Lightning Round: Ben Bishop’s career has come to an end

Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill told The Dallas Morning News yesterday that goaltender Ben Bishop will remain on long-term injured reserve with a degenerative knee injury, which also means the end of Bishop’s career. Bishop previously played for the Tampa Bay Lightning from the 2012-13 to 2016-17 seasons.

The 35-year-old Bishop had a torn meniscus surgery after the 2019-20 season and missed the whole 2020-21 season. He joined the Stars at the beginning of the training camp last summer and had been practicing with the team almost every day since that moment. Recently Bishop was on a conditional stint with the Texas Stars in the AHL and played in his first game since Game 5 of the Western Conference finals in August 2020 on Thursday. He allowed eight goals on 34 shots during the game against the Chicago Wolves and yesterday was recalled by the Dallas Stars. Jim Nill explained this decision for The Dallas Morning News:

“It’s no secret, he has a degenerative knee injury, and he went down there, he wanted to be a big part of this,” Nill said. “He wanted to do everything he could to get back. In the end, by going through the process, going down there and playing, he found out that it’s the end of his career.”

Ben Bishop was acquired by the Lightning in April 2013 in exchange for Cory Conacher and a fourth-round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Since that moment Bishop played in 227 regular season games with the Lightning, recording 131 wins over that span. He also played in 36 postseason games with 21 wins and was a significant part of the 2014-15 Tampa Bay Lightning team, which appeared in the Stanley Cup Final that season. During the stint with the Lightning, Bishop was twice a Vezina Trophy finalist and also finished twice in top-10 in the Hart Trophy voting. In February 2017 Bishop was traded alongside with a fifth-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft to the Los Angeles Kings for goaltender Peter Budaj , defenseman Erik Cernak, a seventh-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft and a conditional pick in the 2017 NHL Draft.

Overall Bishop played in 413 regular season games with a 222-128-36 record, 33 shutouts and .921 save percentage over 11 seasons in the NHL. His 222 wins is third-best result among active American NHL goaltenders.

Rick Bowness, the current Dallas Stars head coach, was a Tampa Bay Lightning’s assistant during Bishop’s stint with the team

“It hurts,” Bowness said. “I feel terrible for him because he’s such a great person and as I’ve always said, when he’s on, he’s a top-three goalie in the league. He took us to the Finals in Tampa. When you go that far, you have a special bond.

Ben Bishop is expected to speak with reporters on Tuesday morning

Lightning Links

The Tampa Bay Lightning were defeated by the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon, but still ended the road trip with a solid 4-1-0 record [Raw Charge]

Special teams was the deciding factor as the Lightning went 0-for-5 while the Senators converted 2 of their 4 chances with the extra skater. Ottawa played well with the lead, holding the Lightning off and forcing turnovers that blunted the offense.

Prior to the game, the Lightning had to deal with yet another line-up change as Zach Bogosian was a very, very late scratch (he participated in the warm-up skate according to the broadcast). Fredrik Claesson was popped into the rotation in his place.

The Syracuse Crunch didn’t manage to beat the Charlotte Checkers for the second game in a row on Saturday.

Not a big day for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s organization, as their ECHL’s team Orlando Solar Bears were also defeated yesterday.

Hockey News

All results from yesterday:

The New York Islanders won their first game at the new UBS arena

Earlier this week the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed that the NHL is still planning to go to the Olympics, the IOC has provided new updates of COVID-19 protocols:

Jason Botterill is the potential candidate for the Vancouver Canucks general manager position.