One piece of news we’ve neglected from this weekend is the Tampa Bay Lightning letting it be known they would not be issuing a qualifying offer to goalie Anders Lindback, which makes Lindy an unrestricted free agent come July 1st.
Some fans out there have latched on to “will not” with regards to Lindback, and with this quote from GM Steve Yzerman, it sort of reinforces the idea Lindback is gone. Here’s a quote from TBO’s article:
“We are going to look and see what is out there, but (Lindback) is on the list,” Yzerman said.
The thing is that it’s not etched in stone that Lindback is gone. The whole purpose that Lindback was not tendered a qualifying offer is because Tampa Bay did not want to pay out that sum to Lindback in a contract next season… Lindy’s qualifying offer, for the record, would have been $2.2 million.
There will be interest in Lindback in free agency, if not in the NHL then from Europe where the Swedish Elite League, Finnish Liiga, Swiss-A and KHL can offer him both money and playing time, as well as being closer to home.
Just as a reminder, Jon Cooper and Yzerman both were stating post-playoffs they wanted Lindback back. Heck, Cooper was singing Lindback’s praises during the playoffs:
“If anybody is going to sit here and say Lindback is the reason you’re down 0-3, then you’re not watching.”
