Chicago Blackhawks: 3 TB Lightning players to steal in free agency

They actually did it! The Tampa Bay Lightning are the Stanley Cup champions for the third time in franchise history and second year in a row. They have overcome a lot over the last half-decade or so to win this thing and now they are on top of the hockey world again. Chicago Blackhawks fans might remember how tough they were when the Hawks beat them in 2015. It is a very strong organization that might look a little bit different next year.

Of course, the elite players will remain. You can expect Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point, and Andrei Vasilevskiy to all be wearing blue and white next season. However, it was Tampa Bay’s incredible depth that allowed those stars to shine the brightest in the playoffs. That is the part of their roster that is going to take a big hit in 2021-22.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, to the dismay of a lot of people, was well over the salary cap during the playoffs. Nikita Kucherov missed the entire regular season due to injury but was able to return for game one of the playoffs. That allowed the Lightning to have better depth players taking up the cap space that was supposed to be taken by Kucherov if he wasn’t hurt. The Lighting manipulated the cap within the rules and it paid off for them, like it or not.

The Chicago Blackhawks could jump on some free agents over the summer.

With that in mind, you can be certain that it won’t happen again because a highly paid player like Nikita Kucherov or Steven Stamkos isn’t missing the entire season next year. They are going to be a different-looking team as others get paid elsewhere. These are three Tampa Bay free agents for the Blackhawks to consider: