3 Moves The Tampa Bay Lightning Need To Make This Summer

After winning the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons, the Tampa Bay Lightning now face an off-season of uncertainty. They inevitably have to shake-up the core, as they are over the salary cap by a noteworthy total even with many players set to become free agents. Thus, even though they are true contenders, it has to be a summer of selling for them. They will still have loads of talent by the end of it, though, so they should remain as threats next season.

Here are three moves they should make this off-season.

Get Rid Of Tyler Johnson's Contract: This needs to get done this summer. Tyler Johnson was put on waivers last off-season, but there were no takers. The Kraken could look to pick him up through the Expansion Draft, as he is a Washington native. He has a cap hit of $5 for the next three seasons, yet has seen his role drop significantly over the years in Tampa. If the Kraken pass on him, they will have to get creative by trading him. That may involve them losing a high draft pick.

Trade One Other Key Forward: Getting Johnson off their payroll will not be enough to fix it. There are a handful of other forwards who could be made available, too. Alex Killorn, Yanni Gourde and Ondrej Palat seem like potential candidates. However, there are also rumors following captain Steven Stamkos, which were addressed by Darren Dreger. No matter who they end up trading, they will be losing a good player, which is tough.

Get Cheap Backup Goalie: With all of their cap struggles, the Lightning also need to find a backup goalie. Although Andrei Vasilevskiy is elite in this league, every team must have two goalies on their roster. Curtis McElhinney could be brought back on a league minimum deal, but they may want a slight upgrade from him. By trading one of their forwards, they could get a cheap goalie back the other way. They do also have prospect Hugo Alnefelt as an option, but he's still just 20-years-old and likely needs more time to develop.