Did Lightning Clear Enough Cap Space To Sign Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman

The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to show the NHL is a business by making the tough decisions. On Day 2 of the NHL Draft, the Lightning traded defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to the Utah Hockey Club and Tanner Jeannot to the Los Angeles Kings.

Lightning General Manager Julien BriseBois is not afraid to make tough decisions. He again shows that he will do whatever it takes to improve his team or keep the pieces in place. He already has to make another run at the Stanley Cup.

NHL Rumors: Steven Stamkos Fits Perfectly with the Lightning

Nobody saw the Mikhail Sergachev trade coming. However, there have been reports that he wanted to announce a Victor Hedman deal on Monday, July 1. Hedman is eligible for an extension as he enters his contract’s final year at $7.875 million.

Victor Hedman’s agent Peter Wallen joins us in studio live right now on @SiriusXMNHL and tells us they know where both sides stand and they’ll get deeper into extension talks after the #GoBolts handle captain Steven Stamkos’ situation.

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) June 28, 2024

Over the next seven seasons, the Lightning General Manager has cleared $8.5 million in cap space. He was also able to move Jeannot’s salary off the books. Jeannot had a year left at $2.665 million.

The Lightning gave up a haul to get Jeannot a couple of years back, and it has not worked out for him or the Lightning. Now, BriseBois is getting out of a bad contract.

NHL Rumors: Tick-Tock Steven Stamkos and the Lightning – Teams are Waiting

In addition to Hedman, the Tampa Bay Lightning are trying to re-sign Steven Stamkos. There are reports he will market on July 1 because Lightning’s offer was insufficient.

The #TBLightning didn’t retain any salary on Mikhail Sergachev, opening up some much needed cap space with a Victor Hedman extension expected to come next week and, maybe, another run at extending Steven Stamkos before he hits the open market.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 29, 2024

While both parties continue to work on a deal, work remains to be done.

Julien BriseBois met with Steven Stamkos’ agent yesterday. They have not been able to come to an agreement yet but are still hoping to get a deal done.

“Obviously if we had reached an agreement at this point, we would gladly have sent out a press release announcing that…

— Diandra Loux (@Diandra_loux) June 28, 2024

Remember the Lightning re-acquired Ryan McDonagh from the Nashville Predators and took on his salary of $6.75 million over the next two seasons. So, to keep Stamkos and Hedman, players had to move out.

Jeannot and Conor Sheary were candidates, but nobody saw Sergachev coming. Now, the Lightning has $16.5 million in cap space.

Right now the #GoBolts have around 16.5M in cap space.

— Diandra Loux (@Diandra_loux) June 29, 2024

It will be interesting to see what happens to Steven Stamkos and the Lightning. This could go down to the wire. He is the priority for BriseBois, followed by Hedman.