Five potential backup goalie options for the Tampa Bay Lightning

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are without a backup goalie for next season, for now.

Brian Elliott’s contract with the team concluded at the end of the season, and the 38-year-old’s likelihood of returning is somewhere between unclear and doubtful.

Since trading Ben Bishop in 2017, the Lightning have had three notable backups to Andrei Vasilevskiy: Louis Domingue (2017-19), Curtis McElhinney (2019-21) and Elliott the past two seasons.

Nothing extraordinary is asked of the players who have been signed to the position. Vasilevskiy is a top tier goalie, and at his best is one of, if not the best goalie in the world. Still, the team needs a backup to play around 20 games a season — around a quarter of the year. And should worst come to worst by the way of Vasilevskiy suffering an injury, the backup needs to be comfortable with a larger workload so that the team still has a fighting chance.

With those factors in place, the Lightning have leaned towards veterans in the latter stages of their careers with a proven history of consistency — especially in the cases of McElhinney and Elliott.

Additionally, the salary cap remains a constraint in preventing the Lightning from spending lavishly on a backup. Since Vasilevskiy has become the starter in Tampa, no goalie signed by the team has earned more than the $900,000 Elliott earned each of the past two seasons. With the salary cap on the move up, at least by $1,000,000, the Lightning will likely be looking to pay next year’s backup around the same amount or just a bit more.

Considering all those factors, here are five potential free agent options the Lightning could turn to for a backup goalie next season.

James Reimer

Age: 35
2022-23 Contract: $2,250,000
Stats: 43 GP | 3.48 GAA | 0.890 SV%

Starting just over half of San Jose’s games last season, Reimer did have the worst statistical season of his career by save percentage with all previous seasons seeing him save greater than .900. But San Jose was not known for their defensive play, so I do not view that as a negative mark. He did, however, outperform his 26-year-old teammate Kaapo Kahkonen, who posted a 3.85 GAA and 0.883 save percentage over his 37 games played.

Reimer fits the mold of what the team has had with McElhinney and Elliott — a veteran netminder with their days of being the top goalie on a good team behind them — but still capable of putting up good numbers playing a reduced amount of the season in a backup role.

Reimer could still chase contract value and playing time over competitiveness, but the now 35-year-old is still chasing Lorde Stanley and could be at the point of considering taking a pay cut to join a contender.

Alex Nedeljkovic

Age: 27
2022-23 Contract: $3,000,000
Stats: 15 GP | 3.53 GAA | 0.895 SV%

Nedeljkovic is an intriguing rebound play that goes against the late career veterans that the team has looked for recently. Having been a Calder Trophy finalist with the Hurricanes in 2021, he was acquired by Detroit in hopes of becoming their rock in net — playing 59 games in 2022 — but posted replacement level numbers that continued into the 2023 season. Eventually, he found himself sent down to the AHL.

Without a multi-year proven track record to support him, Nedeljkovic is an inherently risky choice, but his time in Carolina proved that he can be a strong option with a good team in front of him.

I do not imagine that he will be able to lineup in a starting or co-starting role on any team after his performance this season, but signing for a year with a good team in a backup role, and rebuilding his form, could be his best chance at getting back into a starting role in the league.

Alex Stalock

Age: 35
2022-23 Contract: $750,000
Stats: 27 GP | 3.01 GAA | 0.908 SV%

Stalock has shown that he can deliver the results the Lightning would look for from a backup goaltender, with a history of playing around 20 games a season and putting up respectable numbers.

His performance as Chicago’s top net-minder this past season did come as a surprise after he only played one game over the previous two seasons recovering from an injury that ended his 2020 season, and myocarditis after a bout with COVID.

Before those series of setbacks, Stalock was with the Minnesota Wild having one of the best seasons of his career. Now fully returned to health, he looks to have found his previous form as he outperformed expectations on a bad team.

Should the Lightning sign him, he feels like a safe bet.

David Rittich

Age: 30
2022-23 Contract: $900,000
Stats: 21 GP | 2.68 GAA | 0.901 SV%

Rittich falls in the middle of the options presented so far. Neither young nor in the closing stages of his career, but he has proven himself to be of NHL quality.

With stops in Calgary, Toronto, Nashville and Winnipeg, the 30-year-old has been as close to a sure-thing, in terms of saving 90-91% of the shots he faces, as one can be. From there, though, he has not been able to breakout further.

Before the Markstrom era in Calgary, Rittich played more than 40 games a year during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but lacking true starter numbers he was dealt to Toronto at the 2021 trade deadline and has served as the backup with Nashville and Winnipeg since.

Rittich’s play with Winnipeg did rebound after a down year in 2022 with Nashville, but his next contract should still be within range of what the Lightning are looking to pay. However, it is possible he could find a larger potential role elsewhere than serving behind Vasilevskiy — something that could be more important to Rittich at this point of his career.

Brian Elliott

Age: 38
2022-23 Contract: $900,000
Stats: 22 GP | 3.40 GAA | 0.891 SV%

Although it feels like Elliott’s time with the team was coming to an end, he has made no official retirement announcement. His numbers were down from the previous year, and he is not getting any younger, but he is still a viable option with a good team in front of him.

Forgetting the individual performance numbers, the one statistic that matters in the end was that he won over half of his games this season with a 12-8-2 record, securing 59% of the total standings points available. To put that in perspective, over the course of an 82-game season, a team winning 59% of the total available points would have made the playoffs in both conferences this season.

There are definitely better options out there for the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the potential of Elliott returning should not be overlooked as he still can be the backup goalie that the team needs.

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