HOCK.ly - Future of Hockey Content Free Agency Edition | Page 23

Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman was given the arduous task of improving a non-playoff team on a very limited budget. The Lightning was dangerously close to the NHL’s salary cap ceiling. That was until the Bolts’ brass decided to buy out Vincent Lecavalier. The buyout will cost Tampa Bay $30 million over the next 14 years and give the Bolts an extra $7,727,273 in cap room each of the next seven seasons.

The buy out of Lecavalier certainly isn’t an indictment of his on ice play, as very few, if anybody could live up to that contract. It is more about Tampa Bay’s need to improve itself. What Yzerman has done is create flexibility immediately, but more so in the future under the constraints of the new CBA. Just as the Lightning GM preached from day one, sustainable, long term success is the goal. The buyout gives the Lightning the ability to get better now and down the road.

Make no mistake - the buy out of Lecavalier signals a rebuild in Tampa Bay. There is no hint of a “win now” philosophy in the Tampa Bay Times Forum offices.

The Lightning now has 18 players signed with $9,159,523 of cap space remaining.

Ideally, Yzerman would like to trade forward Ryan Malone and a pick or a prospect for something useful. As far as trade potentials, realistically the only untouchables on the roster are Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman.

With a pedestrian free agent class this season, the return on the Lecavalier buyout may not be felt for a few years. Every need the Bolts presumably have could be filled by their seasoned AHL prospects in Syracuse.

Shabby defense and goaltending sent the Lightning plummeting down the Eastern Conference standings in 2012-13. Bolts GM Steve Yzerman has already gone about filling some of those needs. With the trade deadline deal that brought goalie Ben Bishop to Tampa Bay and sent forward Cory Conacher to the Ottawa Senators, Yzerman seems content with a netminding duo of Bishop and Anders Lindback going into the 2013-14 season.

Through free agency and/or trade, Tampa Bay needs to try and address a glaring need for a top four defenseman. Last season’s top four consisted of Victor Hedman, an aging Sami Salo, an inconsistent Eric Brewer and Matt Carle. The Bolts have developed a talented stable of young forwards (Tyler Johnson, Brett Connolly, Ondrej Palat and Richard Panik) that could tempt other teams to trade away a low risk/high return defenseman. Of course, with the development of Mark Barberio in Syracuse and the emergence of Radko Gudas, it is entirely possible that Tampa Bay will stand pat in free agency and man the blue line with Hedman, Salo, Carle, Brewer, Gudas, Barberio and the recently re-signed Keith Aulie.

Should the Lightning look to free agency, some defense targets are Mark Fistric (Edmonton), Ian White (Detroit) and Ryan O’Byrne (Toronto).

Up front, Tampa Bay remains very strong with the likes of superstar Steven Stamkos, the ageless Martin St. Louis, Teddy Purcell, Alex Killorn and grinders Nate Thompson, Tom Pyatt, Dana Tyrell and BJ Crombeen. Despite finishing 27th in the 30 team NHL, the Bolts had the best goal differential of any non-playoff squad. Without a trade or bringing in a free agent, Tampa Bay could fill the remaining forward spots with Syracuse Crunch talents Tyler Johnson, Richard Panik, Brett Connolly, UFA Pierre-Cedric Labrie and Ondrej Palat, all who have minimal NHL experience.

With the departure of Lecavalier, Tampa Bay has an immediate need for a second line center. Although he didn’t (couldn’t) play up to his contract, Lecavalier still averaged .82 points per game and was physical. Replacing him won’t be easy. Prospect Tyler Johnson (Former AHL MVP) could be handed the job, but he may not be ready for that role after only 14 NHL games. Winger Alex Killorn was a terrific center in college at Harvard and could move to fill the void left by the departure of Lecavalier.

There are very few realistic free agent center targets. The top tier of Danny Briere (Philadelphia), Mike Ribeiro (Washington) and Patrik Elias (New Jersey) are too expensive or near the end of their careers. Stephen Weiss (Florida) and Tyler Bozak (Toronto) may be the only good fits.

Ironically, the best free agent center available may well be…Vincent Lecavalier.

It is very possible that GM Steve Yzerman already had a deal for a center in place prior to the buy out of Lecavalier. We’ll find out in the coming days.

Other free agent forward targets are Lightning killer Chad Larose (Carolina), Guillaume Latendresse (Ottawa) and Valtteri Filppula (Detroit). The Bolts could also re-sign Benoit Pouliot, whose agent stated that negotiations are ongoing.

What was thought to be a quiet free agent signing period for Tampa Bay has been turned upside down by the buy out of the face of the Lightning franchise. Was it a $30 million mistake? Only time will tell.

W.B. Philp is the Founder and Chief Editor of LightningShout, a comprehensive Tampa Bay Lightning website. He’s also a serial hockey blogger, including over at HockeyIndependent.com, Melrose hater, instigator, agitator and vindicator ◉