Veteran defenseman James Wisniewski hopes to call Tampa Bay home

James Wisniewski found himself in unfamiliar territory this offseason, a defenseman without a home and unsure of his next move.

The NHL veteran was acquired by the Carolina Hurricanes from Anaheim prior to the 2015-16 season in exchange for goaltender Anton Khudobin. Wisniewski played all of 47 seconds with the Hurricanes on Opening Night before tearing the ACL in his left knee on his first (and only) shift.

Wisniewski never played again for the Hurricanes. His contract was bought out by Carolina the day before the start of this summer’s free agency. Once free agency began, teams were unwilling to risk signing an aging defenseman coming off a major knee injury to a new contract.

Wisniewski didn’t know if his 11th season in the league would be his last.

“That’s not something that I’m used to,” the 32-year-old Wisniewski admitted. “It was just a strange summer.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning were in search of a right-handed power-play defenseman this offseason but didn’t have a lot of cap space with which to acquire one. Despite making it to the Eastern Conference Final and coming within one game of advancing to a second-straight Stanley Cup Final, the Lightning were one of the worst power play teams in the NHL, their 15.8 percent success rate with the man-advantage ranking tied for 26th in the league.

With Wisniewski still unsigned, the veteran became an attractive, cost-effective option to resuscitate a beleaguered power play and provide experienced depth on the …

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