Tyler Johnson is working on potential trade with Tampa Bay

When you win the Stanley Cup in the NHL, it usually comes at a cost. As soon as you thank the salary cap system a major part of your team will often break down or try to pay for the next talent and sacrifice the depth players. The same thing is happening at Tampa Bay, where Lightning has to make tough decisions on their experienced players.

Tyler Johnson, An excellent soldier for the team over the last decade, is one of the names that will trade in the coming days, despite the fact that he has a completely non-commercial rule. TSN’s Darren Dreger Johnson reported Lightning gave several teams that he would accept a trade and that there was good communication between GM Julian Brycewood And player camp.

Johnson, 30, has four years left on his current contract and has a $ 5MM cap hit. His role in the Tampa Bay offense has declined in recent years and averages just 14:33 per night this season. Not that his skills have disappeared. Remember, Johnson once led the team in scoring 72 points in a single season and he scored 29 goals in 2018-19. The $ 5MM price tag for Lightning in the current role may be too expensive, but he can still be a useful player around the league.

Of course, if there is a choice for lightning, they will probably put Johnson in the fold. But after winning the Stanley Cup they were in a very tight salary cap situation, with only 15 players committed to more than M 76MM. That salary is one of the biggest reasons for the squeeze Andrei Vasilevsky‘S new extension, which starts the 2020-21 season and his cap hit jumps from a reasonable $ 3.5MM to $ 9.5MM. The 2019 Vagina winner is definitely worth his big ticket, but such extensions make it harder to keep depth on the rest of the list.

There is also lightning Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev And others to re-sign this off-season as restricted free agents, a group that takes more than M 10MM even in regular bridge contracts. Moving money is a must for the Bryceboys and it looks like it will start with Johnson.