Steve Yzerman has said that he doesn’t like rentals. Steve Yzerman hasn’t been shy about his want for a right-handed defender who can help the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Columbus Blue Jackets have one in James Wisniewski, and they’re trying to move him per many sources around the league.
While Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch reports that Wisniewski wants to stay in Columbus and has structured his no-trade clause in a way that might help to make that happen, there’s no reason for Steve Yzerman not to make a call to Jarmo Kekalainen. Wisniewski is too good to ignore.
Consider this chart courtesy of Domenic Galamini at OwnThePuck.com:
What does that say to you? To me it says that Wisniewski is an incredibly solid top-four guy who can slide into a top-pairing role if necessary. Does that not sound like someone who can help the Lightning?
Further, he brings an offensive ability that might help Tampa’s woefully bad power play. Check out the following numbers, which highlight Wisniewski’s prowess on the power play:
Those numbers, courtesy of Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com, show that Wisniewski is one of the league’s best producers on the power play. Among players who have played more than 500 minutes at five-on-four since 2011, he ranks 13th in points per 60 minutes of ice time. That’s ahead of some of the names shown above, plus guys like Drew Doughty, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Duncan Keith, among others.
This is a player with term left on his deal, and a skillset that would undoubtedly help the Lightning. While the cost would likely be high, it might just be worth it. The Eastern Conference is wide open this season, so it reasons to suggest that Yzerman should take his chance. He can deal with any cap considerations or issues, which admittedly could be problematic, in the summer. Now is the time to look at Wisniewski as a player who might put this team over the top. If the Blue Jackets are indeed looking to deal him before Monday, the Lightning should definitely be in on it.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.