The Tampa Bay Lightning made a salary cap-saving move on Wednesday afternoon, sending away one of their most productive, yet injured, players to focus on their next up and coming stars. The current President's Trophy holders dealt Ryan Callahan to the Ottawa Senators in a three-team deal that also involves the Florida Panthers. The Senators will send goaltender Mike Condon to the Panthers, while also receiving the Lightning's fifth-round pick for the 2020 draft.
The move comes after the 34-year-old Callahan was placed on long-term injured reserve in June after being diagnosed with a degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine. Doctors have since recommended that he no longer players hockey, but Ottawa is in a position that they can take the risk if it means potentially having him on the ice. There has not been any word on if he has considered retiring from the game.
The Lightning also needed to make this move to have more options while re-working the contract of restricted free agent Brayden Point. The 23-year-old has earned a larger contract after coming off a season that saw him post career-highs with 41 goals and 51 assists. They saved $5.8 million on their salary cap, which was owed to Callahan, who is signed through next season. In 13 NHL seasons he has 189 goals and 200 assists, most of which came while playing with the New York Rangers.
The Senators moving on from Condon means that their focus between the pipes will be on Craig Anderson and Anders Nilsson. The 29-year-old Condon will now back up Andrei Vasilevskiy, who recently got extended, as the new addition has a record of 45-58-17 with a 2.79 goals-against-averaged in 129 NHL games over four seasons.
The move comes after the 34-year-old Callahan was placed on long-term injured reserve in June after being diagnosed with a degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine. Doctors have since recommended that he no longer players hockey, but Ottawa is in a position that they can take the risk if it means potentially having him on the ice. There has not been any word on if he has considered retiring from the game.
The Lightning also needed to make this move to have more options while re-working the contract of restricted free agent Brayden Point. The 23-year-old has earned a larger contract after coming off a season that saw him post career-highs with 41 goals and 51 assists. They saved $5.8 million on their salary cap, which was owed to Callahan, who is signed through next season. In 13 NHL seasons he has 189 goals and 200 assists, most of which came while playing with the New York Rangers.
The Senators moving on from Condon means that their focus between the pipes will be on Craig Anderson and Anders Nilsson. The 29-year-old Condon will now back up Andrei Vasilevskiy, who recently got extended, as the new addition has a record of 45-58-17 with a 2.79 goals-against-averaged in 129 NHL games over four seasons.
