What does the future hold for Lightning defenseman Cal Foote?

Playing time has been sporadic for Lightning defenseman Cal Foote this season. He hasn’t been in the lineup for more than three straight games since he skated in the first four at the start of the season in October.

After not playing for 18 days, Foote was back in the lineup for back-to-back games last week as the team’s seventh defenseman while third-line center Nick Paul was out with an upper-body injury.

Foote, 24, had two of his better games and was rewarded with another Tuesday in Colorado, even after Paul returned. The Lightning returned to a 12-forward, six-defenseman look, with Foote getting the nod over regular right-shot defenseman Nick Perbix.

Head coach Jon Cooper said before the Lightning’s 4-3 shootout win in Denver that Foote earned a third straight start because of how he played in the previous two games. But Foote is a pending restricted free agent, and with Tampa Bay up against the salary cap, any trade it makes prior to the March 3 deadline has to be cash-in, cash-out. Foote is one of the few players the team could move.

“Footer, when he’s gotten in, he’s done well for us,” Cooper said Tuesday, “and hence why he’s still in.”

While the Lightning never would say whether they are showcasing Foote, who didn’t play Wednesday in Arizona, his $850,000 cap hit would give the Lightning a good $1.5 million of space to work with, which would open trade doors that wouldn’t otherwise be open.

A former first-rounder with size (6-foot-5, 224 pounds) and pedigree (his father is Canucks assistant and former NHL defenseman Adam Foote), as well as age and contract control, he could be an attractive fit for a potential trade suitor.

With the Lightning losing right-shot defenseman Jan Rutta in the offseason, the opportunity to win a top-six spot was there for Foote, and the Lightning initially slotted him in Rutta’s old spot alongside Victor Hedman. But with Perbix’s emergence, Foote’s playing time diminished quickly.

Before playing in the home game against Colorado on Feb. 9, Foote was a healthy scratch in 10 of Tampa Bay’s previous 12 games and 14 of 18.

“It’s hard,” he said Tuesday in Denver. “I’m not gonna lie. It’s been challenging, but I think it’s, you’ve got to find ways to get better, whether it’s practice, extra work, stuff like that. Or even just when you don’t have the opportunity to play and you have to watch, learn from watching the guys really on both sides of the ice, more focus on our team.

“But it has been a challenge. Mentally, you’ve just got to be ready to go. You’ve got to be ready to go every day. You never know when your name’s going to get called or when it’s not. So I think the main thing is just staying mentally focused.”

Foote has made his presence known in these past few games.

In the first period of the first game against Colorado, he jumped up in the play, took a feed from Nikita Kucherov and rocketed a shot just wide of the net. Two days later in Dallas, he played a strong defensive game, protecting the front of the net and clearing space for goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Foote also made one of the game’s biggest shot blocks in his own end. With the game tied at 1 in the second period, a Luke Glendening block of a Mikhail Sergachev shot sent the Stars the other way on a 3-on-1, with Foote the only skater back. Foote read the play perfectly and laid out between the circles to block Glendening’s shot and quash one of the Stars’ best scoring chances.

“Like in anything, if you want to make the playoffs, or if you do, if you want to have any runs, you have to have depth,” Cooper said. “And Footer, he comes in and gives us quality minutes. It’s just hard when you’ve got a bunch of guys back there healthy and they all can’t play.

“In our zone, he’s been hard, he’s been physical. When things have gotten out of hand, he’s fought for us. He’s been like a loyal soldier for our group. That’s how you win, with guys like that.”

Said Foote of his recent play, “Personally, I’ve been pretty happy. I think the Colorado game (in Tampa) was really good. It was a good one in Dallas, too. It felt like a postseason game. That’s usually how they usually go. They’re low scoring, one-goal games until the empty-netter. It’s playoff hockey, it’s defensive hockey, and that’s how you win at the end of the year.”

Regardless of what happens over the next few weeks, Foote knows he can play an important role down the stretch. And the Lightning know how much depth matters, especially in the postseason.

“I think you still have to give yourself reminders and make sure your mental game is sharp,” Foote said. “It’s not easy to sit out. And but at the end of the day, team depth is important, and unfortunately there’s injuries in hockey and injuries are going to happen. So if you’re gonna go, you know, two months extra into the postseason when it’s grittier, it’s harder, it’s more physical, you need team depth and you’ve always got to be ready to go.”

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