Brian Elliott fitting in with back-to-back Cup champs

Veteran goaltender Brian Elliott entered the offseason as an unrestricted free agent after four seasons as a part-time starter with the Philadelphia Flyers, the last three splitting starts with Carter Hart, the Flyers deciding to move on from Elliott after 2020-21 while turning the number one role over to Hart full time.
The market for goalies in the offseason is notorious fickle, but Elliott had a few options.
However, when the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning reached out and expressed an interest in bringing the 36 year old in to replace the departed Curtis McElhinney and be the backup to Andrei Vasilevskiy, it was an offer Elliott couldn't refuse. Elliott signed a one-year contract worth $900,000 with the Lightning on the opening day of free agency.

"It's always good when a two-time Cup champion calls and wants you on their team," Elliott said during his first availability with local media Friday following the Bolts' second day of training camp. "It's really hard to say no to that. I was really excited, and I think if any group can go for three in a row, it's this one. With the right mindset and the group that we have this year, it definitely gives us a really good shot. Just really excited to be a part of that."
There was something else that made Elliott realize his decision was the correct one. After his signing was announced, a number of his new Lightning teammates reached out to welcome him to the team, provide suggestions on places to live in Tampa and offer any help he might need.
The gesture left an impression.
"I think you expect it from a captain or an assistant captain here and there, but there was a lot of guys, and I was definitely surprised, happy," Elliott said. "It just makes you feel that you're welcomed and you're going to be a part of this group. It was nice to get that."

Although Elliott signed on for one more year in Philadelphia last season with the understanding he would be the backup to the young up-and-comer Hart, he ended up leading the Flyers for starts - 26 to Hart's 25 - after Hart struggled early in the season. Elliott finished 2020-21 with a 15-9-2 record and two shutouts.
There's no ambiguity about his role in Tampa Bay. He's here to spell the perennial Vezina candidate Vasilevskiy. That might mean going upwards of two weeks without a start. Or getting the final game of a lengthy road trip. Or the second half of a back-to-back set, situations where he might have to steal a game because the skaters in front of him aren't as fresh as say the beginning of a road trip or the opening game of a back-to-back.
"I always say that every time you get an opportunity to start, you take advantage of it," Elliott said. "That's going to be no different here. You want to do what you can for the team, stop as many pucks as you can and get those wins. Playing with Vasy before camp and in camp here, it's awesome to watch him kind of do his work. You try to elevate your game to where his level is."
Vasilevskiy has played a tremendous number of games over the past two seasons as the backbone of Tampa Bay's back-to-back Cup championships. Since the beginning of 2019-20, Vasilevskiy started 94 of a possible 126 regular season games, or 75 percent of the Bolts' contests. He's played every minute of every game over the last two playoff runs. In a little less than two years, that's 142 starts for Vasilevskiy.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is well aware of the strain that many games in a compressed amount of time can have on a goaltender. If it were up to Vasilevskiy, he'd play every minute of every game. That's the kind of competitor he is.
But, it's also not sustainable.
"We're aware that we're not going to burn him out and we'll play him like we normally do," Cooper said. "You get in that 60-game range (of an 82-game regular season), I don't think that's an excessive amount. But, I'm not sitting here saying he's going to play 60 games. He may play less than that, he may play more than that. It just will dictate on how the schedule plays out, regarding how back-to-backs come into play and stuff like that. You've seen the way we've played him in the past, we've left him home on trips when it's coming down the stretch.
"Trust me, the last thing we're going to do is burn him out."
Finding a backup that could shoulder some of Vasilevskiy's load like Curtis McElhinney has the last two seasons - and was also cost effective for a team severely constrained by the salary cap -- was paramount for the Lightning this offseason. They feel they've found that guy in Elliott.

"You hope he gives exactly what McElhinney gave us: solid starts when he was called upon and being a good partner, a good teammate. McElhinney was five star for that," Cooper said. "I think that was a big part of bringing in Elliott was to kind of fill the role McElhinney had left. And every indication is he's going to do that. Just in the short time he's been here, he's a pro. He's been in the starter role, and he's been in the backup role. And we've laid out what's been asked of him. He's been great. Very much in the path McElhinney's blazed for him."
Pat Maroon said the Lightning are confident they're just as likely to win a game with Elliott in net as they are with Vasilevskiy.
"He's going to be great, just like Curtis, good veteran goalie that's going to come in, steal games and win us games," Maroon said. "He's a goalie that, knock on wood nothing happens to Vasy, can come in and fill that role and be a starter. He's been a starter before. He's a great backup to have. It's a great veteran presence to have. I'm sure Vasy's loving that. It's kind of the same feel as Curtis, having a veteran guy back there that can come in and steal some games, win us some hockey games. If something ever happens, we're confident in him coming in."
Elliott arrived in Tampa about a week before training camp started so he could get settled in his new city, take part in informal workouts at the TGH Ice Plex with his Lightning teammates and get acclimated to a different room.
He was immediately ready to step in and have some fun thanks to the well wishes he received from the Bolts upon his signing.
And now after being on the ice with them for a few days, he understands how this team was able to capture back-to-back Stanley Cups under the most difficult of circumstances.
"I think you can see why they are an elite team, the way the guys prepare themselves coming into camp and the culture that's here," he said. "Hopefully I can just slide in and add my own flavor to it and try to do my best for the team."