Lightning Make $28.75 Million Move to Keep Leafs Target Home

Tampa Bay is doing the expensive part of the dance early, and that usually means the front office sees a fight coming. The Lightning’s latest step is clearly aimed at keeping a player the Maple Leafs have circled from getting to market. When a team commits that kind of money, it is rarely just paperwork - it is a message to the rest of the league that the door is not open yet.