Lightning reportedly find their veteran backup goaltender

By Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
June 19, 2017

The search for a veteran backup goaltender behind Andrei Vasilevskiy didn’t take the Lightning very long.

All they had to do was look down one locker stall over from Vasilevskiy, which was occupied by Peter Budaj.

Budaj, acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in Februar as part of the deal that sent Ben Bishop to the Kings, has agreed to a new two-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $1.025 million per season. The deal was first reported by TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

{mprestriction ids=”1,2″}

Though the terms appeared to be agreed to between the two sides, the team has not made the signing official. The league has a roster freeze in place due to the expansion draft window, though it’s unclear whether or not that includes new contracts.

Budaj would still be on the team’s list of players eligible to be selected by Vegas during the expansion draft. The list of players selected by Vegas will be announced during the NHL Awards Show on Wednesday on NBCSN.

Tampa Bay was in the market for a veteran back up to serve behind Vaslievskiy in his first full season as the Lightning No. 1 goaltender. During his “audition’’ in the final stretch of the season, Budaj played very well in his four starts after coming over from Los Angeles.

The 34-year-old, who was playing as the No. 1 in Los Angeles after Jonathan Quick was injured at the start of the season, went 3-1 with Tampa Bay with a .898 save percentage and 2.80 GAA, winning key games at the New York Rangers and Boston. He also had seven shutouts.

Heading in to this week’s draft and looking ahead to July 1 and the start of free agency, Tampa Bay has approximately $18 million in cap space, according to Cap Friendly, based on the recently announced $75 million salary cap. The Lightning still have several restricted free agents left to sign, including Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat along with Andrej Sustr, Matthew Peca, Slater Koekkoek, Jake Dotchin, Dylan Blujus and Michael Bournival. Pending unrestricted free agents such as Yanni Gourde, Joel Vermin, Cory Conacher, Mike McKenna, Matt Taormina, Gabriel Dumont and Luke Witkowski could also need new contracts if Tampa Bay has interest in any of them returning.

{/mprestriction}