Insider believes elite player “has got to get traded at some point. No question about that.”

When an insider like TSN's Bob McKenzie says a trade has got to happen, you can bet he's supremely confident in the knowledge from his sources that the trade has got to happen.

McKenzie was a guest on Montreal's 690 radio Wednesday morning and he was asked about the future of Tampa Bay Lightning star Nikita Kucherov, specifically his contract situation and how it pertained to the Lightning roster. However when McKenzie answered, the most intriguing bit of information he dropped wasn't about Kucherov, but rather goaltender Ben Bishop.

“And because Hedman took less than his market value, and because Stamkos took way less than his market value, Yzerman is at least in the game trying to shoehorn everybody in," McKenzie began as per Nichols on Hockey. But I’ve got to think at some point in time – you know, Bishop has got to get traded at some point. No question about that. I think they’ll start the season with him. But I just can’t imagine that they keep the two goaltenders all season long. They’re going to need some cap room here for next season, if not sooner.”

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It's an incredibly strong and confident statement from one of the best in the business, and the question now becomes where will Ben Bishop be traded, and how much of a ransom will the team acquiring be forced to pay? Bishop is coming off a dominant season, one where many felt he was the regular season MVP for the Lightning.

He's backstopped the Lightning for at least 60 games in each of the last three seasons and has been among the best goaltenders in the NHL over that stretch, making this an extremely rare scenario, and as a result an extremely rare opportunity for teams to acquire an elite goaltender.