On the Tampa Bay Lightning …
Pierre LeBrun of ESPN: Think the Lightning would keep Andrei Vasilevskiy over Ben Bishop. The Lightning could hold on to Bishop until the deadline, but he has more value now. The goalie trade market is a little flooded right now with Marc-Andre Fleury, Brian Eliiott and Jimmy Howard. Bishop or Fleury could a No. 1 for the Flames.
Joe Smith: Lighting GM Steve Yzerman said he’s reached out to their RFAs, starting the process of getting them re-signed.
On the Tampa Bay Lightning and Calgary Flames …
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Bob McKenzie on TSN 1040. The Calgary Flames have, or will, talk to the Lightning about Ben Bishop. The Flames have spoken with the Penguins.
“Is it possible the Tampa Bay Lightning could trade netminder Ben Bishop? Yeah, absolutely it’s possible. I would have told you that during the Stanley Cup playoffs. They’ve got a cap crunch coming in Tampa, with or without Stamkos. Ben Bishop is a year away from unrestricted free agency. They’ve got a tremendous goaltender, a young goaltender in Vasilevskiy, who played very well in the playoffs. They’d be foolish not to explore their options. That’s not a news story. That’s not a flash.
“Now apparently some dim bulb in Tampa has started to say that ‘there’s reports out of Canada that Calgary has a deal in place for Ben Bishop,’ which, if they do, it’s news to me. I certainly didn’t say that, and I’m not aware of anybody else who did either.
McKenzie is sure the Lightning will listen to Bishop offers, and they could trade him at some point. The same can be said for the Penguins and Fleury. Bishop wouldn’t have to be protected in an expansion draft because he’ll be a UFA next year.
“So they have flexibility on that end, but they don’t have any financial flexibility right now at all because they’ve got so many players to sign both this year and next year, and not a lot of cap room to do it. Obviously Stamkos plays a part in that right now.”
