The Tampa Bay Lightning don’t have many trade candidates to target. The Lightning have already done plenty of work, with the most controversial coming by letting their longtime captain Steven Stamkos walk to the Nashville Predators. Tampa Bay used Stamkos’ cap space to sign Jake Guentzel to a seven-year contract. They extended Victor Hedman for four more years, then used their remaining cap space on depth players like Zemgus Girgensons.
The Lightning also made a savvy move to sign Cam Atkinson on a cheaper deal after the Philadelphia Flyers bought out his contract. The depth additions make the future of former Stanley Cup Champion Conor Sheary cloudy.
The Stamkos decision wasn’t the only big move that the Lightning made this offseason. It seemed like their goal was to strip some salary cap to extend their competitive window. They did that by trading Mikhail Sergachev and his $8.5 million cap hit to the Utah Hockey Club. They also cut bait on one of their worst trades, sending Tanner Jeannot to the Los Angeles Kings for much fewer draft picks than they used to acquire him.
The return for Sergachev could pay off, as they get Conor Geekie on his entry-level deal for the next three seasons. There’s a good chance that Geekie could make the team out of camp, which will push out one of their depth players. The loss of Sergachev will also settle better amongst fans, considering they acquired JJ Moser in the trade. He may not have the same upside as Sergachev, but he is a valuable player for over $5 million less on the salary cap.
The Conor Sheary experiment may be over
Sheary was a valuable player in two straight Stanley Cup championships in Pittsburgh. He rode shotgun with Sidney Crosby and scored integral goals before a disappointing end to his Pittsburgh career when he went goalless in their second title. Sheary signed with the Buffalo Sabres that offseason to prove he could do it by himself, but it may not have been a good decision. Sheary hasn’t been able to replicate that success away from the Penguins and signed with the Lightning last season after a disappointing three years in Washington.
The belief was that Sheary would enter the situation in Tampa Bay and benefit as he did in Pittsburgh. He knows how to fit in with elite players, and could fill in on the top line at the cheap price of $2 million per year. It didn’t work out like Sheary thought it would, as he missed most of the first half of the season with an upper-body injury. He played 57 games last season and scored just four goals and 11 assists. It was hard to see Sheary unable to perform for that price tag, but his production didn’t necessarily do that.
The Lightning could take a chance and see if Sheary will have more value with a fully healthy season. However, Geekie and Atkinson can likely fill his role for the same price combined. Teams are looking for depth pieces that may be a better fit, including a possible reunion with his former team. The Penguins already brought Sheary back at the trade deadline in 2019-20, but the pandemic made that difficult. They could try to acquire him again if their other targets don’t materialize.
Can the Lightning afford another year of Jonas Johansson?
The Lightning found themselves in a difficult spot last season. Andrei Vasilevskiy had an injury at the start of the season, leaving their hopes of staying in the playoff race in Johansson’s hands. He did a serviceable job, recording a 3.37 goals-against average and an .890 save percentage. However, the lack of trust in him was clear when Vasilevskiy returned and barely missed a start. Johansson played 26 games last season, but most were before Vasilevskiy took back the net.
The Lightning kept Johansson on the bench, which wasn’t bad considering Vasilevskiy played well and earned Tampa Bay a playoff spot. However, they started to drop off at the end of the season and completely fell apart against their rival Florida Panthers in the first round. There were plenty of things to blame for the Lightning, but one of them had to be the freshness of Vasilevskiy.
We predicted that Vasilevskiy could find a new battery mate in Yaroslav Askarov if the Predators traded him. Askarov would be option one in building this Lightning team, but there are options in the American Hockey League that may be better than Johansson. Hugo Alnefelt would be a serviceable replacement.
