Lightning Re-Sign Braydon Coburn to 2-Year Deal
By Brendan Azoff
They ended their season on a terrible note, but fans will be happy to see this.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed veteran defenseman Braydon Coburn to a team friendly two-year contract worth an average annual value of $1.7 million.
Braydon Coburn is staying with #TBLightning. Pending UFA signs $3.4M, two-year extension.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 18, 2019
After re-signing Coburn, the Lightning now have a projected $6.8 million in cap space remaining without the pending cap increase. Locking up Coburn gives Tampa Bay six defenseman on their roster with Anton Stralman and Dan Girardi both hitting free agency.
The Lightning have to get creative this offseason when it comes to their roster, as players such as Brayden Point have to be re-signed, while other forwards like Mathieu Joseph and Anthony Cirelli need new contracts next year.
*Assuming the 2019-20 ceiling is $83M, and
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 18, 2019
**Assuming Erne, Paquette, Point & Martel are Qualified#Lightning currently have $11,240,837 in off-season cap space
1-way: $71,941,666
2-way: $3,018,777
QO: $3,265,387**
BO: $1,833,333
= $80,059,163
off-season ceiling = $91,300,000*
Tampa will likely have to depart with either one or both of their veterans in Ryan Callahan and Alex Killorn in order to create enough room to sign all their young and talented players. Callahan is scheduled to make $5.8 million next season, while Killorn is set to make $4.45 million for the next four years.
It will do the Lightning wonders to move those contracts, a task that's easier said than done, but locking up Coburn to a relatively cheap deal certainly helps out the front office with their offseason endeavors.