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Julien BriseBois

Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers To Share AHL Affiliate

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When news broke that three AHL teams would be pulling out of the 2020-21 season, it left a question of what the NHL affiliates would do with their minor league players and prospects. Today, news has come that the Florida Panthers, who are partnered normally with the opting-out Charlotte Checkers, will be sharing the Syracuse Crunch with the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. As part of the agreement, the Panthers will have the ability to assign players directly to the Crunch, though the original coaching staff will stay in place.

Both NHL general managers—Julien BriseBois of the Lightning and Bill Zito of the Panthers—released statements explaining the move and the excitement it should generate for Crunch fans. This kind of collaborative program will only improve the roster for Syracuse, giving them an even better chance of competing this season.

Still, it is certainly not ideal for the Panthers. Though they have a place for their prospects and depth players to play, it’s still easy to see how the Crunch coaching staff could lean slightly towards the development of Lightning prospects over them. Either way, in this unusual and unique season, it’s nice to see two rivals come together on something.

Snapshots: Lightning, Morin, Lafreniere

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It’s well-known that Tampa Bay has to clear up some cap space and Wednesday’s re-signing of Mikhail Sergachev only further cemented that as it put them over the $81.5MM Upper Limit with two restricted free agents (center Anthony Cirelli and defenseman Erik Cernak) still to sign.  Speaking with reporters, including Joe Smith of The Athletic (subscription link), GM Julien BriseBois indicated that some progress has been made in trying to accomplish that:

There’s a lot of progress being made. We’re working on a bunch of different fronts, there’s a lot of balls up in the air. Nothing has materialized yet.

Even if Cirelli and Cernak take short-term contracts to keep the AAV down (which is the likeliest scenario at this point), it’s doubtful that moving out one player will be enough to get them back into compliance.  Tyler Johnson is known to be available but he passed through waivers unclaimed earlier this offseason.  With few teams having the ability to take on pricey contracts, BriseBois and the Lightning still have a lot of work to do.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • Flyers defenseman Samuel Morin has fully recovered from his second ACL surgery, notes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The 25-year-old has been limited to just 11 games combined over the past two seasons with Philadelphia and AHL Lehigh Valley and as a result, head coach Alain Vigneault believes that Morin will have to at least start next season with the Phantoms (assuming he clears waivers).  He’s entering the final year of his contract and will have a lot of work to do to prove himself worth of a qualifying offer next offseason.
  • Despite Canada’s World Junior team having to shut things down for two weeks for quarantining purposes, they haven’t ruled out the possibility of Rangers winger Alexis Lafreniere joining them, Hockey Canada’s Scott Salmond told reporters, including TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link). Discussions remain ongoing with New York about the top pick being made available.  At this point, the uncertain status of the start of next season is likely holding things up but if it’s pushed back in the near future, it would become more palatable for Lafreniere to be made available.

Tyler Johnson Working With Tampa Bay On Potential Trade

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When you win the Stanley Cup in the NHL, it usually comes at a cost. The core of your team is often broken up immediately afterward thanks to the salary cap system, or depth players are sacrificed to try and pay the next wave of talent. That’s exactly what is happening in Tampa Bay, where the Lightning are being forced to make tough decisions on some of their veteran players.

Tyler Johnson, an excellent soldier for the team over the last decade, is one of the names most likely to be traded in the coming days, even despite the full no-trade clause he holds. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Johnson has given the Lightning several teams that he would accept a trade to and that there is a good amount of communication between GM Julien BriseBois and the player’s camp.

Johnson, 30, has four years left on his current contract and carries a $5MM cap hit. The versatile forward has seen his role in the Tampa Bay offense diminish over recent years and averaged just 14:33 a night this season. That’s not to say his skills have disappeared though. Remember, Johnson once tied for the team lead in scoring with 72 points in a single season and in 2018-19 he scored 29 goals. That $5MM price tag might be too expensive for the Lightning in his current role, but he could still be a useful player around the league.

Of course, if the Lightning had a choice, they would probably simply keep Johnson in the fold. But after winning a Stanley Cup they are in a very tight salary cap situation with more than $76MM committed for just 15 players. One of the biggest causes of that salary squeeze is Andrei Vasilevskiy’s new extension, which kicks in for the 2020-21 season and sees his cap hit jump from a reasonable $3.5MM to a whopping $9.5MM. The 2019 Vezina winner is certainly worth his big ticket, but extensions like that make it difficult to keep the depth over the rest of the roster.

The Lightning also have Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev and others to re-sign as restricted free agents this offseason, a group that could take up more than $10MM even on simple bridge deals. Moving money out is imperative for BriseBois and it looks like it will start with Johnson.

Trade Rumors: Ekman-Larsson, Mrazek, Virtanen, Tampa Bay

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Name a top trade target or impending free agent and they seem to be linked to the Edmonton Oilers. While the team clearly needs to help superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, they have cap constraints because of those players as well and holes to fill all over the roster. The team must be confident that they can perform some cap magic, as they have their sights set on making a big splash this off-season. TSN’s Darren Dreger backed up previous rumors today that the Oilers have been talking to the Arizona Coyotes about elite defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. In fact, Dreger notes that discussions have been preliminary, but the interest is serious. It’s a complex situation given the cap situations in both Edmonton and Arizona, but the teams appear to be working through their options when it comes to moving Ekman-Larsson, a proven top-pair commodity. Of course, it’s worth noting that Ekman-Larsson has a full No-Movement Clause and could nix a deal to Edmonton if he chooses. Dreger adds that the Boston Bruins also remain interested; Ekman-Larsson may very well prefer landing alongside Charlie McAvoy on the top pair of a perennial contender.

  • The Oilers are also known to be eyeing an addition in goal and have kicked the tires on a number of netminders on the trade block. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the latest name on that list is the Carolina Hurricanes’ Petr Mrazek. LeBrun believes that Mrazek could be more of a fallback option if Edmonton cannot add Pittsburgh’s Matt Murray or Arizona’s Darcy Kuemper or can’t woo Jacob Markstrom in free agency. Of course, if Mrazek is even available for trade, it may mean that Carolina has already landed one of those three Oilers targets for themselves. Mrazek had a fine season for the ’Canes, but the team is looking to upgrade at starter. Unfortunately for Edmonton, Carolina’s castoff would still be an upgrade for them.
  • From GM Jim Benning’s comments since his Vancouver Canucks were eliminated from the postseason, it should come as no surprise that he is listening to offers for restricted free agent forward Jake Virtanen, according to Dreger. Virtanen has failed to live up to the expectations of being the 2014 sixth overall pick, but is still due a significant upgrade over his expiring $1.25MM AAV. The cap-strapped Canucks have greater needs than Virtanen’s third-line scoring totals and may be able to put his cap space to greater use via trade. Dreger reports that there is plenty of interest in the 24-year-old power forward, who could still grow into the dangerous scorer that he was in junior.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning are less than a day removed from taking home the 2020 Stanley Cup title, but GM Julien BriseBois is already back at work. LeBrun speculates that Tampa must clear at least $10MM in cap space in order to re-sign RFA’s Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev, and Erik Cernak and to rebuild a defense with numerous pending UFA’s. As such,  BriseBois can’t afford to waste any time with free agency approaching. LeBrun notes that the two most talked-about names on the Lightning roster right now are forwards Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde. However, he notes that both players have full No-Trade Clauses and would have to accept any trade. As a result, LeBrun believes there is a growing suspicion that the Bolts may trade a player or two that no one is suspecting in order to clear cap space. That could mean one of the RFA’s themselves is dealt, or perhaps it could be a player lacking trade protection, such as Brayden Point or Andrei Vasilevskiy. One way or another, the Cup-winning roster will look very different next season.

Finalists Announced For GM Of The Year

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The NHL has released the finalists for the Jim Gregory GM of the Year award, named after the legendary hockey executive that passed last year. Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders, Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars, and Julien BriseBois of the Tampa Bay Lightning have been named as the three finalists, with the winner to be announced on Saturday. The award is voted on by a panel of league executives, print and broadcast media at the end of the second round of the playoffs.

It’s easy to point to the hiring of Barry Trotz as Lamoriello’s biggest move as GM of the Islanders, but that’s not all he’s done over the past year to push his team deep into the playoffs. Not only did the legendary executive move to secure more goaltending after letting Robin Lehner walk, but a deadline deal brought over proven playoff performer Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

There’s just something about the postseason that gets Pageau playing his best hockey and he’s proven it once again with a playoff-leading seven even-strength goals already. Pageau is a whopping +11 through 17 postseason games for the Islanders, while also winning more than 56% of his faceoffs. While Lamoriello had to give up a hefty package of draft picks to get him, Pageau won’t be leaving anytime soon; he signed a six-year, $30MM extension with the Islanders.

Nill meanwhile did most of his playoff preparation last summer. The Stars GM brought in Corey Perry and Joe Pavelski to give his club a little more bite and experience. Pavelski especially has been fantastic for Dallas in the postseason, leading the club with eight goals and playing more than any other forward on the team.

While it wasn’t a trade, the patience that has gone into the development of Denis Gurianov is paying huge dividends, with the young forward taking over as a star in this postseason. Gurianov trails only Miro Heiskanen in scoring for the Stars, with 15 points in 18 games.

BriseBois, the youngest and most inexperienced of the three finalists, would be the first to tell you that he inherited an incredible roster. He was part of the team that built it, serving as an assistant GM to Steve Yzerman, but the Lightning were already great when he took over in 2018. Still, BriseBois didn’t sit back and hope that roster would be good enough to make it through the playoffs this season.

Savvy depth adds of Patrick Maroon, Kevin Shattenkirk and Luke Schenn in the offseason are paying off now, while the scrap heap rehab of Zach Bogosian looks like a success. It’s those two deadline deals that have impressed so much though. BriseBois found a way to lengthen out his lineup by adding Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman, anything but household names, and it is paying off. The two have combined for just four goals in the postseason, but Tampa has created a group that seems to be dangerous on every single shift regardless of who is on the ice.

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