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Lightning Send Cory Conacher to Ottawa for Ben Bishop |
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The Tampa Bay Lightning made a splash on trade deadline day by sending rookie forward Cory Conacher and a fourth round pick in 2013 to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for goaltender Ben Bishop. The deal, which addresses a need for each club involved, has since spawned a great deal of emotion, discussion and analysis from all corners of the hockey world.
On what turned out to be an otherwise quiet day for the Lightning, general manager Steve Yzerman addressed his team’s most prominent issue. With Anders Lindback injured and Mathieu Garon proving why he has been and will continue to be a career backup, the Lightning needed to make a goaltending move for both now and the future. Ben Bishop, the six-foot-seven goalie drafted back in 2005 by the St. Louis Blues, provides the Bolts with a much needed insurance policy.
With Bishop in the fold, the Lightning’s goaltending picture starts to look that much clearer moving forward. The notion coming from upper management is that Bishop and Lindback will split goaltending duties moving into next year, which should allow both young tenders to develop at a fairly reasonable pace. To be clear – the Lightning have not given up on Anders Lindback. The message from Steve Yzerman is that both of these gentlemen will be involved with this franchise as key pieces today, tomorrow and beyond. With Lindback, Bishop and Andrei Vasilevski in the system, the pipeline is full of talent.
While Bishop may be an unproven commodity given that he’s only played 36 games in the NHL, he has shown that he is capable of stealing games and coming up big when needed. The Senators may be more defensively sound than the Lightning, but the Bolts are offering him a chance to play. He will be given the chance to finish this season playing some big minutes for the club as it eyes an unlikely run at the Southeast Division title. Given that the Lightning have already made noticeable improvements to their defensive game through two games of Jon Cooper’s tenure, it’s hard not to think that Bishop will succeed.
For the Senators, Cory Conacher is a fantastic addition. The ‘little engine that could’ will insert some much needed offensive life into the Senators’ line-up. With nine goals and 24 points through 35 games this season, Conacher is already the Senators’ leading scorer in both goals and points. His youthful exuberance will fit right in with a core that, when healthy, boasts some of the most exciting players in the game.
Lightning fans have already expressed that letting go of Cory Conacher will be a difficult process. From a logical perspective, however, it’s important to note that after a blazing hot start his ice time dipped and so did his offensive contributions. Despite that and the fact that he is only in his first NHL season, Conacher had established himself as a fan favorite at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. That being said, the Lightning needed a goaltender and Steve Yzerman had an opportunity to deal from a position of strength. With so many smaller players coming up through the ranks, losing Conacher won’t create a massive hole in the Lightning’s line-up now or in the foreseeable future. Already, in fact, the team has recalled Brett Connolly from the Syracuse Crunch.
All in all, this was a good hockey deal. Two relatively unproven projects oozing with potential are switching cities and, in a lot of ways, it just makes sense. While the Lightning might miss Conacher from an emotional perspective, the acquisition of Ben Bishop will make this club a whole lot better in the long-run. With the trade completed, questions logically follow. How will Conacher perform without Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos? How will Ben Bishop perform outside Paul MacLean’s system? It won’t take long for everyone involved to see the results as the Lightning and Senators are set to meet on April 9th at the Forum.
On behalf of everyone in Bolts Nation, I wish Cory Conacher nothing but the best in Ottawa. Here’s hoping that he makes everyone who ever believed in him incredibly proud.
As always, thanks for reading.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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