What kind of contracts these Tampa Bay players get may seem above market value now, but they could be bargains down the line. It would make sense for the Lightning to get out ahead on these deals and secure long-term cost certainty when the cap is tight, knowing that in a couple of years, the cap is expected to increase significantly. Still, it’s not a lot of space to fill out the roster (with the salary cap expected to increase to only $83.5 million), and the trio of Cirelli, Sergachev and Cernak should take up a good chunk of the remaining room. Nick Paul, Brandon Hagel, Zach Bogosian, Pat Maroon are on the cheaper end, as is Alex Barre-Boulet, if he’s still in the mix. That includes some pretty important players, of course, such as Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman. The Lightning already have $52.1 million committed to nine players for 2023-24, and it’s up near $60 million with the final year of Brent Seabrook’s LTIR contract. The key question is: how much will it cost? “Looking at age, position and contract, those are three players that we hope to be able to lock up for many years.” They’ve done a lot of winning and are key contributors to those two Stanley Cups and the nice run we’ve been on the last three years. ![]() They’re really good players, play premium positions. “That was always the plan, to eventually sign them and try to see if we can’t work something out. And BriseBois this week is slated to talk to the players’ reps to get the process rolling. One of the main reasons for the surprising Ryan McDonagh trade was to clear up cap space in 2023-24 and beyond, so that these types of extensions could be secured.
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