Lightning have appeared to sign Tom Pyatt to a 2 year one-way contract for $600,000.

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According to capgeek.com; the Tampa Bay Lightning have 22.8 Million in cap space for the 2011-2012, with the expectancy of the cap limit being raised a few million.

This leaves JM Steve Yzerman with a lot of options, and a lot of problems. Tampa currently has 8 Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) and 4 Restricted Free Agents (RFA). Now, we have all heard the recent rumors of Brad Richards returning to Tampa! However, its hard to realistically believe this is a possibility.

One can dream though. Can't they?

 

Right now Tampa has to resign superstar Steven Stamkos, sign two goalies, and fill in alot of blank spaces, but we do have the upside of an owner willing to spent the cap limit. Thank you Mr. Vinik.

 

Here's the Lightning Roster and when they sit.

 

UFA List

Simon Gagne

Sean Bergenheim

Adam Hall

Eric Brewer 

Randy Jones

Marc-Andre Bergeron

Dwayne Roloson

Mike Smith

 

RFA List

Steven Stamkos

Teddy Purcell

Mike Lundin

Matt Smaby

 

Players Signed

Vincent Lecavalier

Martin St. Louis

Ryan Malone

Steve Downie

Dominic Moore

Nate Thompson

Dana Tyrell

Pavel Kubina

Victor Hedman

Mattias Ohlund

Brett Clark

 

Honestly I would have expected Steven Stamkos to resign by now, and every time I hear a Stamkos rumor involving Toronto I want to puke. Steve Yzerman is as smart as they come, and I can only assume that Stamkos will be signed to a long-term deal around 8M per year, with a cap hit in the 7M range. This would leave Tampa with approximately 15 Million (without the cap raise) to fill in some serious holes.

 

Teddy Purcell had a breakout season reaching the 50 point mark and he was stellar in the playoffs, can Tampa afford to keep him around? Sean Bergenheim had a heroic playoff run, Eric Brewer was a shot-blocking machine. Do we resign Gagne after he found some long needed chemistry with vinny? Do we resign Roloson for one more year after his playoff heroics? Even Mike Smith was solid in his last few games of the season, AND the rare playoff appearance.

 

The Lightning surprised us all this year. Anyone who said they would be in Game 7 of the Conference Finals can shake their head, even I was expecting a early exit. Half the players had never even seen the playoffs before...

 

Lets assume the following;

 

* Adam Hall resigns for a team friendly 1 Million 2-year deal.

* Dwayne Roloson resigned for one more year at 2 million.

* Teddy Purcell gets a multi-year contract at 3.5 Million

* Bergenheim resigns for approximately 2 Million

* Randy Jones resigned for another year at 1 Million 

* MA Bergeron, Gagne, Brewer, Smith walk away from the team.

 

Now thats a lof of IF's, the numbers will vary and some players do not get signed and others will.

 

This leaves Tampa with approximately 6-7 Million in cap space to sign Brad Richards. But wait. We would only have 1 goalie signed, 5 defenceman signed, and 11 forwards.

 

Brad Richards would be willing to take a home town discount, but even if he signs for lets say 5 Million, we have 1-2 Million to sign a backup goalie, 2 defenceman and another forward. That can not work, can it?

 

I know we have promising prospects and we all (well, most of us) expect Cedrick Desjardins to crack the Lightning roster next season, so some of these holes can and will be filled. But it would put too much stress on our team and our future if we were to resign Brad Richards. I for one am letting go of a dream for the better of our team. I do not want to turn into Chicago and have to trade our assets for virtually nothing.

 

Thank you for the read. Let me know what you think about signing Richards!

Poll

Should Tampa Sign Brad Richards?

42%

Yes

67 votes

17%

No

27 votes

10%

Not Sure

16 votes

29%

They Should.. But Not Enough Cap Space

47 votes

157 votes | Poll has closed

Dave Mishkin: "HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES. WHO ELSE!? SEAN BERGENHEIM!!!!!"

I dont think there has been a better third line in the Playoffs this year than Dominic Moore, Sean Bergenheim and Steve Downie. They have played fantastic in the playoffs thus far, and far beyond most of our expectations. It took them a while to get started, but now I think there's no stopping them. 

They are a combined +17 after two rounds and are accountable for most of our even strength goals. Tampa's top guns in Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos are all playing great on the power play, but without our secondary scoring and even strength goals, Tampa would not be where they are now, the Eastern Conference Finals! They are battling for the Prince of Wales trophy against the big bad Boston Bruins.

I think our JM Steve Yzerman may have his hands full in re-signing Bergenheim, Teddy Purcell and even Adam Hall this year, and then dealing with Steve Downie and Dominic Moore next year.

Here's to hoping they keep up the pace in the Conference Finals against the Bruins, and hoping that the Stanley Cup gets another tan this year! 

Before anyone jumps the gun on this post, just want to let everyone know this is my first post on this website.

OK, so down to the point:

With the signing of Simon Gagne, we can finally breathe and now Lecavalier does not have anymore excuses. A year after his surgery and with a legitimate winger for him to play with our two top lines are looking great. 

In my opinion we should leave Downie, Stamkos, St. Louis as our first line... after we sign Downie :/ and possibly let Malone, Lecavalier, Gagne tackle a very impressive second line.

However how is our third and fourth line looking? Do we let put Teddy Purcell, Dominic Moore, Nate Thompson become our third line (I wouldn't mind) and let Pouilot be our 4th line center filled with other forwards how show their worth at camp (Szczechura, Persson, Harju)

What I was thinking is that  Malone plays and tenures our third line with Purcell and Moore and bring up one of prospects and put him along side Gagne and Lecavalier. Could you imagine Carter Ashton, Dana Tyrell, or James Wright playing with them? Talk about developing a player, that is if Yzerman and Boucher thinks any of them are ready for the jump.

Afteer Yzerman signed Moore, we though this could be blocking James Wright from coming up again anytime soon, but last year Wright played on the wing for alot of his games anyways. Should we just let him play wing?

Wright, Lecavalier, Gagne still seems like a very dangerous 2nd line.

Let me know what you think, I still think we need a grinder/fighter player too, but hypothetically speaking;

• 1st Line - Downie, Stamkos, St. Louis
• 2nd Line - Wright, Lecavalier, Gagne
• 3rd Line - Malone, Moore, Purcell
• 4th Line - Persson, Thompson, Pouliot