Division rival could get significantly weaker this summer
According to Pierre LeBrun, the Tampa Bay Lightning have exhausted their tank and have thrown everything including the kitchen sink towards pending UFA, Alex Killorn. However, it seems that the veteran forward is going to test the free agent market and is looking to cash in on a bigger deal.
Killorn is looking for a 3-4 year deal and the cap hit can be anywhere between $5-6 million for the two-time Stanley Cup champion. The 11-year veteran has 198 goals and 466 points across 805 games, including back to back 25+ goal seasons and a career-best 64 points this past year.
Across 140 post-season games, Killorn has added 37 goals and 77 points. He scored 5 goals and 10 points in 24 games during the first championship run, 8 goals and 17 points during the second run, and surprisingly 0 goals and 4 points in 23 games the following year when they lost to Colorado in the finals.
The Lightning currently have $450,000 in cap space but that number will rise to $7.325 million once they place Brent Seabrook on the LTIR. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Corey Perry, Ian Cole, and Brian Elliott join Killorn as pending UFAs, while Tanner Jeannot and Ross Colton represent their pending RFAs.
LeBrun mentioned that the Lightning are going to be more focused on bringing back Jeannot and that comes as no surprise after the treasure chest of draft picks they paid to acquire his services at the trade deadline from Nashville. He made mention that they might have to trade Colton before he elects for salary arbitration to avoid the fiasco.
The Lightning are up against the cap but their core is signed through at least another two seasons with the exception of Steven Stamkos. Take Victor Hedman out of the equation and they have Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Nick Paul, Mikhail Sergachev, Erik Cernak, and Andrei Vasilevskiy signed through the next 4 seasons at minimum.
Losing Killorn and possibly Colton is going to be a tough pill to swallow, similar to losing Yanni Gourde a couple years ago to Seattle in the expansion draft and then Ondrej Palat to the New Jersey Devils in free agency last summer. However, that's the price to pay for winning multiple Stanley Cups and having several core players locked up long-term.
It's going to be a relatively weak free agent class and that makes Killorn that much more appealing. He is tied for first among his class in goals with 27, second in assists with 37 - behind David Krejci who will most likely retire - and first in points ahead of Patrice Bergeron, Patrick Kane, and Max Domi.
He's turning 34 but should provide similar numbers to whatever contending team he signs with. Tampa Bay is in serious trouble of losing several key depth pieces this summer, so it will be interesting to see how they bounce back, what moves they end up making - perhaps to free up cap space - and how they roll into 2023-24 with the Atlantic Division always providing surprises.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 18 | 379 ANSWERS Division rival could get significantly weaker this summer Who will finish with more points next season; the Leafs or the Lightning? | ||
| Leafs | 329 | 86.8 % |
| Lightning | 50 | 13.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
