While the Lightning don’t have an obvious vacancy to fill between the pipes, they appear to be the front-runner to sign goaltender Curtis McElhinney, reports Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link). A deal is not believed to be finalized just yet.
The 36-year-old is coming off of a strong season with Carolina, who claimed him off waivers from Toronto at the end of training camp. While he was originally intended to serve as a stopgap option with Scott Darling not being fully healthy to start the season, he quickly became a key part of their tandem alongside Petr Mrazek with Darling eventually being sent to the minors.
Overall, McElhinney set a new career high in wins (20) while posting a 2.58 GAA and a .912 SV% in 33 starts with Carolina last season. He also got into five postseason games when Mrazek was injured, compiling a 2.01 GAA with a .930 SV%. That performance has vaulted him from being a run of the mill backup to someone who entered the market as one of the more intriguing options available.
If Tampa Bay does indeed sign him, it calls into question the future of current backup Louis Domingue, who had a decent performance in 2018-19. An injury to Andrei Vasilevskiy forced him to play more than expected as he wound up playing in 26 games, compiling a 2.88 GAA with a .908 SV%. The 27-year-old is signed for one more season at $1.15MM, almost all of which would come off their books if he was sent to the minors. Alternatively, he could become a trade option depending on how the rest of the goaltending market shakes out.