Days After Stanley Cup Win, Lightning GM to Dump $10M In Trade

According to TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun, the Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t wasting any time getting ready for free agency and next season. According to the hockey scribe and analyst, GM Julien BriseBois has already gotten on the phone and started making calls to move players.

Related: Every NHL Team’s Most Likely Offseason Trade Piece: [Part 3]

Just one day after winning the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup, the Lightning realize they need to shed $10 million in salary in the next three weeks. As such BriseBois is trying to move out names like Tyler Johnson, and some believe Yanni Gourde could be in play as well.

A team with very little cap space but a ton of players with no-move clauses, BriseBois could be in a very interesting and tricky spot. As a result, LeBrun says the Lightning could surprise everyone here and move a player that no one expected they would move. Does that mean asking someone like Steven Stamkos if he’d be willing to consider his options? What about a player like Ryan McDonagh who was quietly a force on the blue line?

LeBrun on TSN says Julien BriseBois has already on the phone after winning the Cup, they need to shed $10M in the next 3 weeks, obvious candidates include Tyler Johnson and a lot of teams believe Yanni Gourde could be in play as well. Problem is both those players have a full NTC

— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) September 29, 2020

Lightning In a Vulnerable Position

Hart Levine was on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer on Tuesday and he’s a number-cruncher on Puck Pedia.com. He noted that the Lightning might be the most interesting team to watch this offseason because they need to move players. They’ve got only 15 players under contract and so many of the guys they want to move have conditions in their deals, the team is in a prone position to get blasted by another club that wants to make things interesting.

While this might not be the best climate to make offer sheets, a team could see how badly the Lightning are positioned to keep everyone and not let them sit on their RFA’s, namely Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli or Erik Cernak. The Lightning clearly would want to match offers for those players, and in doing so, put themselves over the cap ceiling.

Knowing that anything is possible in such an unpredictable offseason, it is imperative the Lightning move out money and quickly. The Lightning want to get ahead of this if they can so they’re being proactive and hopping on the phone immediately.

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