forward Valtteri Filppula. Filppula currently has one more season, following this one, left on his contract with the Lightning before he becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent.
Currently, Filppula is making an average of $5 million per year on his contract and will remain as such until his contract expires at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season. Filppula started out his time here in the Bolts Nation with a terrific season, bringing home 25 goals and 33 assists for a total of 58 points.
Unfortunately, Filppula’s numbers have been headed downhill since then, culminating with the 2015-16 season where Filppula brought home eight goals and 23 assists for a total of 31 points. Thankfully, things seem to be on the rise for the 32-year-old Finnish forward this season.
In the 27 games he’s played so far this season with the Lightning, he has scored five goals and 12 assists for a total of 17 points. This is over half of his production from the previous season and the Lightning are only a quarter of the way through the season. This seems like the perfect time to get maximum value out of a player who may be looking for a new home at the conclusion of their contract.
The Tampa Bay Lightning could definitely use another solid body on the defense. Now, before we go looking in the trade market for this, let it be said there are plenty of viable candidates within the Syracuse Crunch organization. Slater Koekkoek, Luke Witkowski, and many more players are ready for their opportunity to make an impact on the NHL.
However, if the Lightning are going to add to their defensive structure, the simple fact of the matter is someone needs to go. Right now, that defenseman could be Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov. Nesterov is definitely on par when it comes to making hits; however, one area he particularly struggles in is blocked shots.
In the 20 games Nesterov has played this season, he has blocked a mere 13 shots. The one and only player lower than him in this particular area is Luke Witkowski, who has only played in seven games on the main roster this season.
On the offensive side of things, Nesterov has one of the lowest missed shots level on the team. Of course, this could have something to do with the fact Nesterov has only attempted 23 shots on goal this season. While offense is not his primary position, when you have players like Victor Hedman pulling in a team-leading 55 shots so far this season, you can certainly see the disparity here.
Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman has a number of decisions to make before the NHL Trade Deadline at the end of February. Whether or not Yzerman feels the same as this humble hockey fan remains to be seen. At the same time, it will definitely be interesting to see how things play out.