The Lightning look to be a team in transition this summer.

There are so many roster decisions Steven Yzerman has to make that will shape the immediate and potentially long term direction the franchise heads. From Steven Stamkos to Jonathan Drouin to Alex Killorn and Victor Hedman, among the many contract decisions facing Yzerman.

Who stays and who goes? You can't keep them all.

Which brings up the interesting situation surrounding the Lightning's goaltending situation.

Heading in to the summer the Lightning arguably hold the best tandem in the league with Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop and highly touted 21-year-old Andrei Vasielvskiy.

How long can Yzerman afford to keep both?

Vasilevskiy needs consistent playing time to improve, something he has not had since the middle of the 2014-15 season. But Bishop is a two-time Vezina Finalist who was arguably the team's MVP this season.

Vasilevskiy is still on an entry level deal. Bishop has one more year left on his contract before he's eligible to become an unrestricted free agent.

Then there is the idea of a possible expansion draft being held next summer, with the current projections allowing each team to protect only one goaltender.

At some point Yzerman has to make a decision on which goaltender to move forward with. Conventional wisdom says that should be the 21-year-old. And that is in no way reflective of Ben Bishop, what he has meant to this team and what he could still accomplish in his career.

"I think we’re in a fantastic position,'' Yzerman said. "We have two outstanding goaltenders, based on what we’ve seen from Andrei both last year and this year and in particular, him coming in in the Pittsburgh series, I think we have a brilliant young goaltender and a proven, I don’t even want to call Bish a veteran because he’s still relatively young in terms of years played and games played, but we’ve got two outstanding goaltenders. I know that at some point, when that is, we may for expansion or cap reasons, have to make a decision.''

The time to make that decision might not be any better than right now.

The Lightning are coming off back-to-back appearances in the Eastern Conference finals, reaching the Stanley Cup Final last season. But a team already at the salary cap ceiling this season has cap issues moving forward. That makes this summer very important for Tampa Bay in terms of shaping what the franchise is going to look like moving forward.

So if the roster is going to go through a transition this summer, maybe it's time to turn the net over to Vasilevskiy. That might mean some short term pain as his game evolves, but it might result in long term gain.

To do that, Yzerman would have to move Bishop to another team. And his value may never be higher than it is right now coming off a season in which he led the league in goals against average and was the only goaltender to finish in the top five in save percentage, victories, shutouts and goals against.

His price tag is not out of line with his production, earning $5.9 million, even though he is scheduled to be a free agent at the end of next season. He does have a full no-move clause in his contract so he would have some say in the destination if Yzerman were to explore going that route right now.

Teams that could use a true No. 1 goaltender include Dallas and Calgary. Others who might consider adding Bishop could include Minnesota, Colorado, Toronto, Carolina and New York Islanders.

But I'd look at the first two teams listed, especially Dallas, which had its share of goaltending issues this season despite winning the Central Division with the tandem of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi. No doubt the Stars would pay the price to acquire what could be a goaltender that could push them in to the elite status.

Calgary had all kinds of issues with its goaltending this season, finishing last in the league in save percentage. The Flames have team primed to rise in the Western Conference, built around the likes of Sam Bennett, Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and T.J. Brodie. They could use a top flight goaltender to solidify the team.

Tampa Bay appears set to part ways with captain Steven Stamkos, who is set to be a free agent on July 1 barring a last-minute deal struck in the next month. That absence will create quite the void at foward. Moving Bishop, however, might offer the chance to recoup some of what would be missing without Stamkos while freeing up a large chunk of salary cap space in the process.

While I'm not saying Bishop is going to be traded - Tampa Bay may in fact go another season with the current tandem - there may be no better time than now.

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