Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: The Tampa Bay Lightning surprised some by not claiming a goaltender off waivers to start the season. They’ll keep an eye on the goalie market as Andrei Vasilevskiy will miss the season’s first two months.
“Our job is to always be on the lookout for opportunities to improve our team,” BriseBois said. “And that’s true whether our No. 1 all-world goalie is injured or not. We’re always looking for opportunities to improve our team. Right now, with Andrei Vasilevskiy going on long-term injury exception, we have some cap space to play with.
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At the same time, we’re going to have to be able to get cap compliant when he does return in a couple of months. But in the short term, we have over $8.5 million of cap space.”
If the Lightning are able to hold their own during the start of the season and don’t dig themselves into a hole, they hope to be in a position at the trade deadline to add for another run.
Steven Stamkos is a pending UFA and let his disappointment be known that he didn’t get an extension during the offseason. Lightning GM Julien BriseBois understands why Stamkos and doesn’t blame him but has let it be known that they’ll be waiting until after the season to see how they do and where they’re at.
“Then we’ll be in a better position to make the best decision to set ourselves up for continued success. Because ultimately, I’ve stated that I think it would be great for the organization for Steven to finish his career here. He wants that. But what we want is for Steven to finish off his career in Tampa and for the club to continue to be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders for the remainder of his tenure.”
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TSN: Pierre LeBrun said on Insider Trading that Tampa Bay Lignhting GM Julien BriseBois wasn’t blindsided by Steven Stamkos’ comments as he was told the same thing during their offseason meeting.
“… but in those same meetings as BriseBois says, he also was very transparent with Stamkos, that they were not going to negotiate on an extension ahead of this season. And the fact BriseBois telling me that they’re going to wait until after the season to address that.
But BriseBois also added it would be great for Stamkos to end his career in Tampa. But right now it’s about waiting to see where the Lightning are as a contender here after the season before addressing that.”