Three players the Lightning will have a hard time replacing

Jan Rutta

Jan Rutta spent the past three and a half seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. After being traded from the Chicago Blackhawks, Rutta worked out in a Lightning uniform because of his size and ability to defend in his own end.

At times, Rutta spent time paired with Victor Hedman on the top pairing for the Lightning. This was an instrumental move to allow the Lightning to spread out their talent on the blue line.

This season the team will be without Rutta who signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rutta signed a three-year contract worth 2.75 million annually which was money that the Lightning were not going to be able to offer to Rutta due to their cap constraints.

While seeing Jan Rutta go might not be as hard as some of the past goodbyes the Lightning have had to make, it still will be tough to replace someone the team had so much success with.

In his four postseasons with the Lightning Rutta played in 49 games scoring three goals and adding eight assists during that time. His best run came in 2021 when he registered 25 hits and had 16 blocked shots.