The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that they have agreed to terms with goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on an eight-year contract worth $72 million ($9.5 million AAV). In 53 appearances with the Lightning last season, Vasilevskiy posted a 0.925 SV% and a 2.40 GAA. He ended the season with 39 wins and six shutouts, as well as three assists and six penalty minutes. He then started all four of the Lightning’s playoff games as they were swept out of the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets, owning an ugly 3.83 GAA and 0.856 SV% in the series. Over his NHL career, he has played in 208 games and started 198 of them, and has a .919 SV% and a 2.55 GAA. He also took part in his second All-Star game this season and won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender. The 25-year-old netminder has only played for Lightning over his five-season NHL career.
Lydia’s Reaction: And the trend of overpaying for players continuing. Don’t get me wrong, Vasilevskiy is a good goalie. But, he looks much better than he is because the team he’s on is insane. His numbers last season weren’t that impressive given just how good Tampa was, although they were still strong. His playoff numbers, in particular, were scary, as he folded under pressure like the rest of the team. Another reason he got as much as he did was because he won the Vezina Trophy last season, but he also shouldn’t have gotten that. Ben Bishop and Robin Lehner both had significantly better statistical seasons while playing for far worse teams, but once again, the Vezina Trophy goes to the goalie with the most wins. It didn’t take a good goalie to win with Tampa last season, and he deserves much less credit for them than he is getting. The Lightning may not regret this deal too much because he is young and if the team stays good, he will continue to look better than he is, but they are now going to find themselves in cap hell next season. They now have $67.4 million tied up in just 13 players next season, and still, have to resign forward Brayden Point, and he will most likely not accept less than $9.5 million a year on a long term deal. Their cap situation is far from pretty and will be very difficult for Tampa to fix as every other team will know they need to shed salary and won’t want to help them. This is good news to the rest of the league though, especially division rivals such as the Bruins, because Tampa won’t be able to stay as dominant as they were this past year without solid depth and likely one of their stars. So, all I can say is have fun in cap hell, I hear it’s a great time!
Stephen’s Reaction: This is an overpayment for sure. He has one Vezina trophy. That’s it. His stats last season were in the top ten of the league, but that isn’t worth $9.5 million a year. However, it is helpful as it gives Matt Murray, the Penguins organization and the fans an idea of how much Matt will ask for next summer given their numbers were nearly identical. I’ll make a separate post with more of my reaction that explains the whole situation with Murray and the Penguins within the next few days so be on the lookout for that!
Hockey Addict 