Name: Erik Cernak
Position: Defenceman
Age: 24
2021-22 Team: Tampa Bay Lightning
Last Year’s Rank: #4
Reader’s Rank: #3
Writer’s Rank: #3
Final Rank: #3
When the Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Erik Cernak from the Los Angeles Kings as a part of return for goaltender Ben Bishop back in 2017, not a lot of people expected that the Slovak defenceman would emerge as one of the best Lightning’s defensive defenders except probably Steve Yzerman, the team’s general manager at that moment, and Stacy Roest — the Lightning’s director of player development, who spent a lot of time watching Cernak during his Erie Otters’ days.