To start off offseason activities this week, the Tampa Bay Lightning inked an NHL entry-level contract with goalie Harrison Meneghin. He was the team’s seventh-round pick in the 2024 Draft.
Meneghin will soon wrap up his career in the Western Hockey League (WHL). In 126 career WHL games with the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Meneghin logged a 69-42-8-3 record with a .910 save percentage (SV%), 2.68 goals-against average (GAA) and seven shutouts. He will likely head to the American Hockey League (AHL) to start his professional career.
He went on an MVP-worthy run with Medicine Hat during the WHL Playoffs this past season. Meneghin posted a 14-1-0-0 record, a 2.35 GAA, a .906 SV% and three shutouts in 16 playoff games. The Tigers took down the Spokane Chiefs in five games to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup. It’s the Tigers’ sixth time taking home the Trophy, tied for the most with the Kamloops Blazers.
He’s now in the thick of the final push for the Memorial Cup, making 20 saves to take the opening game over Océanic. The Tigers seek their first Memorial Cup since 1988.
Let’s get one thing clear to start: this is not a story about how he will take over for Andrei Vasilevskiy anytime soon. If that were the case, you reserve the right to click out of this story. This is about what he offers in any other way. Those ways can still be impactful to the organization and its future.
The Value of Youth for the Lightning
The short explanation is that he is young and brings more depth to the system. He is only 20 years old, so he has the time to develop into a quality backup goalie to complement the superstar netminder. It’s been a few years since the Lightning have truly had a quality second goalie. This isn’t to undermine the efforts of Jonas Johansson, Brian Elliott or Curtis McElhinney. They gave their all between the pipes during their time with the Lightning. However, the results haven’t been there.
Here are the results of the three most recent primary backup goalies in reverse chronological order:
Sure, backup goalies aren’t typically high-level performers. It’s why they’re in the role that they’re in. While that’s true, the Lightning previously had a nice run of quality backup goalies. Louis Domingue was the backup for about a season and a half and had great results (.910 SV%). Before that, apart from a handful of games from Peter Budaj, their backup was their current starting goalie.
Yes, for those who forgot, Vasilevskiy was Ben Bishop’s backup for two and a half seasons. It was a good five-or-so-season run of good options regardless of who was playing. That ended at the start of this decade, and cap constraints have forced the Lightning to examine the bargain bin every other season.
Meneghin’s youth brings potential with a low cap hit for an extended period. Proper development means they could have a good backup goalie and have more cap space to go out and spend elsewhere.
The Value of Depth and Experience Meneghin Brings From Medicine Hat
There is a benefit of depth beyond just a future backup goalie. With the injury of Vasilevskiy before the start of last season, the Lightning learned the hard way what happens when they don’t have options.
Johansson was suddenly the starting goalie for two months and Matt Tomkins had to jump into the backup role. In six games with the Lightning in 2023-24, he had a .892 SV%. Tomkins and Johansson get credit for helping keep the team afloat, but that’s the best way to describe it. They hung in there.
Two seasons before (2021-22), the Lightning lost a chunk of the team to COVID-19. Two of those who contracted the virus were Vasilevskiy and Elliott. Games were postponed and they ultimately played against the Florida Panthers on Dec. 30, 2021, without either. They started Maxime Legacé and Hugo Alnefelt served as the backup. It was an ugly showing. Legacé was yanked mid-game and Alnefelt didn’t do much better after.
If there was an issue today, the options are Tomkins, who hasn’t shown much, and Brandon Halverson, who was roughed up in his lone game for the Lightning in 2024-25. Tomkins is 30 and Halverson is 29. They shouldn’t be expected to improve much further.
Meneghin could, in time, provide the Lightning with a better option in case of an emergency. This is more short-term if he could also become the primary backup, but the option is there for that purpose.
He also has experience in big games. He heads to the professional level as an MVP winner and has valuable playoff experience at the junior level. It’s a new level of competition, but he’s been conditioned to play under pressure. Having a guy ready at any time who has been there before, regardless of level, should give the Lightning some extra confidence if and when the time comes to call upon him.
Naturally, there are no guarantees that a seventh-round pick becomes an impact player for the Lightning. He was drafted as low as he was for a reason. However, because he’s young and the Lightning have success developing late-round picks, there is potential here. If there is, their future is in a better spot.
