Tampa Bay Lightning and Vladislav Namestnikov Avoid Arbitration and reach Two Year Deal

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Vladislav Namestnikov avoided having to go to arbitration on Friday, as they reached a two year, 3.85 million-dollar contract agreement Tuesday. 

The 23-year-old forward had a break out season during the 2015-2016 National Hockey League season. He put up career highs of 14 goals and 21 assists in 80 games for the Lightning.

 In 17 Stanley Cup Playoff games for the Bolts in 2016, he added a goal and two assists, while helping lead the Lightning to the Eastern Conference Finals against the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

After coming off of a one-year contract of 874,125 dollars, this past season, the new deal is a considerable raise, as well as giving him some job security for the next two seasons. Last season he was tied fourth on the team in goals with Tyler Johnson. 

Namestnikov was selected by the Lightning with the 27^th overall selection, in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft. Prior to the Lightning organization, he played for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.

 In 2012-2013, he joined the Bolt’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch before making his NHL debut with Tampa against the Detroit Red Wings on February 8, 2014. Tampa defeated Detroit on that night, as they would head into the Olympic break. 

In his first full season, 2014-2015, he would play 43 games while putting up nine goals and seven assists. 

By reaching the agreement with Namestnikov, Lightning general manager, Steve Yzerman can now turn his attention to Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Nikita Nesterov.