What’s the point, right? Why run it back with the same line-up only to get the same result? It’s done. The window is closed. Time to start fresh.
At various points throughout the season we’ve all had these thoughts, right? So, since the Darren Raddysh drama has reached a conclusion, and we’re still a few days away from the draft, we here at Raw Charge decided to have some fun. We could all use a little more fun, right?
Yes, other teams are actually making deals right now. The Bolts will probably join them at some point, but for now, they’re huddled up in their decision-making room at Channelside Drive. So, we’ve decided to take the initiative. Not only are we going to make some trades. We’re going to make ALL OF THE TRADES.
For the last few weeks we’ve been kicking around a thought experiment. Could we flip the entire roster? After all, if we’re going to blow things up, we don’t want to take any half-measures. It turns out that yes, as a matter of fact, we can. We even managed to produce a cap-compliant roster. Is it a winning roster? Oh, goodness no. Still, it’s a hockey team with some bones for success in the future.
A couple of caveats here. We did try to keep it realistic. That means no Connor McDavid-for-Dominic James deals. The needs of the teams we traded Lightning players to were taken into account. What we did ignore were no-movement, no-trade clauses. Hey, without knowing the details of these things, we really can’t do this. And it would take away a lot of the fun. This is all about fun!
We did take into consideration roster and cap limits. Honestly, the cap thing wasn’t too bad considering the timing (no one has spent money in free agency yet) and the bump in the cap ceiling. We also weren’t concerned with building a team that would contend for the Stanley Cup anytime in the next three seasons (so long Benchmark Arena sellout streak). Rather, we stripped the team of players for future assets, a few core pieces, and some trade assets down the line.
How did we do? Probably pretty badly, but it was fun!
This is the roster we started with. (We’re not worrying about those three players in the press box. Our ruling that Max Crozier, like Jakob Pelletier, wasn’t quite a full-time member of the roster as he played less than half of the season).
Trade Number 1:
Jake Guentzel ($3 million retained), J.J. Moser, and the Lightnings 2027 2nd Round Pick to San Jose Sharks for Michael Misa and the Sharks 2026 1st round pick (4 overall)
The Sharks are done rebuilding and ready to start competing. They have a plethora of young forwards and no longer want to be drafting in the Top Five. So, they get a proven scorer and a top-pairing defender. The Lightning get a center with a ton of potential and a top-four pick in this year’s draft to add another cornerstone piece to the rebuild.
Yes, it’s a long time to retain a portion of Guentzel’s contract, and yes the Sharks aren’t hurting for cap space, but down the road things could get a lot tighter as they sign all of those young players to long-term deals.
Trade Number 2:
Andrei Vasilevskiy and a 2026 5th Round Pick (originally Toronto’s) to Edmonton for Darnell Nurse, Matthew Savoie, a 2026 2nd Round Pick, and a 2028 1st Round Pick
Honestly, this deal was going to be a lot larger initially and include Leon Draisaitl coming the other way, but that doesn’t fit in with the overall ethos of this tear-it-to-the-studs plan. Instead, Edmonton finally gets the goaltender they need to put them over the top and they unload Nurse’s contract (hey, the Lightning have to get to the salary floor). The Bolts get a promising right-shot winger along with some valuable future draft picks.
Did we want to include Isaac Howard in this deal for even more fun? Of course, but Savoie is the prospect we decided would be a better fit.
Trade Number 3:
Brayden Point and a 2026 2nd Round Pick (originally Edmonton’s) to Minnesota for Ryan Hartman, Danila Yurov, and Jesper Wallstedt
We’re getting in before Minnesota cashes in the rest of their prospects for Dylan Larkin. Point, with a chip on his shoulder, goes north to be their number-one center and the Lightning get Wallstedt to be their future goaltender. Yurov could develop as a solid two-way player while Hartman gives the Lightning some experience and could be moved at the deadline. Point finally goes to the team that Tampa Bay leap-frogged on draft day to select him. Balance is restored to the universe.
Trade Number 4:
Yanni Gourde to Seattle for a 2026 6th Round Pick
A palate-cleansing deal. After a couple of big deals, a nice small one that returns Gourde to a place where he is familiar. Honestly, we thought about throwing the ol’ “future considerations” into the return field, but a 6th Round Pick is about the same.
Trade Number 5:
Erik Cernak to Anaheim for Alex Killorn and a 3rd Round Pick
Another trade partner that has the potential for a bigger deal, but we decided to keep it pretty simple. Anaheim gets their Radko Gudas/Jacob Touba replacement at a reasonable price. They also clear about $1 million in salary by sending Killorn back to Tampa. The Harvard Man finishes his career where it started and wears the “C” on his sweater in 2026-27.
Trade Number 6:
Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel, and a 2026 5th Round Pick (originally Seattle’s) to Chicago for Andrei Burakovsky, Tyler Bertuzzi, and a 2027 2nd Round Pick (originally Vancouver’s)
Speaking of heading back to where things started, Hagel returns to The Windy City and brings his good buddy Anthony Cirelli along with him. You didn’t think we’d split the dynamic duo up, did you? Yes, the return is a little light on this, but it’s a lot of salary to take on down the road for a Chicago team that is going to cut a very large check to Conor Bedard in the next 12 months.
Trade Number 7:
Zemgus Girgensons to Buffalo for a 2027 7th Round Pick
While we’re on the reunion kick, how about one more? Girgensons gets to go back to the Sabres and experience the playoffs with the team he fought so hard for during the majority of his career.
Trade Number 8:
Nikita Kucherov and Dominic James to the New York Rangers for EJ Emery, Will Cuylie, a 2026 1st Round Pick, and a 2028 1st Round Pick
The last of the blockbuster deals sees the Lightning cashing in their best player for a top defensive prospect in Emery and two first-round picks. The Rangers jump start their move back into contention (we’re assuming their is an extension for Kucherov in this deal) without losing any major parts of their current roster. Oddly enough, after the Brady Tkachuk deal, we’re wondering if the return is too light.
Trade Number 9:
Nick Paul and a 2028 1st Round Pick (originally New York’s) to Detroit for Trey Augustine
The Lightning join the ranks of tandem goaltending teams as they quickly swap one of those first round picks for Augustine, one of the top NHL-drafted prospects playing between the pipes. Detroit also has Sebastian Cossa ready to take over, so they won’t mind dealing Augustine for a future first. Nick Paul helps plug up the center of the ice after Dylan Larkin is dealt,
Trade Number 10:
Gage Goncalves and a 2027 6th Round Pick to Vegas for Alex Pietrangelo
It was at this point that we realized we were going to be well below the salary cap floor. So, the Portuguese Pistol and a draft pick head over to the desert for Alex Pietrangelo’s cap hit. He’s not likely to return to the ice, so the Lightning can put him and his $8.8 million hit on IR.
Trade Number 11:
Ryan McDonagh and a 2027 2nd Round Pick to Boston for Mason Lohrei
Finding a landing spot for him wasn’t the easiest, but Boston seems a good fit for his playing style. The Bruins might not be willing to part with Lohrei, a 25-year-old defender in a one-for-one deal, but the 2nd Round pick should be enough of a sweetener for them to part with the left-shot defenseman.
Trade Number 12:
Emil Lilleberg to Calgary for Joel Hanley
We don’t know why. It’s a trade.
Trade Number 13:
Pontus Holmberg to Dallas for a 2027 4th Round Pick
Holmberg just seems like a Dallas Star. Kind of surprised he hasn’t played for them yet. They will need some forwards, especially if they lose Jason Robertson or Mavrik Borque to offersheets or trades. Holmberg won’t replace the offense, but he will give them some solid depth.
Trade Number 14:
Charle-Edouard D’Astous and a 2026 2nd Round Pick to Philadelphia for Rasmus Ristolainen and a 2027 3rd Round Pick (originally Los Angeles’)
If we had a take two, maybe we put McDonagh in this trade, but it’s basically a 2nd Round Pick for Ristolainenen, who has been dangled in trade rumors. Philadelphia has plenty of cap space, but they also need new deals for Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale. That will cut into a large portion of their available money. The Lightning’s ability to absorb all of Ristolainen’s cap hit would lessen the return a bit. Plus D’Astous is a solid depth defenseman.
Trade Number 15:
Victor Hedman ($4 million retained) and Conor Geekie to Winnipeg for Brad Lambert, Hayden Fleury, and a 2027 2nd Round Pick (originally Buffalo’s)
Yeah, kind of feel bad sending Victor Hedman to Winnipeg. Almost decided to waive the “trade everybody” rule in his case so that he could spend his entire career with Tampa Bay. Alas, that’s the not the goal of this exercise. The second part of the deal involves swapping a couple of prospects that might need a change of scenery while the Lighting pick up a draft pick for eating part 50% of Hedman’s salary.
Final Move:
Jonas Johansson placed on waivers and assigned to Syracuse
Okay, sure, it wasn’t a trade, but we still made a move to take care of that final spot. We thought about buying him out, but with the vast amount of cap space that the Lightning have after all of these deals, paying him to be in the AHL was a negligible cost and it wouldn’t carry into the future.
Call-Ups:
Part of the fun of trading everyone on the roster is that it created opportunities to call up some prospects and get their NHL careers going. Congratulations to Dylan Duke, Jakob Pelletier, Benjamin Rautiainen, Sam O’Reilly, and Max Groshev. Max Crozier, you’re going full-time on the roster.
Draft Capital:
The Lightning pick up two top-five picks in the 2026 draft to help kickstart the rebuild. While they might not have any first-round picks in 2027, this roster could finish in the bottom-ten and the trade protection kicks in for their own pick that Seattle currently holds. If that happens, then they give Seattle their 2028 first-rounder, but still have Edmonton’s to use or trade.
The Final Roster
So, here is your fictional 2026-27 Tampa Bay Lightning roster after we moved off everyone on last year’s roster:
Postscript:
So, we forgot that published rosters on PuckPedia can be commented on. Wow, San Jose fans are salty over what is obviously a fantasy scenario. Although our favorite comment was “Cernak doesn’t waive”.
