The Tampa Bay Lightning are in the market for defence ahead of free agency and Kevin Shattenkirk appears to be at least one option being considered by the team.

Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times reports the Lightning contacted Shattenkirk when the window to contact pending unrestricted free agents opened on Monday.

So while #tblightning reached out to pending UFA Kevin Shattenkirk, had yet to check in with Karl Alzner or Cody Franson. At least not yet — Joe Smith (@TBTimes_JSmith) June 26, 2017

The Lightning have a need on defence after making a deal to send Jason Garrison to the Golden Knights and have $20 million in cap space to play with this summer.

Shattenkirk, who is ranked No. 1 on TSN Hockey’s Top UFA List, reportedly turned down a seven-year, $42 million contract which would have been part of a trade in January from the St. Louis Blues. He is therefore believed to be looking for an AAV above $6 million on July 1. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported the deal in January was believed to have been offered by the Lightning.

Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, who also traded pending restricted free agent Jonathan Drouin to save cap space earlier this off-season, told the Times at the draft the team would only break the bank on a key player.

"We've done a lot here to give ourselves a little bit of flexibility," Yzerman said "We don't want to put ourselves right back in the same position if we're not confident that it's really going to make a difference."

Shattenkirk was traded to the Washington Capitals ahead of the trade deadline in February for a first-round pick and Zach Sanford. The Blues would have also received an additional second-round pick had the Capitals advanced to the Eastern Conference Final.

Shattenkirk ranked fourth among Capitals defencemen with an average of 18:27 of ice time during the playoffs, less time than six of the Capitals forwards averaged. He scored one goal and added five assists in 13 playoff games and finished a minus-4. Four of his six points came on the power play.

The 28-year-old averaged 19:51 minutes per game with the Blues before the trade. He finished the regular season with 13 goals and 43 assists in 80 games.

He scored a career-high 14 goals in 2015-16, while averaging 22:25 minutes per contest.