Having already dealt away Ben Bishop and Brian Boyle, Lightning GM Steve Yzerman could be on the verge of moving another veteran out of town:
Valtteri Filppula.
Fippula, 32, is in the fourth of a five-year, $25 million deal with a $5M average annual cap hit. He’s had a nice bounce-back offensive campaign, with 34 points through 59 games -- last year, those totals dipped to 31 in 76 -- and has been a dependable, defensively responsible center during his time in Tampa Bay.
So, why might he get moved?
TB aggressive, moving rentals Bishop/Boyle, while still chasing playoffs so no surprise to hear TB trying to be creative to ease cap crunch.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 28, 2017
TB has list of 16 teams Valtteri Filppula can be traded to; 13 he can't. Belief is TB has approached him to consider waiving to one of 13.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 28, 2017
Yzerman has plenty of business to attend to this summer. Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin are all pending RFAs requiring new deals, and it’s going to be expensive trying to keep all three in the fold.
It’s also worth noting that Victor Hedman’s monster extension kicks in next year and, per ESPN, Yzerman is still searching to add a top-four defenseman to the mix.
McKenzie notes it’s unclear if Filppula has agreed to waive his NTC. If he does, though, teams would undoubtedly be interested in acquiring an experienced middle man, with tons of playoff experience.
Filppula’s appeared in over 150 career postseason contests, winning a Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2008.