Lauren Burg – Bolts By The Bay Contributor
With the NHL Trade Deadline approaching fairly soon, I could see the Tampa Bay Lightning dealing goaltender Ben Bishop. There are a few reasons behind this bold move.
First, the Lightning need a finisher because the current lineup has trouble scoring no matter how many shots they throw at the opposing netminder. Even as the league has evolved into one that’s more defensive-minded, one goal for likely won’t win many games.
Take Sunday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes or even Thursday’s matchup with the Vancouver Canucks. The Lightning came out on a mission, controlling the game early, but ended up losing due to their inability to find the back of the net.
Tampa Bay Lightning
They did earn a point from the Carolina game but that was more a result of Bishop playing lights out for 60+ minutes. If they could have scored once during regulation, they would have won that game. Instead, the lack of a true sniper did them in.
In saying that, one must give to receive. For the Lightning, a top notch finisher who has the ability to help ease the scoring woes in the absence of Steven Stamkos would probably come at the expense of a two-time Vezina Trophy finalist in Bishop.
Bishop is no doubt better than his current 8-10-1 record and .909 save percentage. Look at last weekend’s back-to-back versus Washington and at Carolina for proof. He faced nearly 100 shots in less than 24 hours (130 minutes combined), only allowing two past him in allowing the team to pick up three of a possible four points.
Secondly, Bishop’s future with the Lightning is murky at best. He has no contract in place for next season and, due to general manager Steve Yzerman’s move to ink young Russian Andrei Vasilevskiy to a three-year deal last summer, could find himself headed to expansion team Las Vegas come June 2017.
I know, I know. The big question now is whether Vasilevskiy is ready to take over the reins. While I agree he’s still green in some areas, his performance in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals and so far this season (6-2-1, .929 save percentage) point toward him being ready to take that leap.
Now, it’s a matter of whether the Lightning can afford to stand pat until after the season concludes or if they are better off making a deal now.
To me, that should be a no-brainer.
With Stamkos out until mid-March at the earliest, Nikita Kucherov drier than the Arizona desert and both Ryan Callahan and Jonathan Drouin missing time with various injuries, the Lightning find themselves outside of the playoff picture as we approach Christmas. That’s not a familiar place for this team, yet they are there due in large part to a sudden inability to score.
Unpopular as it may be, dealing Bishop for a proven finisher who excels at both ends of the rink could be the missing piece that turns a currently sinking ship in the right direction before it’s too late.