It has been rumored for some time that the Tampa Bay Lightning and GM Steve Yzerman had struck a deal with the Vegas Golden Knights and GM George McPhee to steer them away from certain players. The Tampa Bay Times’ Joe Smith has added some concrete names to that speculation this afternoon, reporting that Vegas would not select young Bolts’ defensemen Jake Dotchin and Slater Koekkoek. The pair were left exposed as Tampa Bay chose to protect Norris Trophy finalist Victor Hedman, his partner Anton Stralman, and veteran Braydon Coburn.
Dotchin, 23, skated in 35 games with the Lightning as a rookie in 2016-17 and recorded 11 points along the way. At 6’3″, 210-lbs., the bruising blue liner played major minutes for Tampa and proved to be a reliable stay-at-home option. Koekkoek, also 23, was the tenth overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft by the Bolts, and has played in 41 career NHL games over the past three season, including 29 this past year. Although Koekkoek has been able to move the puck well and score at the AHL level, he has yet to find the same consistency and success at the NHL level. Nevertheless, he has shown promise and the Lightning were not willing to lose he or Dotchin for nothing
So what is the deal that protected the pair? Speculation earlier today from Smith was that the Lightning may be offering up the rights to prominent Russian prospect Nikita Gusev as part of the deal. Smith pondered if that would be in exchange for protecting the young defenseman or in exchange for selecting the bad contract of veteran blue liner Jason Garrison. While it still remains unknown who the Knights will take from Tampa, the confirmation that it will not be Dotchin or Koekkoek alone could mean that Gusev is on his way to Vegas, where former SKA St. Petersburg teammate Vadim Shipachyov has already signed.