Tampa Bay Lightning keys heading into '20 offseason

There are some teams that rarely hand out any form of trade protection. Tampa Bay is not one of them. Of their seven highest-paid forwards, only one doesn’t have the ability to at least block a trade to some teams and that’s Brayden Point because he’s simply too young to have it. On defense, their top-three paid players have either a full no-trade clause or a full no-move clause. One advantage of being in the market they’re in is no state taxes, which has allowed the Lightning to sign some of those players below market value. The trade-off, however, is players getting some security in the form of trade protection.

Let’s look at their cap situation quickly. At the moment, they have just over $76 million in commitments to 16 players for next season. However, they have several key restricted free agents to re-sign and have to fill out the rest of their roster as well. One, if not two, high-salaried players will need to go. Here’s the listing of their veterans making $4 million or more and their trade protection:

F Nikita Kucherov – $9.5 million through 2026-27, NMC
G Andrei Vasilevskiy– $9.5 million through 2027-28 (too young for trade protection yet)
F Steven Stamkos – $8.5 million through 2023-24, NMC
D Victor Hedman – $7.875 million through 2024-25, NMC
D Ryan McDonagh – $6.75 million through 2025-26, NTC
F Brayden Point – $6.75 million through 2021-22 (too young for trade protection yet)
F Ondrej Palat – $5.3 million through 2021-22, NTC
F Yanni Gourde – $5.166 million through 2024-25, NTC
F Tyler Johnson – $5 million through 2023-24, NTC
F Alex Killorn – $4.45 million through 2022-23, 16-team NTC

Trying to convince one (likely two) of these players to waive their trade protection to leave a Cup-winning team to go somewhere where the tax situation may not be as favorable is where BriseBois finds himself right now. This is something that’s going to be much easier said than done in this cap environment.

Avoid offer sheet risk

There are two notable restricted free agents Tampa Bay has to try to re-sign with its limited cap space in defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and center Anthony Cirelli. With the Lightning's cap situation and limitations on moving money with all of the trade protection in place, both players are prime offer-sheet targets if someone wants to try to force their hand.

Sergachev has been steady offensively in his three seasons with the Lightning and wasn’t asked to jump into a big role right away. This allowed him to slowly develop his defensive game, and the results were certainly promising this season. He had a career-best 10 goals during the regular season while logging more than 20 minutes a night for the first time. In the postseason, he chipped in with 10 more points and saw his playing time jump up to more than 22 minutes a game. He’s already a top-four defender and at 22 years of age, he still has plenty of room for continued improvement. Sergachev is someone who should be a fixture on the Lightning's back end as long as they can afford to keep him.

Meanwhile, Cirelli had a breakout season offensively with 16 goals and 28 assists in 68 games, but that’s not the only reason he’ll be highly coveted. The 23-year-old has already become a high-end defensive player and finished fourth in Selke Trophy balloting this season. The various injuries throughout the season gave Cirelli a chance to showcase himself as a top-six forward, and he made the most of it, sending notice around the league that he’s ready for that role on a full-time basis. Assuming Stamkos shifts to the wing more permanently next season, the Lightning should be able to give him that spot.

Even defenseman Erik Cernak could be someone who is targeted. He doesn’t have the best of offensive numbers, but if there’s a team that wants him in its top four, Tampa Bay may be hard-pressed to match. Talks for offer sheets can begin on Friday, so freeing up that cap space is something the Lightning will want to do sooner than later if they can in order to give themselves a bit of leverage in talks with their youngsters.

Plan ahead for Point

Point’s three-year deal last offseason gave the Lightning some short-term flexibility, and to their credit, they made the most of it, utilizing that space to add several key depth players who helped them win the Stanley Cup. But he’ll be eligible for a new deal starting next offseason, and if an extension can’t be reached, he’ll enter the 2022 offseason one year away from UFA eligibility.

However, that’s not a spot the Lightning are going to want to be in with him. Getting an early extension done will be a top priority a year from now, but for them to be able to afford it (it should check in close to Kucherov’s price tag), they’re going to have to free up some cap room to have three players making that much money.

That’s something that BriseBois will have in mind as he tries to navigate this tricky salary-cap situation. There are two windows for which they should try to open up cap space. One is to simply be in compliance for next season, but there will be even more motivation to try to clear out players signed beyond 2021-22 to give them the space needed to lock up Point as early as a year from now.