Here’s how Lightning can still sign Erik Karlsson even after Kucherov extension

On Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced they have signed forward Nikita Kucherov to an eight-year extension. But that doesn’t take them out of the running for Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson. Here’s why.

The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to look like one of, if not the, most dominant teams in the NHL after locking down right winger Nikita Kucherov to an eight-year contract extension on Tuesday.

According to the Lightning, the average on the deal is $9.5 million — $76 million overall.

The extension keeps Kucherov around through the 2026-27 season — and once the terms take effect, he’ll become the team’s highest-paid player.

Oh — it’s also the most expensive contract in the club’s history.

https://twitter.com/TBLightning/status/1016683501440167936

With that kind of money tied up in Kucherov, can the Lightning still consider themselves frontrunners for the services of Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, to whom they’ve been linked for the better part of a week?

Incredibly, the answer is yes.

Here’s a look courtesy of Cap Friendly at how Kucherov’s contract is structured:

That’s 31.5 million in base salary and $44.5 million signing bonuses — the latter of which will be paid regardless of any future lockout, which is looking all by guaranteed for the 2020-21 season. It would be the NHL’s fourth lockout.

Commissioner Gary Bettman reportedly encouraged teams not to offer signing bonus money during the lockout, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. Welp.

Getting back to Karlsson, the contract should leave the Lightning with about $3.4 million in available cap space as of today, per Cap Friendly. They won’t get out of the Karlsson sweepstakes for less than the $11 million annual average that Drew Doughty got from the Los Angeles Kings.

But with more of the pieces in place, now general manager Steve Yzerman just has a clearer vision of what needs to be done.

To free up more space, the Lightning will likely look to move alternate captain Ryan Callahan, which would open up $5.8 million. In 2019, Daniel Girardi, Anton Stralman and Braydon Coburn become unrestricted free agents, which takes another $11 million off the books.

Now, the next order of business for Yzerman is to cement a third team to get involved in the trade for Karlsson to make the cap math work. According to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, the Bolts “continue to engage outside teams” about the three-way trade with Ottawa.

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Buckle up, folks. The Lightning are already arguably the most dangerous team in the NHL, and they’re still in contention for one of the league’s best defensemen to boot.