Tampa Bay Lightning trade Nikita Nesterov, acquire Jonathan Racine from Montreal

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
January 26, 2017

SUNRISE, Fla. – The Lightning pulled the trigger on a trade Thursday, shipping defenseman Nikita Nesterov to Montreal in exchange for minor league defenseman Jonathan Racine and sixth-round draft pick in 2017.

Nesterov took part in the morning skate and was scheduled to dress as the seventh defenseman on Thursday against the Florida Panthers. The trade was announced just after warmups started at BB&T Center.

Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman said the move was made to alleviate potential roster reasons.

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Tampa Bay was carrying eight defenseman on the roster, something that neither head coach Jon Cooper nor Yzerman like having to deal with as Luke Witkowski and Jake Dotchin – both right-handed shot defensemen – are currently with the team and both playing well. Both Nesterov and Witkowski would require waivers to be returned to Syracuse in the American Hockey League and Yzerman felt if they tried to send either back they would be claimed by another team.

“We had a bit of a roster issues depending on what we wanted to do,” Yzerman said. “We weren’t going to carry eight defenseman throughout the season and ultimate decided that for the time being we’d like to keep Luke with the team, he’s played well. And Jake is up playing well. It was mostly related to our roster. We were able to acquire a draft pick and potentially not lose a player for nothing.”

Racine was originally a third-round draft pick of the Florida Panthers in the 2011 draft. The fourth-year is on a two-way contract that pays him $675,000 at the NHL level and $70,000 in the American Hockey League. Racine was assigned to Syracuse.

The 6-foot-2, 202-pound Racine has one goal, 25 points and 391 penalty minutes in 224 career games in the AHL with San Antonio, Portland and St. John’s. The physical, stay-at-home style of defenseman appeared in one career NHL game with Florida during the 2013-14 season and figures to be a big part of the Syracuse blue line.

With a balance of three left-handed and four right-handed defenseman on the roster, it does not immediately open up a spot for former first round draft pick Slater Koekkoek, who started the season with the Lightning but was in and out of the lineup before being sent down to Syracuse. There are no immediate plans to call him up, for now.

“I don’t want to put a timeline on it,” Yzerman said. “I just want him to get down there and play, and play a lot. He’s playing very well down there, he’s an important part of our future and I see a very bring future for him still. So if we need a left shot or we feel Slater will come up and play a lot, then I’ll bring him back up. But mostly for him, he’s in his last year that he doesn’t need waivers. So I just felt that at this time, we are better off, if we have everybody healthy, I think it’s better for him in the long run to go down and log a ton of minutes in all situations. He’s gone down with a really good attitude and played really well. So I don’t want to put a timeline on when he will be back, but he’s obviously an important part of our future.”

Nesterov, who scored the tying goal in the third period at Chicago on Tuesday, was also a product of the 2011 draft, selected by Tampa Bay in the fifth round. Nesterov is on a one-way contract that pays him $725,000.

In 119 games with Tampa Bay, Nesterov recorded eight goals and 29 points was a minus-3. The 5-foot-11, 191-pound defenseman never found a regular role on the Lightning blue line. During the playoffs last season, Nesterov was a frequent healthy scratch in the later stages of the playoffs last season, passed in the lineup by Slater Koekkoek.

Earlier this season, as he struggled to get in to the lineup, he took shifts as a forward, even dressing on the fourth line for a handful of games in December before being moved back to the blue line.

“I think Nikita has a real good upside,” Yzerman said. “He hasn’t played a lot in the NHL, right or wrong he has not been able to stay regularly in our lineup. He’s a talented young guy, he skates well and I think there is great potential for him. If he can continue to adjust to the NHL game, so I would assume he’ll get another shot and more opportunity in Montreal. But I personally really like the young man and I think he has excellent potential.”

“This is the business side of things,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “You wish you could keep everybody. But these are moves, whether it’s creating roster spots or losing guys to the expansion draft, protecting guys, there’s just a long array of factors that go into why some players get moved. You’re going to end up moving good players, and Nesty’s an NHL player. But, Steve, there’s a reason he’s been GM of the year. He’s got a plan, and that was one of the moves.”

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