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Lightning's Ben Bishop talks of near-trade to Flames

September 14, 2016, 7:14 PM ET [12 Comments]
Ty Anderson
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The future is uncertain. It’s especially uncertain in the case of Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender and pending 2017 unrestricted free agent Ben Bishop. Tampa Bay’s starter for the last three seasons, the 6-foot-7 Bishop has done almost everything asked of him throughout his run with the Bolts, and even played his part to help the Lightning unsuccessfully trade him this past summer.

It was at the draft that Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman attempted to move the 29-year-old to the Calgary Flames, but when an extension wasn’t to be inked between the Flames and Bishop, the Lightning’s all-time leader in wins and 2016 Vezina Trophy finalist remained in town.

“It was up to me. They were on my no-trade [list] or whatever, so that kinda has to get worked out. It was one of those things where at the draft it could’ve happened," Bishop told Sportsnet.com prior to the start of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Columbus. "Obviously, it's not that close if it didn’t."

Like the Stamkos ‘will he or won’t he?’ storyline that dominated the regular season, Bishop’s future in Tampa Bay comes with a similar angle, but with an ending that almost every seems to view as a mere inevitability. It’s almost impossible for the Lightning to sign Bishop to a market value contract, nor would they particularly want to if superstar goaltending prospect Andrei Vasilevskiy, who finished the year as Tampa Bay’s starter following Bishop’s season-ending knee injury suffered in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, continues to progress into a legitimate NHL starter.

The Lightning also re-upped Vasilevskiy to a three-year, $10.5 million extension on July 1.

And with Nikita Kucherov and Nikita Nesterov still unsigned, the Bolts could still move Bishop if the right deal comes about for the club. But the Flames already found their goaltender in former St. Louis netminder Brian Elliott, so the Lightning would likely need to find a different suitor, something entirely possible if a goaltender suffers a major injury, or if a team like the Dallas Stars realize that the Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi experiment has gone on long enough.

Still, it won’t change how Bishop heads into his fifth season in Tampa.

“For us, it’s just about doing our job and trying to win a Stanley Cup,” Bishop continued. “Try to win each game. The business side will take care of the business side.”

Yzerman has not ruled out the idea of keeping both Bishop and Vasilevskiy for this season.

Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can also be read in the New England Hockey Journal magazine. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
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