By Allan Brown
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There are only five words to describe tonight's trade by the Tampa Bay Lightning of goaltender Ben Bishop.
It just doesn't make sense.
The Lightning announced early this evening that Bishop was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for netminder Peter Budaj and OHL defenseman Erik Cernak, a 2017 seventh-round pick, and a 2017 conditional pick from the LA, which in exchange received the veteran goalie and a 2017 fifth-round pick.
The Lightning certainly need defense, but today, not in the future. A reported deal between St. Louis and the Lightning that would have brought the Blues D-man Kevin Shattenkirk to Tampa in exchange for Bishop allegedly fell through earlier in the week.
One has to summize that Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman could not find a better deal - or defenseman - in exchange for Bishop and social media reports earlier in the evening that had the King's Drew Doughty coming to Tampa ultimately proved to be untrue.
Now, that is a deal that actually would have made some sense.
What tonight's deal tells us is that Yzerman has all but given up on this season, which has proven disastrous for a Lightning team that many had picked to win it all last September.
In order to do so now is definitely an uphill battle for the team that has struggled all season on defense, has often played only as good as the team as they are up against offensively and that foolishly vacillated between the proven commodity, Bishop, in net against the promising, yet still maturing Andrei Vasilevskiy, for the entire season.
Clearly, Yzerman opted to put the future of the team in Vasilevskiy's hands.
Good luck with that.
While Vasy has had his moments, at age 22, he's a good five years away from being in his prime.
And, remember, this my friends, Vasy isn't a good starter, remember the 8 games he played when Bishop was hurt and went 1-7 as a starter??
The team has never really rallied around Vasilevskiy the way they did Bishop.
They're going to have to now.
Unless, Yzerman alternates Vasy with Budaj, who actually had decent numbers in 51 games with the Kings this season when he replaced an injured Jonathan Quick.
In those games, Budaj posted a .917 save percentage and 2.12 goals against average, which were actually slightly better than Bishop's numbers in his 31 Lightning starts.
However, if Yzerman plans on alternating his new goalie with Vasilevskiy, that would ultimately defeat the purpose of the trade in the first place, wouldn't it?
It certainly wouldn't make any more sense than the Kings wanting Bishop unless they intend to trade him elsewhere in as the team, only one point out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference, shores its squad and lines up for a postseason push.
Or, perhaps, Quick, who just returned to the team this week after being out all this season recovering from a lower body injury, isn't as fully recovered as he insists that he is and acquiring Bishop was provides the team with a safety net.
Ultimately, though, tonight's decision likely means no playoff push for the Bolts, but only time will tell if that's an accurate assessment or not.
What is fact, though, is this: Bishop, whose 5-0 and .953 save percentage was the best in the league this month.
Basically, Bishop, who was in the last year of his three-year deal with the Bolts, was going to be gone after this season anyway, so Yzerman did everything in his power to get the most out of this trade that he could.
And, maybe, time will prove the GM right, as it almost always has in the past.
However, it's doubtful that tonight's move reaps immediate dividends for the team.
Who knows for sure.
This much, though, is certain, Bishop will be missed by the Lightning faithful.
Good luck, Bish in LA - or wherever you ultimately land - Hope you get to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup. Thank you for your service in Tampa.
Hmm. Two Vezina nominations, a Cup Final and the best numbers in franchise history.
He deserved better than this.
Maybe Yzerman did Bishop a favor tonight.
To many, Bish is already a King, so maybe it's appropriate that he now gets to sport a crown on his chest when he puts on the Los Angeles sweater for the first time later this week.
Unless, he's traded elsewhere, that is.
