Ben Bishop was close to becoming a member of the Calgary Flames, per the Tampa Bay Lightning’s goaltender. When talking with Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times at the NHL Draft, Bishop mentioned that he and his representatives were in discussions for a potential contract extension for the veteran netminder. Bishop also mentioned that the extension looked bleak at one time, given the fact that a trade to Calgary looked like a very realistic possibility.
Ben Bishop: Trade to Flames was 'close,' discussed extension. https://t.co/4c58zbgNAA pic.twitter.com/Y9DIuPAzah
— theScore (@theScore) September 2, 2016
“It looked like for a little bit it was going to happen,” Bishop said “At kind of the last minute (the Flames) went out and got Elliott. It was close, but there was never … It wasn’t that close, obviously.”
With the emergence of Andrei Vasilevskiy for the Lightning last season and a well-deserved three-year, $13.5 million contract extension set to start next season, the trade talk seems fitting. Bishop is one of the best goalies in the entire NHL, but he’s also 29-years-old and carries a $5.95 million cap hit for the 2016-17 season which will, in all likelihood, rise exponentially ahead of the 2017-18 season.
Yet 29-years-old isn’t old by any stretch of the imagination for a starting goaltender, and Bishop should have many quality years left in the tank moving forward. The issue, however, is Vasilevskiy is 22-years-old and is signed to a very good cap hit for the next three seasons on a team that is looking to keep their entire core of young players intact for as long as possible.
Bishop could still see himself moved out of Tampa Bay at some point in the 2016-17 season to avoid losing him for nothing, but he probably won’t see himself playing for the Calgary Flames anytime soon after the franchise acquired Brian Elliott from the St. Louis Blues instead.
