Tampa Bay is perfect landing spot for Kevin Shattenkirk to revive career

Being bought out was obviously not ideal, but Kevin Shattenkirk has landed on his feet with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

After growing indications it would happen due to other decisions they have to make, the New York Rangers indeed bought out Kevin Shattenkirk with two years left on his contract late last week. But he has landed elsewhere quickly, with the Tampa Bay Lightning announcing Monday morning they’ve signed the veteran defenseman to a one-year, $1.75 million deal.

Shattenkirk, a New Rochelle, New York native, signed a four-year, $26 million deal with the Rangers in 2017. His production dropped off dramatically from there though, with 51 points (seven goals) in 119 total games and a combined plus/minus of -29. Under first-year Rangers’ coach David Quinn last year, his playing dropped by over a minute per game and he also was a healthy scratch early in the season on the back end of surgery to fix the meniscus in his left knee. A separated shoulder also hampered him during his stint with the Rangers.

Shattenkirk was once one of the top offensive blueliners in the NHL, with 258 points over 425 games with the St. Louis Blues with at least 30 assists in five of six seasons from 2011-12 to 2016-17. He was especially good on the power play, with 32 assists and 99 assists as a quarterback on the man-advantage over 416 games covering those six seasons.

It’s worth wondering just how healthy Shattenkirk was through all of last season coming off knee surgery, and even with his health as an ongoing question being a little further removed from that injury will certainly help. He also won’t need to take on anything resembling the minutes and matchups required of a top-end defenseman in Tampa Bay, with Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh leading a deep group that includes Mikhail Sergachev, Braydon Coburn and Erik Cernak.

Shattenkirk set a clear career-low with a 1.4 shooting percentage last year, which helped yield just two goals in 73 games, and it’s easy to see a correction naturally coming there. He still produced decently on the power play, with six assists last season, so some focus on special teams situations seems to be in order as he fits into Tampa Bay’s lineup. Though they didn’t get all the way back to the level of his prime with the Blues, it was easy to miss that possession metrics Corsi and Fenwick turned back into positive territory for Shattenkirk last year.

In the wake of the Rangers buying him out and his signing with the Lightning, Shattenkirk seems to be plenty motivated (and a little surly).

The Lightning are up against the salary cap, so a cheap flier on Shattenkirk is a nice fit for them along with the idea they can find a way to deploy him effectively. For his part, Shattenkirk joins a team with legit Stanley Cup aspirations, and he’ll have a better setting to show he has something left in the tank ahead of another run at free agency next summer.