Tampa Bay Lightning: 5 Reasons The Bolts Should Trade Ben Bishop
With the NHL Trade Deadline quickly approaching, the Tampa Bay Lightning will need to make a decision on what to do with goaltender Ben Bishop, and soon.
Sooner rather than later, the Tampa Bay Lightning will need to make a decision on what they plan to do with Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop. Otherwise, the Lightning will run the risk of losing a top-tier netminder with absolutely nothing in return.
At the end of this season, Bishop’s contract will expire and he will become an Unrestricted Free Agent. This means that any team can court the goaltender and offer him whatever they want.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Should the Lightning decide to wait and try to resign him, it’s entirely possible that Bishop could accept an offer from another and the Lightning would be forced to watch him walk away and get nothing for his loss.
The NHL’s Trade deadline is a little more than a month and a half away. All trades have to be worked out before 3:00 PM on February the 28th.
Historically, the day of the deadline itself is full of bold and sometimes surprising moves by teams looking to make a last chance run for the playoffs.
While there might be a big move involving Bishop, it’ll be far from surprising. While it is still unknown which team Bishop will be traded to and whom for, it’s entirely reasonable to expect a deal before or on the 28th.
Whether the Lightning should trade or resign Bishop is a hotly contested subject. However, when it’s broken down, the only option that makes sense logistically is to trade him.
As much as Lightning fans may hate to see Big Ben go, there are numerous reasons why trading Bishop is the best option for the Lightning right now.
1. Something Is Better Than Nothing
This is the overarching mentality that will be broken down more in later sections. Losing Ben Bishop will be a blow to the Tampa Bay Lightning. That isn’t to say that Andrei Vasilevskiy isn’t a good goalie, but Bishop is currently a step above the young netminder. He’s the starter for a reason, after all.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The only thing worse than losing your starting goaltender is losing him and getting nothing in return. If the Lightning gamble with Bishop during the expansion draft, or if he isn’t traded or resigned before the end of the season, it’s entirely possible he could walk away from the Tampa Bay Lightning and they would get nothing in return.
This is a very possible and not unlikely worse case scenario that could unfold if the Lightning decide not to trade Bishop. What makes this worse is that a trade involving Bishop could fetch a lot of talent for the Lightning.
A lot of teams would be willing to offer a great return for the goalie. It would be an opportunity for the Lightning to bolster their blueline or to further solidify their offense. To see this opportunity go by and see Ben Bishop walk away and get no return for the Lightning would be a much too preventable misfortune.
The Lightning have depth in their offense and in goal. This could be an excellent chance to get equal depth on defense. Taking into account the Lightning’s history of injuries, increased defensive depth can only help the Lightning. If Anton Stralman or Victor Hedman were to sustain long-term injuries, the Lightning’s best option would be to recall Slater Koekkoek from the Syracuse Crunch.
If Bishop has to go, the Lightning should get some kind of return for him. In the quite possible event that Ben Bishop will never play for the Lightning again after this season, it’s better to get something for his loss than nothing.
2. The Impending Last Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Draft
The NHL will have a new team taking the ice in the 2017-2018 season. The Las Vegas Golden Knights will make their debut at the start of next season.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Naturally, they’ll have to get their players from somewhere, so there will be an expansion draft held in June from the 18th to the 20th, with the final roster being announced on the 21st. Each team must offer up a select number of players from their roster to be possibly drafted.
No matter what configuration is selected, one goalie has to be offered up. That means that if Ben Bishop were to stay with the Tampa Bay Lightning up until the draft date, the Bolts front office would have to choose which goalie will receive immunity.
If Bishop was chosen, Andrei Vasilevskiy would almost certainly be selected. Losing a recently resigned goalie of Vasilevskiy’s potential would be a blunder on the part of the Lightning.
Vasilevskiy will be in the NHL a lot longer than Bishop as he is eight years younger than him. It’s comparable to a short-term versus long-term investment. In my humble opinion, the Lightning would be much better off investing in the future than in a more short term solution.
As Vasilevskiy is entering his prime years, Bishop will begin to slow down. Given a few more years of experience, it’s also completely possible that Vasilevskiy will surpass Bishop in play. He certainly has the work ethic for it and the potential is there.
He could become a franchise goalie for the Lightning. A modern day Martin Brodeur or Dominik Hašek. Vasilevskiy will play and play well wherever it goes, and personally, I’d like it to be with the Lightning.
3. The Price Isn’t Right
When Ben Bishop‘s contract expires at the end of the 2016-17 season, he will become an Unrestricted Free Agent. This means that anyone will be able to send any contracts they like at the 30-year-old goaltender.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Ben Bishop is one of the top goaltenders in the league, and his play is part of what has made the Lightning so good in the past few seasons. There are plenty of teams in the NHL that are in need of a goaltender of Bishop’s caliber.
A top tier goalie can be a springboard in which a struggling franchise can start rebuilding off of and can be the difference between making the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup. Teams will pay a lot of money for that, and money will be the main issue here.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are tapped out. They are incredibly close to the cap limit as is, and deservedly so, Ben Bishop will most likely want a raise. This simply won’t work, the numbers don’t add up. There will be several other Lightning players whose contracts will expire with Bishops.
When these contracts are taken away from the Lightning’s cap space it would technically be possible to re-sign Bishop. This would mean, however, that likely more than one of the players who’s contracts will be expiring will have to be let go by the Lightning. These players include
These players include Tyler Johnson, Nikita Nesterov, Ondrej Palat, Slater Koekkoek, Andrej Sustr, Jonathan Drouin, and Brian Boyle. These players make up a core of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Some of these players, most notably Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson, will most likely want a pay bump from their current contracts. Re-signing Bishop wouldn’t be worth losing what would most likely have to be a combination of the players listed. It would be hard to replace multiple of these players, but Vasilevskiy could take the crease for Bishop as soon as a trade happened.
4. Injuries Abound
If you’ve followed the Tampa Bay Lightning for the past few years, you know Ben Bishop is somewhat injury prone. Just before the 2014 playoffs, Ben Bishop sustained a wrist injury that sidelined him for the duration of the playoffs.
Tampa Bay Lightning
In 2015, Bishop tore his groin in Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals. While he played in game three, he was sidelined for the remainder of the playoffs after that. Just last year, Bishop strained several ligaments in his ankle in the series opener of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Even now Bishop is injured. About two weeks ago, it was announced that Bishop would be sidelined for three to four weeks with a lower-body injury. While Bishop plays spectacularly when he is healthy, injuries have been ominously present in his career.
It seems to be almost a yearly occurrence for Bishop and more often than not it is at a critical time for the Lightning. The best goalie in the world is worthless if he is injured. That’s not to say that Bishop is always injured, but it’s undeniably a recurring theme.
The Lightning have had just about the worst possible luck with injuries over the course of the last few seasons. As this was the case, their depth in goal has been very beneficial in the past. Kristers Gudlevskis will serve as a very solid backup for Vasilevskiy if Bishop were traded. If the Lightning Curse strikes again, there will still be someone to back up the starter in net who can hold their own.
5. Andrei Vasilevskiy Is Ready
The Tampa Bay Lightning are very lucky. The Lightning have the kind of goalie depth not present in almost any other team in the National Hockey League right now.
Tampa Bay Lightning
When Ben Bishop is injured, Andrei Vasilevskiy has been able to step in the crease and hold his own regardless of the team the Bolts were facing. During the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, Vasilevskiy played to the best of his ability with what he was dealt.
While the desired outcome of winning the Stanley Cup wasn’t achieved, it’s worth noting at the time Vasilevskiy wasn’t even of legal drinking age. Playing for the Stanley Cup is a lot of pressure on anyone, but imagine how much greater it is for a 20-year-old thrust in the crease because of an injury.
Just last year during the 2016 playoffs Vasilevskiy fought until time expired in Game 7 to get his team to the Stanley Cup finals two years in a row. Even now he is in the net for the Lightning and he is performing as well as anyone could ask him to.
He has proved that he can hold his own whenever he is needed against any team in the NHL. Whether or not his defense protects him or his offense put points on the board isn’t under his control.
The best example of this was in Game 3 of last year’s playoffs when Vasilevskiy snapped his stick in pure frustration after the Pittsburgh Penguins scored their 4th goal of the night. This wasn’t Vasilevskiy having a bad night or pouting at his performance.
It was, in fact, quite the opposite. Vasilevskiy faced 48 shots that night. Throughout the entire game, his defense showed little interest and he was left out to dry multiple times. After the four goals that were scored, Vasilevskiy finished the game with a .917 save percentage.
Whether the Lightning win or lose isn’t up to him solely. The offense, defense, and goalie must all be playing at top form to get the desired outcome of two points on any given night. There have been few games where Vasilevskiy hasn’t played his hardest for the entire time he was on the ice.
The work ethic is there and with Vasilevskiy just beginning to enter his prime years as a hockey player, there’s nowhere for him to go but up. Having proven that he can hold his own against any opponent now, there are no limits to where he could be in a few years time.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is ready to take on the role of the Lightning’s number one goaltender. I love Big Ben Bishop just as much as the next Lightning fan, but the numbers just won’t work out.
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The Lightning would be better off trading Bishop and getting a good return for him instead of trying to resign him or risk having him walk away and get no return. It’s the safest option and the option that makes the most sense for the Lightning where they are right now.