Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Tampa Bay Lightning Will Have A Busy Summer

03/04/2017 at 7:19pm EST

from Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times,

The Lightning has an estimated $18 million in cap space next season, according to the cap website capfriendly.com. But is that enough to sign pending restricted free agents Drouin and forwards Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat this summer?

"It depends on the type of contracts that we sign," Yzerman said. "The terms of their contracts that will affect the cap number."

Some other contract-cutting moves will need to be done to fit all three deals under the cap, plus a veteran backup goalie and the long-needed top-four defenseman. That's why it wouldn't be surprising to see Johnson, Drouin or Palat packaged in a draft or summer deal for that defenseman. You wonder if any of the three was involved in the deal that Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk nixed with the Lightning in January.

I still think the Lightning and the defensemen-rich Predators — teams that scouted each other heavily leading up to the deadline — could circle back before the draft.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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