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Lightning Round: Trade Deadline update

Posted on by Igor Nikonov

The trade deadline has finally arrived. NHL teams are trying desperately to finalize their deals before tomorrow’s deadline. The Tampa Bay Lightning, however, has already announced that they’re not expecting any other deals before Monday, which means that the Lightning’s fans could sleep calmly, knowing that Julien BriseBois won’t trade any more of their favourite players. The Lightning’s roster is prepared enough for another long playoff run so we can follow how their potential playoff opponents are stacking up for postseason.

The biggest and probably most expected trade of this year’s trade deadline has already happened. After long months of rumours, the Philadelphia Flyers have finally traded their captain Claude Giroux. The 34-year-old forward will now try to chase the Cup with the Florida Panthers, who acquired him alongside forwards Connor Bunnaman, German Rubtsov and a fifth-round pick in 2024 in exchange for forward Owen Tippett, a conditional first-round pick in 2024 and a third-round pick in 2023. The Flyers will also retain half of Giroux salary.

Giroux is in the final year of his eight-year contract and can become an unrestricted free agent next summer. His contract also contained a no-move clause and Giroux notified the Flyers that he will only accept Florida as the final destination. That also refutes some speculations that Giroux was in conversation with the Colorado Avalanche about potential trade, as some sources claimed.

The Florida Panthers are already one of the Stanley Cup contenders and with acquiring Giroux their roster looks even more impressive. The Bolts will meet the Panthers once before the end of the regular season and there’s a big chance that their paths will cross in the playoffs again.

Owen Tippett, who went to Philadelphia as a part of return for Giroux, is a 23-year forward, who hasn’t shown much at the NHL level so far. This season he scored 14 (6+8) points in 42 games, playing around 12 minutes per game. Although maybe change of scenario will help him.

Hampus Lindholm, one of the best available defenceman at this trade deadline, has also been traded. The Boston Bruins have acquired him from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for  defencemen John Moore, Urho Vaakanainen, a first-round pick in 2022, a second-round pick in 2023 and a second-round pick in 2024. Lindholm is in the final year of his six-year deal and can become unrestricted free agent in the next offseason, however, according to sources Lindholm is already very close to an extension with the Bruins, which is expected to be around $6.5M AAV for a six-year deal.

The Bruins’ left side of defence was already pretty stacked, so acquiring Lindholm doesn’t seem like a logical step, although playing in such a positive environment for defencemen will likely have a positive impact on his numbers. Currently the Bruins are three points behind the Lightning in the standings

The Minnesota Wild has acquired forward Nicolas Deslauriers from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for third round pick on Saturday. Deslauriers scored five goals and five assits in 62 games with the Ducks this season.

The Wild are potentially preparing for a bigger trade and reportedly talked to the Chicago Blackhawks about their goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Lightning have been swept in the season series against the New York Rangers, after losing their third game of the season against them on Saturday night. Brayden Point scored the only goal for the Bolts, Brandon Hagel made his debut for the team, playing around 10 minutes on the third line with Ross Colton and Mathieu Joseph [Raw Charge]

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the New York Rangers 2-1 Saturday evening in a matchup of exceptional Russian goaltenders, and those goaltenders put on a show. Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, while Jacob Trouba and Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 of 27 shots, while Igor Shesterkin stopped 28 of 29. Tonight was also the debut of Lightning General Manager Julien BriseBois’s latest trade addition: Brandon Hagel. Hagel slotted onto the third line with Ross Colton and Mathieu Joseph while the revamped lines from the recent road trip stayed the same.

The Syracuse Crunch dropped their second game of the weekend, losing 7-4 to the Bridgeport Islanders yesterday.

The Orlando Solar Bears lost their second consecutive game to the Florida Everblades.

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