x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Lightning Round: Additional details of David Savard trade

Posted on by Igor Nikonov

As you already know, the Tampa Bay Lightning acquired David Savard from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a three-way deal, which also includes Detroit Red Wings as the third side. As a result the Lightning also received Brian Lashoff, a 30-year old defenseman, who previously played for the Red Wings, the Blue Jackets received the Lightning’s first round pick in 2021 and third-round pick in 2022 and the Red Wings acquired the Lightning’s fourth-round pick in 2021. For more information about specific pieces of this deal and an official press release, please check Justin’s report from yesterday [Raw Charge]

This trade wouldn’t happen without the help from Detroit. Given the Lightning cap space situation, they needed as much of Savard’s salary as possible to be kept by another team and this is where Steve Yzerman stepped in. Since one team can retain just 50 percent of a player’s salary, David Savard was initially traded to the Red Wings, while Columbus retained 50 percent of his salary. Immediately after, Savard was traded again to the Lightning, Detroit also kept the half of Savard’s salary, meaning that the Lightning received just 25 percent of Savard’s total caphit worth $1,062,500. Brian Lashoff will cost nothing for the Lightning, since he will stay with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL. A perfect scenario for the Red Wings, where the team basically bought a draft pick for just over a million dollars.

Despite acquiring David Savard at just one fourth of his cap hit, the Lightning still had to place Jan Rutta on LTIR. Currently the Lightning have $608,000 in their LTIR salary pool. If Rutta’s ready to return before May 8, the Lightning can assign Ben Thomas, which will allow them to activate Rutta, while having just $8,000 under the cap according to Cap Friendly.

Here’s a full breakdown of this deal:

After this deal, the Lightning currently have six draft picks in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, while none of them are either first-round or second-round picks and three of them being the seventh-round picks. This year’s draft however isn’t considered as very strong and more importantly the Lightning, after fixing a hole at the right side of their defence, will have another chance at winning the Stanley Cup.

Julien BriseBois admitted, that he was surprised that he was able to make this deal happen, however it was a highest priority for him this trade deadline, given the state of the Lightning’s right side of blue line. He also said that it’s highly unlikely that the Lightning will make another move before the trade deadline on Monday, but he will explore more opportunities if they appear. [Tampa Bay Times]

“We (essentially) used our draft picks to purchase cap space to acquire a good player and squeeze him onto our team,” BriseBois said. “And I know that we’re going to be a harder out now come playoff time because David Savard is going to be be wearing our jersey.”

“We had the chance to see David play against our team during the last two playoff runs, get to see how hard he is to play against, to see how tough he is and heavy he plays and how reliable he is defensively,” BriseBois said. “And we knew that he’s the type of player that you want on your team for a long playoff run.”

Jon Cooper also noted that a veteran presence to the right side of their defence could play a big role in upcoming playoffs.

David Savard is excited to play for his new team and have a chance to win the Stanley Cup this summer. He’s expected to join the team tonight and will practice for the first time with his new teammates on Monday. According to BriseBois, it’s likely that he will make his debut for the Lightning on Tuesday.

The Lightning shutdown the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, earning the sixth win against this opponent during this season [Raw Charge]

Lightning were playing down a player after putting Jan Rutta on LTIR and it kind of showed in the first period. “We’re not making it hard for them to enter” quipped Jeff Halpern after the first twenty minutes. He could have added that the Lighting didn’t do much to get them out of the zone once the Predators were there.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 shots, recording his fourth shutout of the season. According to Evolving-hockey.com he recorded 3.13 goals above expected last night and retrieved the first place in this category in the whole league, after giving it up to Connor Hellebuyck for a short time.

Ross Colton scored his seventh goal and tenth point of the season. Only three Lightning players required fewer amount of games to reach a 10-point mark in franchise history.

The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Utica Comets 5-1. Mitchell Stephens, who is on a conditional stint in the AHL after recovering from injury, has seven points in four games.

Clint Windsor recorded his second shutout of the season, helping to secure a 3-0 victory for the Orlando Solar Bears.

Nick Perbix’s St. Cloud University lost the the NCAA National Championship game to the University of Massachusetts on Saturday night.

Hockey News

The Florida Panthers acquired defenceman Brandon Montour from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for the third-round pick in 2021.

The Colorado Avalanche traded defenceman Greg Pateryn and a 2021 fifth-round pick for goaltender Devan Dubnyk.

The Carolina Hurricanes held out  defenceman Haydn Fleaury as a precautions for a potential trade.

The Vancouver Canucks are expected to re-open their facilities on April 11 and return to the game on April 16. According to reports, the league is asking them to play 19 games in 31 days.

Nikita Gusev cleared waivers yesterday and reportedly might sign a contract with the Florida Panthers.

If you enjoyed this article please consider supporting RawCharge by subscribing here, or purchasing our merchandise here.

Support RawCharge by using our Affiliate Link when Shopping Hockey Apparel !

Talking Points