Lightning, Sustr agree on two-year extension

By Ryan DadounJun 30, 2015, 10:23 AM EDT
7 Comments

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced that they have signed Andrej Sustr to a two-year contract extension.

Tampa Bay didn’t release the financial terms of the deal other than to confirm that it’s one-way, but the contract is worth $2.9 million, according to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun. That’s up from his 2014-15 salary of roughly $874K.

The 24-year-old defenseman participated in his first full NHL campaign last season and registered 13 assists in 72 contests. He also blocked 84 shots and logged 17:42 minutes of ice time per game, including an average of 1:28 shorthanded minutes.

He went on to participate in all 26 of Tampa Bay’s 2015 playoff games during its run to the Stanley Cup Final. He had a goal and an assist and averaged 15:14 minutes per contest.

Tampa Bay now has seven defensemen inked to one-way contracts worth more than $1 million annually, although that includes Mattias Ohlund who hasn’t played since 2011. Ohlund just has one more campaign left on his contract before he’s off the books.

The Lightning didn’t give Mark Barberio a qualifying offer so the 25-year-old blueliner is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent. However, they still need to re-sign RFA Luke Witkowski.

Tampa Bay’s cap situation is still pretty promising

By James O'BrienJun 1, 2015, 1:59 PM EDT
42 Comments

It’s only natural to look at some upcoming salary cap hurdles and wonder if the Tampa Bay Lightning will stumble while trying to justify all the “team of the future” talk.

Steven Stamkos will command a monster deal after next season. Victor Hedman’s $4 million bargain cap hit dries up after 2016-17. Yikes, right?

MORE: Debating Stamkos’ next contract

Actually, if you dig a little deeper, their opponents should panic instead. Just ponder these nuggets:

Note: As mentioned in the comments, the original version of this article had a mix-up regarding the Lightning’s available cap space. They’re actually closer to $1.1 million. This post has been modified with that in mind. Apologies for the error.

Almost unfair bargains

Just consider this: Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn carry a combined salary cap hit of about $10 million. Johnson and Palat are locked up at their bargain rates of $3.33 million apiece through 2016-17.

Jonathan Drouin didn’t make an impact at the NHL level, yet players of his ilk often make big jumps … and he’s just one of some impressive players Tampa Bay has in its pipeline.

Oh yeah, the Lightning also have 10 picks in the upcoming draft, even if the excess leans toward later rounds.

It almost feels like cheating, doesn’t it?

source: AP
Via AP

Evaporating deals

The flip side of that previous point is that said players will eventually get raises, but their RFA statuses could greatly reduce those worries, anyway.

Either way, relief could come in other forms. Braydon Coburn’s $4.5 million could very well be diverted into Stamkos’ bank account. Mattias Ohlund’s LTIR-bound deal ends after 2015-16. Heck, the Lightning may decide to save some cash and turn to Andrei Vasilevskiy over Ben Bishop long-term, as Bishop’s $5.95 million cap hit expires after 2016-17.

(And Bishop’s surplus could go to Hedman’s raise. Yup, GM Steve Yzerman is practicing some black magic …)

The unknown

What if the 2016-17 salary cap is a lot friendlier than what we expect from next season? Could a possible expansion help teams like the Lightning farm off less-than-friendly contracts? Yzerman may just have a deft hand in getting players to sign cheaper deals, too.

***

The Lightning aren’t necessarily on easy street – those young players and stars like Stamkos won’t be cheap – yet the team’s outlook indicates that they’ll remain a team to beat for some time.

Bieksa’s eye injury not ‘as serious as what people think it is’

By Jason BroughNov 3, 2014, 1:33 PM EDT
1 Comment

From the Vancouver Sun’s Elliott Pap, after Canucks defensemen Kevin Bieksa left last night’s game versus Nashville with an apparent eye injury:

You’ll forgive Canucks fans for fearing the worst. This is an organization, after all, that’s had to deal with two serious eye injuries, to Mattias Ohlund in 1999 and to Manny Malhotra in 2011.

Bieksa will apparently join the Canucks on their upcoming road trip, though he’s questionable for Tuesday’s game in Denver. If he can’t play, expect Ryan Stanton to take his spot.

Also expect rookie Bo Horvat to make his NHL debut versus the Avs, in place of injured forward Tom Sestito.

Lightning re-sign Sustr, have a really deep defense

By Jason BroughJul 4, 2014, 11:12 AM EDT
5 Comments

The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed defenseman Andrej Sustr to a one-year, one-way contract.

Sustr had one goal and seven assists in 43 games last season for Tampa Bay. With the 23-year-old under contract, the Lightning now have eight active blue-liners (plus inactive Mattias Ohlund) on one-way deals.

As it stands, Sustr and 24-year-old Mark Barberio are at the bottom of a deep defensive depth chart that already featured Victor Hedman, Matt Carle, Radko Gudas, and Eric Brewer before the acquisitions of Jason Garrison in a trade with Vancouver and Anton Stralman in free agency.

Sami Salo will not be back with the Lightning. The 39-year-old is an unrestricted free agent.

Rookie Mountain High: Avs’ MacKinnon wins Calder

By Mike HalfordJun 24, 2014, 7:44 PM EDT
5 Comments

For the second time in three years, the Calder Trophy is going to Denver.

Colorado Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon captured the league’s rookie of the year award on Tuesday night, beating out Tampa Bay teammates Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson for the honor. With the win, MacKinnon joined Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog as a Calder winner (Landeskog captured his in 2011-12) and just the ninth player in NHL history to win the trophy after being selected No. 1 overall, joining the likes of Gilbert Perreault, Denis Potvin, Bobby Smith, Dale Hawerchuk, Mario Lemieux, Bryan Berard, Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Kane.

Though Palat and Johnson had solid years, MacKinnon was a runaway Calder winner given his tremendous regular season — the former QMJHL Halifax star topped all first-year players in points (63), goals (24-tied), assists (39), power-play goals (8), game-winning goals (5-tied) and shots (241) this year.

Here are the voting results for the top 10 candidates:

Pts. (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
1. Nathan MacKinnon, COL 1347 (130-6-1-0-0)
2. Ondrej Palat, TB 791 (5-78-29-15-5)
3. Tyler Johnson, TB 352 (0-13-29-30-26)
4. Torey Krug, BOS 287 (1-9-23-25-24)
5. Olli Maatta, PIT 225 (0-11-18-16-10)
6. Jacob Trouba, WPG 213 (1-11-17-9-14)
7. Hampus Lindholm, ANA 208 (0-7-15-22-18)
8. Sean Monahan, CGY 38 (0-2-2-3-5)
9. Frederik Andersen, ANA 25 (0-0-0-4-13)
10. Chris Kreider, NYR 20 (0-0-1-3-6)

To little surprise, MacKinnon ran away with the voting. In case you’re wondering, Nashville Predators defenseman Seth Jones came in 11th.

Take a look at the Calder Trophy winners and runners up since 1990:

Year Winner Runner-up
2014 Nathan MacKinnon, Col. Ondrej Palat, T.B.
2013 Jonathan Huberdeau, Fla. B. Gallagher, Mtl.
2012 Gabriel Landeskog, Col. R. Nugent-Hopkins, Edm.
2011 Jeff Skinner, Car. Logan Couture, S.J.
2010 Tyler Myers, Buf. Jimmy Howard, Det.
2009 Steve Mason, CBJ Bobby Ryan, Ana
2008 Patrick Kane, Chi. N. Backstrom, Wsh
2007 Evgeni Malkin, Pit. Paul Stastny, Col.
2006 Alex Ovechkin, Wsh. Sidney Crosby, Pit.
2004 Andrew Raycroft, Bos. Michael Ryder, Mtl.
2003 Barret Jackman, St.L Henrik Zetterberg, Det.
2002 Dany Heatley, Atl. Ilya Kovalchuk, Atl.
2001 Evgeni Nabokov, S.J. Brad Richards, T.B.
2000 Scott Gomez, N.J. Brad Stuart, S.J.
1999 Chris Drury, Col. Marian Hossa, Ott.
1998 Sergei Samsonov, Bos. Mattias Ohlund, Van.
1997 Bryan Berard, NYI Jarome Iginla, Cgy.
1996 Daniel Alfredsson, Ott. Eric Daze, Chi.
1995 Peter Forsberg, Que. Jim Carey, Wsh.
1994 Martin Brodeur, N.J. Jason Arnott, Edm.
1993 Teemu Selanne, Wpg. Joe Juneau, Bos.
1992 Pavel Bure, Van. Nicklas Lidstrom, Det.
1991 Ed Belfour, Chi. Sergei Fedorov, Det.
1990 Sergei Makarov, Cgy. Mike Modano, Min.