Bishop....what gives??

[Jake44]

Is this a buy low time or am I missing something here. He didn't get the last start. Should I even bother trying to acquire him? Is there something wrong with him? Thanks!

[Rato]

last time i checked he was not getting a lot of wins but his numbers were pretty decent. he'll start to loose some starts to vasilevskiy but i believe he'll remain the starter this season (and probably be traded in the offseason).

[SeaDawg]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned. He has played very well, but the wins haven't been easy. For whatever reason, the team seems to be playing better when Vasilevski is in goal and Cooper has been rolling Vasilevski out there fairly regularly since his return from injury.

The biggest factor in the back of my mind is that Tampa is in huge cap trouble and with both Stamkos and Kucherov due for major raises, it makes a lot of sense to deal Bishop and go with Vasilevski (assuming of course that he continues to play well).

Honestly, I'd rather them just deal Bishop sooner than later if they are going that route, but more than likely it won't be till the off-season, which means that for the rest of this season we will see a 60-40 split with Bishop getting more starts.

It certainly isn't an ideal situation, and one that hasn't been caused at all by Bishop himself but more by external factors that are out of his control.

[ds760]

Everything SeaDawg said is right. Vaselevski is a elite goalie in the making and the future this year not next. They need to get him as many games as possible to keep him in the mix for the eventual take over of the number 1 spot. Bishop could be good as goon sooner then later as they try to resign stamkos and make sure they have the cap space to do it. Bishop is by far the most expendable player on the team given his giant salary and the need for a couple teams out there for a goalie.

[franklin]

I still think Bishop will be traded in the summer. They need to know if Vasilevskiy is ready so he will play. But Bishop is still the #1 this year but more a 1a - 1b situation.

[Legoldenseal]

I remember in august and september when ALL fantasy guides were talking about 60+ starts for Bishop this year. I posted a comments in a ramblings, I thought, about the fact that I will be surprised if Bishop gets more than 55 starts, and that we could bank on something closer to 50-52.

The Bolts management want to soften his burden as early as last year at the start of the season. It was clearly stated by the management, but Nabokov was so bad that they can't did it until they decided to part with him and get Vasi as the backup in mid-january. So the 2014-2015 stats on Bishop starts were a bit misleading, (62 GS) as he was on a higher pace with Nabokov but a lower with Vasilievski.

This is enforced this year like everyone said because of the cap situation coming (Stamkos et al) and the fact that they need to see what Vasilievski could do on a daily basis, and that's not possible if he starts only a game out of 5 or 6.

So if you're looking to win now, Bishop is probably not your guy. On a long term perspective, you should be carefull because it's not clear that he's elite more than playing for a very good team (even so that's not the case this year up to now). He could land on the trade market next summer, or in the UFA market in 2017-2018, in an average team and be an average starter.

[SeaDawg]

...

You make some very good points, and to be honest we have seen this played out on numerous other teams and things don't always go as planned.

Quick had the up-and-coming hot prospect Bernier to contend with...Quick prevailed.

Luongo had Schneider. Schneider ended up getting traded.

Andersen had Gibson. Gibson was eventually sent to the minors.

Anderson had Lehner. Lehner got traded.

Elliott had Allen. Nothing is clear-cut yet.

Markstom at one point was extremely highly-touted.

etc.

I'm not saying Vasilevski is comparable to those other high-end goalie prospects, but my point is that even if the threat was there for Vasilevski to take over and steal a lot of starts from Bishop, history has shown us that things don't always work out that way.

As for Bishop not being an elite goalie because he plays for a good team, I'd argue that Tampa is far from a defensive powerhouse. Sure they can score a lot of goals (at least prior to this year), but they aren't necessarily a team whose style of play can make a goalie look better than he really is (like Nashville, St. Louis, LA, Rangers, etc.). Bishop also played quite well for Ottawa before going to Tampa. And if anything, the way Bishop has played early on this year suggests that he is playing better than the team in front of him. At one point he had let in something like 7 goals in 6 games, yet still didn't have a victory to show for it.

Anyway, as I already mentioned, as a Bishop owner I am definitely worried. I don't like that Vasilevski is getting so many starts, and although I'm sure Bishop will be a decent option regardless of the team he plays for, his value will surely plummet if he goes from a playoff-caliber team like Tampa to a bottom-dwelling team like Toronto, Edmonton, etc. in the off-season.

[HMF]

Nothing wrong with Bishop at all. TB has made it apparent that they want to get Vasilevskiy to play 30-40% of games. Bishop will still probably play 50+. Worse case scenario is he gets traded to a sub-par team.. but his SV% has been pretty solid for some time so not a lot to fret about.

Bishop owners would be wise to grab Vasilevskiy in the meantime. Personally, I may try and move him for someone that might play more and have slightly less favorable numbers otherwise and upgrade somewhere else. Just depends on the goalie I'd pull back.

Of all of the scenarios listed above my post I think this is only really comparable to the Louongo/Schneider situation. The big differences being that Schneider was quite a bit older than Vasilevskiy is, had been backing up Lou solidly for 3 years + a handful of games prior, and Louongo was on a massive contract for years and years to come. Also Schneider had ended up kind pf pushing Lou out of his starting position while under a new coach. One had to go. It still wasn't really a 1a/1b thing. Even in this case, Lou and Schneider have both ended up in great spots. Lou hasn't slowed down at all in Florida. In fact, his numbers, save for W's, are better.

So, not a lot to worry about man.

[SeaDawg]

Now that some time has passed, I think the goalie situation in Tampa is getting a bit clearer. Not only is Vasilevski getting few starts, he also has lost his last four. On the other hand, Bishop has been playing amazingly well. Bishop is top 5 in Save% and GAA, and top 10 in Wins despite Tampa being among the lowest scoring teams in the league this year.

I still don't know what this means long-term, because Tampa is still in cap trouble if they plan to re-sign Stamkos and Kucherov in the offseason. Regardless, at least at this point it seems safe to assume Bishop will continue to get the majority of starts for rest of this season.

[Big Ev]

Now that some time has passed, I think the goalie situation in Tampa is getting a bit clearer. Not only is Vasilevski getting few starts, he also has lost his last four. On the other hand, Bishop has been playing amazingly well. Bishop is top 5 in Save% and GAA, and top 10 in Wins despite Tampa being among the lowest scoring teams in the league this year.

I still don't know what this means long-term, because Tampa is still in cap trouble if they plan to re-sign Stamkos and Kucherov in the offseason. Regardless, at least at this point it seems safe to assume Bishop will continue to get the majority of starts for rest of this season.

if they are not in the playoffs at the deadline then they will probably ship him to another team as well as Stamkos

[Pengwin7]

I think TB will hold their team through the year.
They really have been off without Tyler Johnson in the line-up and he's finally back (though not taking face-offs).

The decisions on TB players all fall in dominos after Stamkos.
Personally, I don't think the club makes any major move during the NHL season and I think it's still Bishop's team for 3 of 4 starts through NHL year.

[Sulla]

What Pengwin said, and to add, Vas is showing that he isn't ready yet also so my concerns re Bishop getting shipped are diminishing whilst he continues to put up such great numbers

[Wonko]

Vasilevskiy has shown he is not NHL ready yet. Bishop is putting up fantastic numbers. TB just needs to start scoring some goals and the wins will come in droves.

[TeamRamrod]

As a Bishop owner I am less and less worried. I expected Bishop to have fewer starts, but Vasilevskiy is showing less and less. TB as a team needs to get out of their playoff hangover and put together a winning streak.

[STONE.]

Vasilevskiy should be sent to the AHL so he can play with some regularity -- he's looked rough, but it might be in part because he's starting so sporadically.
I'd much rather see him racking up starts and minutes in the AHL than sitting on Tbay's bench.