I
wrote over at HockeyBuzz yesterday that the Tampa Bay Lightning are likely going to learn that salary cap casualties are a reality in today's National Hockey League. That's the nature of the beast when a team has so much young talent on affordable, cost-controlled contracts. Those contracts expire, and costs skyrocket. Players like Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Victor Hedman, Alex Killorn, and Steven Stamkos will all need new deals within the next year or two.
Unlike in the real world, where some frown upon the idea of firing senior employees and replacing them with junior (read: cheap) workers simply for the cost savings, NHL teams rely on a revolving door of talent. A dynamite core simply can't stick together forever in a hard-cap world. The Chicago Blackhawks, as mentioned in my HockeyBuzz piece, are a perfect example. Older, expensive workers (i.e. players) are shown the door when a new crop of cost-controlled talent is ready. The Lightning know this, as they've worked those aforementioned names into the lineup over the last few seasons at the expense of guys like Vincent Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, and Teddy Purcell, among others.
