In a week when all eyes were on the Tampa Bay Lightning and a potential trade
for Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, Lightning general manager Steve
Yzerman still made headlines without making a move on that front. He
unexpectedly extended star forward Nikita Kucherov to an eight-year,
$76-million contract that will keep one of the NHL';s top offensive talents in
Tampa Bay at a cap hit of $9.5 million a year.

While the timing of the extension was a bit of a surprise, the actual contract
itself follows the pattern of Yzerman';s recent signings. While many speculated
 that Kucherov could easily earn $11-plus million per year on the open market
next season, he instead took a relative discount, similar to his teammates
Steven Stamkos and Norris-winning defenseman Victor Hedman. These discounts
are due to many things of course, including Florida';s lower tax rate, players
buying into Yzerman';s vision for the future of the franchise and, simply,
stars like Kucherov enjoying the amenities of working in Florida.Yzerman
Locking Up His Core Players

It';s not just those three centerpiece players who have been signed to
long-term contracts, either. Over the last three years, Yzerman has been
locking up his core players with five to eight-year contract extensions before
they hit unrestricted free agency. These contracts often prioritize term over
immediate payment, giving the Lightning a little more cap flexibility than one
would expect.

Right now, the Lightning have six forwards and two defensemen signed through
the 2021-22 season, along with an expected multi-year bridge-deal extension for
 Brayden Point before he becomes a restricted free agent next season. This
represents nine players who will be the core of the Lightning franchise for
Yzerman to build around for the next four years.While he is largely expected to
 be the Lightning';s goaltender of the future, Andrei Vasilevskiy has not yet
been locked down to a long-term contract. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

These players include franchise faces like Stamkos, Kucherov and Hedman,
trade-deadline acquisitions in J.T. Miller and Ryan McDonagh and, of course,
Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn, three players who have been a
major part of the Lightning rebuild since Yzerman took over the Lightning back
 in 2010. While a trade for someone like Karlsson would require one or multiple
 of these players to be moved to make the cap hit work, as of now, the core is
 set in stone in Tampa Bay.

These long-term signings do beg a question, though: is it actually good to have
 so many players signed to long-term contracts?Could Long-Term Contracts
Handcuff Lightning?

In a sport with a hard spending ceiling like the NHL, having more than $53.53
million, or 68 percent of your total cap hit tied up long-term in nine players
 sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Between injuries, age, and just the
natural ebb and flow of any team sport, there';s little guarantee that the
players you signed at the start of their multi-year contracts will be upholding
 the same level of play by the end of it.

This means that the Lightning could be trapped with stars or a supporting cast
of players who are simply ineffective in the final years of their contracts,
with no hopes of moving on from them in order to bring new, young talent into
the fold. While this is a worst-case scenario, it happens fairly often.With
young, high potential players like Taylor Raddysh in their prospect pipeline,
the Lightning could have a logjam of talent in the coming years. (Photo by
Aaron Bell/OHL Images)

For example, the Lightning are currently struggling with an albatross contract
of their own in the form of Ryan Callahan';s $5.8-million cap hit through the
2019-20 season. When they signed Callahan to a six-year deal back in 2014, he
was a productive offensive player who also brought that invaluable
'heart-and-soul'; leadership to the young players on the team. Now, four years
into the deal, he is a shell of his former self, producing just five goals and
18 points in the 2017-18 season.

While Callahan';s struggles have been largely due to injury, it still presents
a clear reason why long-term signings can hurt a team. Without his contract on
the books, Yzerman would have a relatively large chunk of cap space to utilize
in order to make one last big move to build his best Stanley Cup
contender.Lightning Are a Litmus Test for Long-Term Contracts

This doesn';t mean that having a core group of players locked down long-term is
 necessarily a bad thing, though. Long-term player stability of a franchise can
 be good for all parties involved, from players and coaches to fans and the
community supporting the franchise.

For players, this means that they can develop relationships over the course of
years that simply can';t be simulated. For example, both Palat and Johnson have
 been playing together for close eight years now, and it shows on the ice. They
 always seem to know where the other is and have created some spectacular
scoring highlights due to this knowledge of each other.In the two years since
signing his long-term extension with the Lightning, Stamkos has been posting
consistently strong scoring numbers when healthy. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey
Writers)

By having a core who knows they won';t have to worry about contract talk or who
 their line-mates will be, they can focus on what matters most: the game. As
long as they can stay healthy, this should allow for the best play possible out
 of these players.Player Consistency Matters for Lightning Fans

It is often overlooked just how important having consistent franchise faces for
 a relatively small hockey market like Tampa Bay is. One of the reasons why the
 Lightning have been able to grow in the Tampa Bay sports market since Yzerman
took over is the fact that even casual fans have players they can latch onto
over the course of years. These fans may not watch every game that the
Lightning play, but they know who Stamkos, Kucherov and Hedman are.At the very
least, Lightning fans know that they will have many years to watch Stamkos and
Kucherov scoring goals together. (Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports)

Given that the other sports franchises in Tampa Bay are a proverbial revolving
door of players and coaches, this consistency is important to the continued
growth of hockey in Tampa Bay. Yes, there is no guarantee that these signing
will end in a championship for the Lightning, but in a sports market that has
lacked consistency for years, fans will know who will be along for the ride.

The post Yzerman Locking Up Lightning for Long-Term Success appeared first on
The Hockey Writers.

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