The dust has settled on the 2021-22 NHL season, so that means the Tampa Bay Lightning can start planning to win the 2022-23 Stanley Cup. With the salary cap only going up be $1 million dollars, expect teams, including the Lightning, to be quite busy moving players and their associated salaries in order to improve their rosters. Here are some important dates to keep an eye on throughout the summer.
July 1st - First Buy-out Period Opens
General managers are likely speed-calling each other looking to jettison unwieldy contracts. If they aren’t able to and just want to cut bait, they can always buy the player out.