While it remains to be seen if the Tampa Bay Lightning decide to buy, sell, or stand pat between now and the March 1st trade deadline, the team could be planning to move goaltender Ben Bishop regardless of what route they choose to go. Speaking with Sportsnet 960 in Calgary (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests that they are ready to move him but haven’t received the right offer yet (transcription via Fan Rag’s Chris Nichols):
“The name I’m hearing the most now is Ben Bishop. I don’t know what’s going to happen there, but I have a feeling that Tampa is ready to send him somewhere else and give Vasilevskiy the net. I think there are teams out there thinking that Ben Bishop rejuvenated can make a difference. I think the biggest issue is going to be what’s the price. I think Tampa would like to get better offers than they’re getting.”
It has long been expected that this would be Bishop’s final year with the Lightning after the team gave Andrei Vasilevskiy a three year extension back in July. Considering that they have forwards Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Jonathan Drouin (among others) to re-sign, they wouldn’t be able to afford to have both goaltenders making big money.
The thought was that GM Steve Yzerman would be content with keeping both goalies this season to ensure they’d have high-level goaltending on a nightly basis but the play of both netminders appears to have thrown a wrench into that plan. Bishop has posted a 2.78 GAA and a .905 SV% this season, well below his career numbers. As Friedman noted though, some teams believe a new environment will get him playing more like his usual self.
In his latest column, ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun also believes that Yzerman would be willing to move Bishop but that the goalie market is quite slow at the moment. This isn’t a typical year for shopping starter-quality netminders as Marc-Andre Fleury is likely available out of Pittsburgh given their expansion draft situation while Jaroslav Halak is readily available as well. It’s also quite likely that the Stars would be willing to part with at least one of Antti Niemi or Kari Lehtonen in the right situation.
It’s worth noting that unlike all of those other goaltenders, Bishop is a pending unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. If a team is just looking for some short-term help without any sort of long-term commitment, that would push Bishop to the front of the line. However, with a $5.95MM cap hit, the Lightning would most likely have to take back some salary as well in the deal, either by acquiring a sizable contract or by retaining salary.
LeBrun adds that while some have suggested a swap of pending UFAs that would see Kevin Shattenkirk go from St. Louis to Tampa Bay, the Blues still have confidence in Jake Allen and haven’t indicated yet that they’re looking for an upgrade between the pipes.
Lots can change in the next month but it appears that Bishop will be a player to keep a close eye on as the trade deadline approaches.
If St.louis is moving Shattenkirk they could do a lot better than Bishop
Agreed. If they are going to move him, it will be for a controllable asset, not a rental.