The Tampa Bay Lightning completed the biggest free agency moves at the start of July by parting ways with long-time captain Steven Stamkos and signing the best available player in forward Jake Guentzel.

With most players already signed and only subpar performers still left to sign a deal, the best way to add talent throughout the summer is by trading assets.

The Lightning have a perceived lack of depth in net, and that’s why Nate Duffett of Clutch Points highlighted Nashville Predators goaltender Yaroslav Askarov as Tampa Bay’s “best trade target” to try and acquire.

“Yaroslav Askarov wants to play in the NHL full-time next season, and he’d have a chance to be [Andrei] Vasilevskiy’s backup in Tampa Bay,” Duffett wrote. “The pair would be an ideal fit for obvious reasons. They have similar styles, and both hail from Russia, which would comfort Askarov and may solve the Lightning’s problem of Vasilevskiy wanting to play too many games.”

As Duffett points out, the Lightning have one of the best goalies already in tow in Russian international Andrei Vasilevskiy. The veteran netminder played 52 games in 2024 posting a 30-20-2 record to go with a .900 save percentage allowing 2.90 goals against on average.

For his part, Askarov was limited to just two appearances during the 2023-24 season posting a 1-0-0 record and saving .943 of the shots he saw allowing 1.47 goals on average. Askarov also started one game a year before for the Predators.

Predators Listening on Yaroslav Askarov Offers

The Predators signed starting goaltender Juuse Saros to a huge eight-year, $61.92 million extension, per NHL.com, at the start of free agency.

Saros is still relatively young at 29 years old, locked for eight more years, and signed through his age-37 season. It’s no secret that following that move Nashville is set in net for years and could try to move backup goalie Askarov.

General manager Barry Trotz confirmed this willingness to find a trade partner for the backup when speaking to reporters on June 29.

“People are phoning on (Askarov). With us getting close to getting Saros done, obviously the rumors start and you guys have something to write about,” Trotz said. “But goaltending, you can’t have too much of. It’s always that slow burn with goalies, where you continue to refine your game and continue to grow your confidence as a goaltender.

“I have to listen to calls, and if there’s something that makes sense for us, then we’ll do it,” Trotz said. “But there’s no timeframe, no urgency on my part.”

Askaro’s contract runs through the 2024-25 season. He carries a cap hit of $925,000 in the third and final year of his entry-level deal. He won’t be an unrestricted free agent until 2029.

According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, the Predators tried to trade Askarov before the draft knowing they had secured Saros to a long-term deal.

The Nashville Predators have received numerous calls on goalie Yaroslav Askarov in the last 24 hours in the wake of the Juuse Saros extension news. The Preds are willing to move him but have set a high price they feel is warranted. Nashville would like to move into the top 5 of…

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 28, 2024

Steven Stamkos Bids Farewell to Tampa Bay

While most Bolts fans would rejoice in landing top free-agent forward Jake Guentzel, the truth is that losing captain Steven Stamkos must have hurt them even if some might not admit it.

Stamkos signed a four-year, $32 million contract in free agency with the Predators on July 1 after he and the Lightning couldn’t reach a deal for a contract extension.

The Lightning drafted Stamkos with the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NHL draft. He played 1,082 games for the franchise scoring 555 goals and assisting 582 for 1,137 total points.

Stamkos bid an emotional farewell to the Tampa Bay Lightning and their fans on Monday, July 15, penning a letter for The Players’ Tribune.

“How do you say goodbye to a place like that? To a city that welcomed you as an 18-year-old kid, to the only NHL team you’ve ever known, to a fan base that’s been family? I don’t really know, to be honest,” Stamkos wrote. “I never thought I’d have to do one of these. It doesn’t quite feel real that I won’t be a Bolt this fall. But over the past few weeks, I’ve had this really deep sense of how lucky I was to be one for 16 years.

“These past few weeks have been bittersweet. I never thought this day would come,” Stamkos wrote. “I did everything I felt I could do to make it work, but sometimes things just happen. It didn’t work. And I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t heartbreaking. But my family and I, we’re human, you know? Tampa is home. It’s where our three kids were born … it’s where our memories are. It’s always going to mean so much to us.”