Mitch Marner has been stealing all the headlines lately when it comes to restricted free agent contract negotiations, but there is another Atlantic Division forward that is still without a deal and perhaps even more important to his team’s hopes this season. Many people believed Brayden Point would be one of the first high-profile names to come off the board this summer given the record of the Tampa Bay Lightning in past negotiations. Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and many others have all signed long-term deals to stay in Tampa Bay, almost all at a perceived discount. Point however is still without a deal as training camp starts, and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that it is “not remotely close.”
Point, 23, has developed from third-round pick into one of the most valuable players in the NHL and is coming off a 41-goal, 92-point season last year. The undersized center is also one of the best defensive forwards in the league, earning Selke Trophy votes in both his sophomore and junior seasons in the league. That resume led many to believe that he may actually be young forward who should “set the market,” though Marner has grabbed significantly more headlines thus far.
The Lightning have worked hard this summer to clear enough cap room to sign Point, trading away J.T. Miller and Ryan Callahan’s contract while only adding bounce-back bargains like Kevin Shattenkirk and Patrick Maroon. The team has almost $8.5MM in cap space currently, but the real issues may come further down the line. With Andrei Vasilievskiy’s extension kicking in next season and all three of Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak hitting RFA status the Lightning will be in a very tight cap situation once again.
Tampa Bay has done bridge deals before for their top talent, but it’s unclear what exactly Point is looking for. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote earlier this week that he expected the team to go the three-year contract route, but if there is really as big of a gap as LeBrun suggests, it’s hard to bet on anything at this point.
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