This weekend, the Dallas Stars announced that former Lightning goaltender, Ben Bishop’s NHL career has come to an end due to a degenerative knee injury. Bishop last appeared in the NHL during the 2020 playoff bubble and underwent meniscus surgery following the end of the playoffs.
Dallas Stars goalie Ben Bishop's career is over because of a degenerative condition in his right knee, says general manager Jim Nill https://t.co/xJXeQhqaSn
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) December 12, 2021
Bishop was on the road to returning to the NHL. While undergoing a conditioning stint in the AHL, Bishop learned that this was the end of his career.
Bishop played in over 400 NHL games across 11 seasons, including five seasons in Tampa Bay. Bishop became one of the most successful goaltenders over the last decade and one of the most important players in Lightning history. While he never got to hoist the cup with the Lightning, his contributions should not be forgotten.
By the time his career in Tampa was over, Bishop became the holder of almost every Lightning goaltending record before Andrei Vasilevskiy’s career took off.
Bishop arrived in Tampa during the lockout shortened 2012-13 season in a trade from the Ottawa Senators for Cory Conacher. Bishop took the reins in the crease to help solidify the position in a season in which the Lightning failed to make the playoffs.
Bishop earned the starting role coming into the 2013-14 season and took the Lightning to a new level in their return to contention. A relatively unknown goaltender, the big 6’7 Bishop took over the job and never looked back. He helped the Lightning become a playoff contender in his first season on the way to becoming a top goalie in the league.
The timing of Bishop’s emergence was important to the Lightning’s long-term success because he was able to help a young Lightning team get to experience success early in their careers. Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, Alex Killorn and others benefitted from the experience of getting to be on a playoff team early in their careers.
Bishop came up big in some of the biggest games, including two game seven shutouts on the road to the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Your best player must be your goaltender and Bishop often was. When healthy, he was a dynamite goalie who was among the conversation for the top goaltenders in the league.
Perhaps his greatest contribution was being able to serve as a mentor to Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy was a first-round pick before Bishop ever even arrived in Tampa Bay. While Bishop was dominating the crease, a young Vasilevskiy was able to gain experience behind Bishop and the Lightning were never forced to rush Vasilevkskiy’s development because of Bishop’s steady play.
Bishop knew all along that Vasilevskiy was going to eventually overtake him as the starting goalie with the Lightning and Bishop showed nothing but class and leadership throughout his time working with the young Vasi. When Tampa Bay determined it was time to move on from Bishop in 2017, Vasilevskiy was ready to take over the crease after working behind Bishop for three seasons.
Between the experience he helped the young Lightning core enjoy and the development of Vasilevskiy, Ben Bishop’s contributions should not be forgotten when thinking about the more recent success of the organization. While injuries have derailed his career, Tampa Bay owes a ton to Bishop who gave everything he had to the team and then some.
