Steve Yzerman won GM of the Year in Las Vegas this summer, but the next two offseasons could cement his reputation as one of the best in the game today. He made a name for himself by making shrewd moves to fill holes and improve the Tampa Bay Lightning rapidly, but now will he be able to keep it all together?

The most obvious hurdle Yzerman faces will be keeping All-World goal scorer Steven Stamkos in the fold after his current contract expires. That’s been written about enough elsewhere, but here we’re going to assume that a deal actually gets done between now and July 1, 2016. The Lightning want Stamkos back, and the forward seems to want to stay in Florida.

Yzerman has openly stated that inking the 25-year-old forward to an extension is his top priority this summer. When asked about possibly playing an NHL game for another team last month, Stamkos said this to gathered media:

“I’ve been here for so long, this is my home now. I absolutely love it here. It’s been unbelievable to see the transition since I came here until now, it’s night and day. Start with the owner, Mr. Vinik, what he’s been able to do not only this team, but the community. When you go on a run like this, everything gets magnified. The city has been unbelievable, I know there’s going to be a lot of questions of what’s going to happen in the next two weeks. Well that stuff is going to take care of itself.”

There is always a chance that a player not under contract could bolt, but again, we’re going to make the seemingly safe assumption that Stamkos will re-sign with the Lightning.

With that taken care of, Yzerman will still have plenty on his plate. Alex Killorn, J.T. Brown, Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Kucherov, Cedric Paquette and Braydon Coburn will also see their contracts expire following the 2015-16 season.

As if that isn’t enough to juggle, one summer later the Lightning will have to find room for Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin.

That is a significant chunk of the team that will need to be re-signed over the next two years. Making it even more daunting is that Kucherov, Johnson, Palat and possibly Drouin will all be looking for big raises. Raises that reflect their roles as top-six forwards (assuming Drouin gets there over the next two seasons).

As Mike Necciai recently pointed out for TheHockeyWriters.com, salary dumps are going to be inevitable for the Lightning.

Necciai believes that the organization should trade away starting goaltender Ben Bishop to clear space. With a high-end young goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy waiting in the wings, that might make sense. There’s another option for the team though. One that would likely bring back considerably more via trade than Bishop.

And that’s moving Valtteri Filppula.

There’s no denying that the forward has been an important part of the Lightning since signing on in the summer of 2013. The Lightning have changed a lot over the last two years though, and the center isn’t as nearly as important for Tampa as he was when he was signed away from Detroit.

Moreover, players like Johnson have emerged and proven capable of taking on second-line minutes. Filppula is an underrated two-way pivot, but you can’t ignore his declining effectiveness in the offensive zone. 2014-15 marked the second straight year of declining point totals for the Vantaa, Finland native.

Does that mean he doesn’t still have a role to play in the NHL? Of course not, but it’d be surprising to see him break the 60-point barrier again, like he did the year before the Lightning brought him on as a free agent. He notched 48 points in 2014-15, which isn’t bad at all.

Another dip in production though, and suddenly his $5 million cap hit doesn’t look so great.

Filppula is 31-years-old and his prime years are behind him. He can still be an effective forward, but the Lightning need to make room for (much) younger players that can support the team for years to come. Offloading contracts is a necessary evil in the cap era, and there are worse problems than having a good forward like Filppula to trade.

It beats the alternative, which is keeping the veterans around instead of the up-and-comers. That’s the route the Chicago Blackhawks were forced to take this summer, flipping Brandon Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets because they couldn’t afford him. If Yzerman wants to avoid a similar scenario with one of the “Triplets,” then he should strong consider trading Filppula while his value is still high.

If Yzerman waits then he can expect to get an underwhelming package much like what the ‘Hawks received for Patrick Sharp. By moving Filppula now, Yzerman can maximize this particular asset while clearing valuable cap space for upcoming negotiations.