Offseason Outlook: Tampa Bay Lightning
With the offseason underway for a number of teams and the remainder to join them in a few weeks, we're looking at what's in store for each club in the coming months.
2016-17 Grade: C
By the most important measure, the season was a failure for the Lightning, but there were still some positives in an otherwise disappointing campaign.
Tampa Bay missed the playoffs by a single victory, just one year after reaching the Eastern Conference Final, but there was a rather significant extenuating circumstance.
Steven Stamkos tore his knee just 17 games into the season, and that put unexpected pressure on a talented, but already fragile roster.
Despite the way Tampa Bay's season finished, general manager Steve Yzerman deserves to be lauded for his work securing the club's core while expertly navigating the salary cap.
He convinced Stamkos to sign an eight-year deal a few days before July 1, negotiated an eight-year pact with Victor Hedman on the first day of free agency, and got Nikita Kucherov inked to a three-year contract two days before the Lightning's season opener.
Yzerman then resolved the uncertainty surrounding pending free agent Ben Bishop, getting defensive prospect Erik Cernak and veteran goalie Peter Budaj in the deal that sent his longtime starting netminder to the Los Angeles Kings.
Still, between Stamkos' injury and just barely missing out on a playoff spot, it certainly wasn't how the Lightning wanted to start or end the season.
Free Agents
The Lightning have three significant deals to get done this summer, as Jonathan Drouin, Ondrej Palat, and Tyler Johnson are all pending RFAs.
Here's a look at the players whose contracts are up for renewal:
| Player (Position) | 2017-18 Status | Age | '16-'17 Cap Hit ($M) | '16-'17 Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Drouin (F) | RFA | 22 | 0.894 | 53 |
| Ondrej Palat (F) | RFA | 26 | 3.33 | 52 |
| Tyler Johnson (F) | RFA | 26 | 3.33 | 45 |
| Andrej Sustr (D) | RFA | 26 | 1.45 | 14 |
| Luke Witkowski (D) | UFA | 27 | 0.575 | 4 |
| Greg McKegg (F) | UFA | 24 | 0.7 | 1 |
Budaj performed admirably behind the Kings' tight defensive system, and Yzerman could do worse than re-signing him to serve as the backup next season.
| Player (Position) | 2017-18 Status | Age | '16-'17 Cap Hit ($M) | '16-'17 SV % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budaj (G) | UFA | 34 | 0.6 | .915 |
2017 Draft Picks
The Lightning have seven picks in next month's draft, including a second-round acquired in the Brian Boyle deal and a sixth-round selection sent to Tampa Bay by the Montreal Canadiens in the Nikita Nesterov trade.
| Round | Pick Total |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 (14th overall) |
| 2 | 2 (1 from Leafs) |
| 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 0 |
| 5 | 0 |
| 6 | 2 (1 from Canadiens) |
| 7 | 1 |
Summer priorities
Tampa Bay has three primary objectives before the puck drops next fall:
1. Get Drouin's pen to paper
There was a time when an extension for Drouin seemed out of the question, but the young forward put his holdout behind him and posted his best NHL season to date.
Drouin ranked second on the Lightning with 21 goals and finished third with 53 points, making his past transgressions distant memories.
The 22-year-old is now unquestionably a key part of the franchise's future, and getting him locked in on a long-term deal would be another coup for Yzerman and company.
Signing Johnson and Palat is certainly important, as well, but getting Drouin's deal done has to be considered the No. 1 item on the offseason agenda.
2. Find more 'O' from the 'D'
The GM said last weekend that more offensive production from the back end was indeed a priority for next season, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.
Hedman poured in a career-high 72 points, but he barely had any offensive help among fellow blue-liners. The next-most productive Lightning defenseman was Anton Stralman, who chipped in 22 points.
Tampa Bay gets so much of its scoring and overall offensive contributions from its forwards, but balancing that with defensemen who help spur the offense would be certainly be beneficial.
3. Improve defensively
The other area of concern is the defensive play of the aforementioned group.
Tampa Bay was an average team in that regard this season, ranking 16th in the NHL with 2.73 goals allowed per game. That was a significant decline from 2015-16, when the Lightning ranked fifth in the league with only 2.41 goals allowed per contest.
Goaltending surely factors into that figure, but Tampa Bay should still look to upgrade defensively, even if the market for blue-liners this summer isn't robust.
2017-18 Outlook
Assuming Stamkos is healthy next season, the Lightning will be expected to return to the playoffs and once again challenge for the Stanley Cup.
Expectations will be high again, and they should be, given Tampa Bay's track record with this core.
It's Andrei Vasilevskiy's crease now, and the 22-year-old goaltender will have a clean slate to build on the 50-game workload he took on this season.
A return to the Cup Final might be setting the bar high, but another playoff miss will simply be unacceptable.
Offseason Outlook Series
COL | VAN | NJD | ARI | BUF
DET | DAL | FLA | LAK | CAR
WPG | PHI | TBL | NYI | WSH
TOR | CGY | BOS | SJS | STL
NYR | EDM | MTL | ANA | MIN
CBJ | CHI | OTT | PIT | NAS
LGK