SUNRISE — Lightning C Tyler Johnson will not need surgery this offseason to repair his broken right wrist, general manager Steve Yzerman said Friday.
It's a good sign for Johnson, 24, who suffered the injury in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final landing on the wrist after a hit from Chicago D Brent Seabrook.
Johnson, severely limited in the final, said at the end of the season he didn't think the wrist would require surgery, but had a physical to make sure. It doesn't appear that the injury will impact the start of next season for Johnson, who led the NHL with 13 postseason goals after racking up 29 in the regular season.
TOUGH TASK: Some of the Lightning's Atlantic Division rivals made bold moves Friday. The Sabres, which finished in last place, added a No. 1 goaltender in Robin Lehner, and upgraded their offense in acquiring C Ryan O'Reilly (from Colorado) and, of course, the No. 2 overall pick C Jack Eichel. The Lightning faces the Sabres four times in the first 17 games next season. The Bruins appeared to be weakened after making some salary-cap related trades, shipping D Dougie Hamilton to Calgary and LW Milan Lucic to Los Angeles.
NEXT UP: The Lightning has 10 selections today in rounds 2-7, which begin at 10 a.m. Tampa Bay's first pick will be No. 33, obtained from the Islanders in a trade down Friday.
Yzerman said the Lightning doesn't necessarily look to fill any positional needs within the organization.
"Generally we've taken the draft as the best players available at the time, so nothing in particular," Yzerman said. "You are always just trying to add good prospects. Your situation always changes from year to year, so to draft some 18-year-olds for a specific need, by the time they are ready your needs change anyway."
But with the Lightning having to use a number of its prospects at the NHL level last season, including D Nikita Nesterov, D Vladislav Namestnikov and LW Jonathan Drouin, it needs to replenish the system.
"We have moved a lot of young players into our lineup, and this is a chance to add more prospects into the system that hopefully one day, one or two of them or more are eventually NHL players," Yzerman said.
ICE CHIPS: Yzerman said he isn't sure if the Lightning will replace assistant coach George Gwozdecky, who left after his two-year contract expired to pursue other opportunities. Yzerman said he planned to talk to coach Jon Cooper to figure it out. … It's an interesting story how the Lightning had the 28th overall pick Friday night. Yzerman could have traded that pick, which he got in the Marty St. Louis trade with the Rangers, or the Lightning's first-round pick in the D Braydon Coburn deal in March. But Yzerman correctly bet that Tampa Bay would go further in the playoffs than the Rangers. The Lightning would have picked 29th if it kept its selection.