Over at The Daily Faceoff old friend Mike McKenna posited that the Tampa Bay Lightning goaltending situation may not quite be set. Don’t get me wrong, Andrei Vasilevskiy is going to be the starter for roughly 60 games in the upcoming season. However, who is backup might be could still be up in the air. On July 1st the Lightning signed Jonas Johansson and in his post free agent frenzy press conference, general manager Julien BriseBois indicated that the 27-year-old would be the back-up for the season despite a rather incomplete history at the NHL level.
McKenna points out that Johansson might have had his development slightly stunted by the COVID pandemic:
“Now here’s the thing: I think the COVID years really slowed down Johansson. He was in the NHL for most of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, but only played 26 games. And that was during his prime development years. I think he’s a better goalie than his NHL numbers indicate.”
Johansson had a really solid year at the AHL level with the Colorado Eagles and is at the point where he likely doesn’t have anything to prove at that level. However, he is still an unknown at the NHL level. Is Mr. BriseBois willing to risk that for 20 or so games in what will be a tight Atlantic Division? Possibly, but McKenna points out there could be options available prior to the season starting if he doubts Johansson’s ability to serve as a backup.
A couple of teams (Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo, and Carolina come to mind) will likely have to place a goalie on waivers before the season begins. The Lightning could swoop in and pick up a player on the cheap that way. Although, any player acquired would require some financial logistics to keep the Bolts under the cap even with Brent Seabrook’s LTIR help.
Personally, I think the Lightning are going to roll the dice with Johansson. Looking at the schedule, he’ll likely get his first start early in the season as Tampa Bay has a back-to-back in their second and third games of the season. They have another one in early November as well. It also wouldn’t be surprising if Coach Cooper finds a way to get him at least one other start in the early going as he looks to make sure Vasilevskiy doesn’t take too heavy of a workload as the team finds itself.
It was a bit of a surprise to see Mr. BriseBois sign a relatively unproven netminder on the first day of free agency after developing a history of going with veteran back-ups. However, while Curtis McElhinney and Brian Elliott did an adequate job of tending the net while Vasilevskiy needed a break, they weren’t stealing too many games. Johansson has that ability and could serve as a nice bridge until Hugo Alnefelt is ready to go in a year or so.
Lightning / NHL News
A guide to Bolts Brewfest [Tampa Bay Lightning]
The festival of hops is tonight at Amalie Arena and the Lightning provided a list of all of the beer vendors that will be offering samples.
Oliver Kylington opens up about his challenging season [Hockey News.se]
After a 31-point season in 2021-22, Oliver Kylington didn’t suit up for the Calgary Flames at all last season. In an interview with Hockey News in Sweden, the 26 year-old defenseman opened up about his dealings with the mental and psychological problems that he dealt with during his absence from the NHL.
QMJHL bans fighting for next season [Bleacher Report]
The “Q” became the first major junior hockey league to basically ban fighting as they issued new rules for the upcoming season that mandate an automatic ejection for any player that drops the gloves during a game. An instigator picks up an additional one-game suspension while any player “declared to be the aggressor during the fight will receive a minimum of two automatic games of suspension”. While neither the OHL or WHL joined them in banning fights, this is a trend that has been widening in the lower tiers of hockey. The OHL has instituted automatic suspensions for players engaging in a certain amount of fights in a season while fighting is not allowed at the NCAA level.
Caleb Jones signs with Carolina [Sportsnet]
The Carolina Hurricanes bolstered their defense by signing free agent Caleb Jones to a one-year, $775,000 contract. He’ll likely compete for a spot on the third pairing after averaging nearly 19 minutes a game for the woeful Chicago Blackhawks last season.
Ranking the top 10 remaining free agents [Bleacher Report]
There are still a few recognizable names looking for a new team. While Patrick Kane is ranked at the top, he may not sign until after the season starts as he recovers from hip surgery.
Brandon Sutter signs PTO with Edmonton Oilers [The Province]
Sutter hasn’t played since 2021 as he’s battled the effects of long COVID, but the 34 year-old center will get a shot to make the Oilers in training camp this fall.
Stock up / Stock Down for the offseason [ESPN+]
They rank the Lightning a “stock down” citing the loss of Ross Colton and Alex Killorn. For the record they also ranked Toronto and Boston as “stock downs”.
