For all intents and purposes, nothing has changed for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite signing two defenseman yesterday, the math and the timeline for the Bolts to fix their salary cap situation hasn’t moved. They still need to clear a bunch of cap space ($6.1 million now, closer to $11 million after Anthony Cirelli signs) and do it before the start of the season. None of that has changed, we just a better idea of the actual numbers.
I’ve talked previously about the chance of a Cirelli offer sheet coming, but there are a few key reasons why it won’t happen.