Tampa Bay set up for success, long term and short term!

“Trades that have replenished the prospect pool while upgrading the current roster and building what I would call a contender”...Was a quote from Hill’s press conference after the 3:00pm dreadline came and went yesterday afternoon.  The Lighting made one trade yesterday, right before the 3:00pm deadline, which brought in Jakob Silfverberg from the New York Rangers.  That deal was just the nightcap on a season with some significant trades that Hill made to give a boost to the prospects in the system but to also not derail the plans of competing this year and next.  

February 23rd 

To Ottawa Senators - Ryan O’Reilly

To Tampa Bay Lightning - Marko Rossi, Adam Gaudette, Arthur Kaliyev, Eeli Tolvanen, and two 5th round picks

This deal raised a lot of eyebrows in the Lighting organization as well as the fan base.  Trading your top center and who happens to be one of the top centers in the league, when you're competing and have aspirations of winning the cup doesn't make sense.  “I had death threats sent to my office and my home from our passionate fan base about this deal, I just had to ask them to trust me”.  While this deal did land a handful of potential,  there are very little proven performances from any of these players that came to the Lightning.  Time will only tell, which led to fans and the players themselves, what follow up moves would happen to give the team in contention.

March 4th

To Detroit Red Wings - Ryan Murphy, Pat Sieloff, 4th round pick, 5th round pick

To Tampa Bay Lighting - Jordie Benn, Valteri Fillpula

A much less “sexy” deal, this deal brought Tampa Bay some much needed depth, especially with the departcher of O’Reilly…..and that's it for this deal, a depth move, and a sign of things to come, now that neither Benn or Fillpula are still on this team, less than two months after being acquire.

May 6th

To Boston Bruins - Anthony Mantha, Brandon Sutter, Egor Spiridonov, 2022 4th round pick

To Tampa Bay Lightning - David Krejci, Evgeni Dadanov, Nolan Foote, 2021 6th round pick

This was the deal that everyone was waiting for.  Acquiring a legit 2nd line center to place behind Point, and to actually replace Ryan O’Reilly.  Getting Dadanov and Foote in this deal helps the current team compete and the future looks even better with Foote already playing a few games in the NHL this season.  Dadanov offers a replacement for Mantha this year and for the next 3 years.  What made Mantha, a RFA aged huge winger that scores available?.  “Mantha was hurt almost the entire season, and our team performed quite well in his absence, and when he returned, he was fat and couldn't keep up with the pace our team likes to play”.  Harsh words from the GM but if true, then it made this deal a no brainer.

May 7th

To Pittsburgh Penguins - Andrej Sekera, Jordie Benn, Vallteri Fillpula, 2nd round pick, 7th round pick

To Tampa Bay Lightning - Alexander Edler, Riley Nash, Mark Pysyk

All year, HIll had been looking for a top rated defenseman to bolster the solid, but not amazing D-core.   Discussions had been had before about Edler, but his $8,000,000 cap hit was always a sticking point.  That is why all the additional pieces were added to make this deal work.  Basically it comes down to moving a 2nd and a 7th for Edler.  Nash replaces Fillpula, Pysyk replaces Benn, and is signed long term.  Hopefully Edler enjoys his time in Tampa Bay and will be open to resigning with Tampa Bay in the offseason.  

May 9th

To New York Rangers - Andrew Cogliano, Vitaly Abramov, Adam Beckman

To Tampa Bay LIghtning - Jakub Silverberg

The buzzer beater for The lightning on trade deadline day was made at 2:52pm, 8 minutes shy of the 3:00pm deadline.  “This was a hard move to make, we as an organization have been high on Beckman since drafting him.  But being able to acquire a top two-way player like Silverberg made it worth it.  He will play mainly on our 3rd line to help shut down our opponents top players, while also chipping in offensively when called on”.  

These moves had an enormous amount of cap money going on and off the books in each deal.  The total amount of money that left the team was $27,842,500 while bringing in a total of $26,450,000.  This leaves The LIghtning will have exactly $185,000 under the cap…..Sounds like Hill should give his capologist a raise after figuring out how to make the moves that they made and not go over the cap.