The Tampa Bay Lightning just keep on making deals, and re-signing their players. After getting off-season deals done with Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Alex Killorn, the Lightning announced another deal on Tuesday. Tampa Bay has re-signed forward Vladislav Namestnikov to a two-year deal worth $3.875 million. The deal carries an AAV or cap hit of $1.9375 million per season. Namestnikov was a restricted free agent, who filed for salary arbitration earlier this month. His arbitration hearing was scheduled for July 29, 2016. Namestnikov will remain a restricted free agent following this deal.
Lightning and Vladislav Namestnikov agree to 2-year deal worth $1.9375 million per season.
— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) July 27, 2016
Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Vladislav Namestnikov
The 23-year-old Namestnikov is coming off his best NHL season to date. He scored 14 goals and added 21 assists for 35 points in 80 games for the Lightning last year. Over parts of three NHL seasons, Namestnikov has tallied 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 points in 127 career games. He has not been quite as effective in the playoffs, with just one goal and four points in 27 career games.
The deal leaves the Lightning with approximately $6.6 million in cap space, and only one significant restricted free agent in Nikita Kucherov. The Lightning could create some additional space by placing forward Ryan Callahan (hip surgery) on long-term injured reserve. However, this would only be a temporary fix.
The Lightning are also rumored to be considering moving goaltender Ben Bishop in order to create room. He will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, and it appears Vasilevskiy is close to taking on the starter’s role.
