Lightning Protect Present, Plan Future with Stamkos, Hedman Signings

Jim Rutherford of the Pittsburgh Penguins already won the NHL's General Manager of the Year Award, handed out recently in Las Vegas. The Tampa Bay Lightning's Steve Yzerman is probably your early, odds-on favorite for the award next year.

Yzerman has done some serious Ninja work for his Lightning of late, finding ways to keep his best players locked up for the next eight years, all the while keeping his payroll at a level to which he should be able to sign a couple of his top restricted free agents, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn.

Stamkos re-signed with the Lightning Wednesday for eight years at $68 million, and one year before he could have become an unrestricted free agent, Tampa Bay announced No. 1 defenseman Victor Hedman agreed to an eight-year, $63 million deal. 

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Both signings were major coups for Yzerman, not only for the talent they will continue to bring in Tampa Bay but for the cap-friendly terms to which they agreed. There is no question Hedman could have commanded a lot more on the open market next year than the $7.875 million cap hit he'll have for the next eight seasons.

"It went super, super fast," Hedman's agent, Peter Wallen, told the Tampa Bay Times' Joe Smith. "Both sides wanted it very badly. Overall, fit for Victor is perfect. He doesn't want to go anywhere else. He's extremely happy."

Hedman makes other GMs drool, and he would have been courted heavily had he decided to wait and test the market. Stamkos, of course, is a premier No. 1 center who could have gone anywhere if he wanted, but in the end Yzerman did the best sales job since Ricky Roma to James Link in Glengarry Glen Ross (warning: contains NSFW language) to keep him put.

The Lightning also locked up another key young player for the future Friday, as they announced they signed goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to a three-year, $10.5 million extension. With the team's other goalie, Ben Bishop, slated to go UFA after this season, the Lightning now have a good trade bargaining chip in Bishop. Yzerman could deal him now or wait until the next trade deadline, thereby getting most of a full season from Bishop, all the better to let Vasilevskiy develop at a more reasonable pace. 

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The key in getting Stamkos and Hedman to stay at the money they accepted means the Lightning still have the cap room to get Kucherov and Killorn signed. According to General Fanager, the Bolts still had nearly $13 million of cap space after the big signings of the last two days. The Lightning figure to again be a top contender for a Stanley Cup this coming season and probably for several more.

Would it have been nice if the Lightning could have picked up a top free agent Friday too, so the rich could have gotten a little richer? Sure it would. Tampa Bay has been an excellent team, but let's not forget it was a team that wasn't good enough to win it all. The Lightning essentially have the same team of the last two years, without any serious additions. 

That's why it will be incumbent on Yzerman to get something good for Bishop. But with all the work he's done of late, Lightning fans are in "We Trust in Stevie" mode. 

What seemed like a fraught, uncertain future for the Lightning just a few days ago has turned into a future so bright, Bolts fans have to wear shades.

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report.