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Quick Strikes: The calm (?) before the NHL trade deadline storm

In other words: EVERYBODY PANIC!

Yesterday was a relatively quiet news day, although things heated up as the evening went on. Did general managers forget when the deadline actually was? Anyway, while the usual “will they/won’t they” conversation dominated the Twitterverse, news pieces were generally hard to come by. However, there were some things worth covering, so to ease you into this Monday morning...here ya go:

-Tampa Bay Lightning forward Yanni Gourde and Lightning head coach Jon Cooper both had thoughts about today’s deadline. In general: Stay the course.

“I think we want to improve every single night,” Gourde said. “Our leadership group has been very good, very sound of keeping us humble and making sure we’re working hard every single night. Every game is very important for us. It’s a chance to get better at basically everything we do on the ice. We always want to get better, and I think we approach every single game like a chance to get better. Some opponents that we face are maybe a first-round opponent, so it’s always important to go into those games and be ready because we might face them and see what they bring and what we bring.”

-Could the Lightning “win” the trade deadline simply by staying pat? Well...

In fact, given their domination of the league and the available depth within their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, the Lightning are in a position to win the 2019 Trade Deadline without even having to make a move.

(Y’all have no idea how hard it is for me to not add on commentary to this that, you know, Syracuse has their own run to the playoffs going on, and...and...and....)

-Speaking of Yanni, that adorable, jolly man never disappoints during our new favorite game from the Lightning:

-Tonight is the Lightning’s You Can Play/Pride Night game:

-A group of local students were chosen as recipients of a monetary awards through the the Take Stock in Children program. They were awarded the money for their college education during the Lightning’s recent game.

The money is awarded through the Hillsborough Education Foundation.

-These therapy pigs make me so happy.

-Syracuse Crunch head coach Ben Groulx is not known for mincing words. This past weekend’s performance by his team clearly did not thrill him.

-Syracuse did manage three points in two games against a tough Toronto opponent. Crunch captain Gabriel Dumont felt his team made strides as the weekend went on.

-The Crunch are going to be in the Syracuse community again this week with their Celebrity Bartending series. Lightning prospects Taylor Raddysh and Ross Colton will be slinging drinks on Wednesday.

-The Orlando Solar Bears are doing very well at home!

Look for more on the Solar Bears later on this morning from Tracey.

-Yesterday was the 39th anniversary of the US Men’s Olympic Team’s historic gold medal victory at Lake Placid in 1980.

-Henrik Lundqvist reminds us rather poignantly about the human side of trades as he discusses Mats Zuccarello, something that is probably needed as we go into today:

-Meanwhile, in Dallas...

-Another series of trades that have impacted lives are the ones that saw Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel traded to Columbus. Travel to get to the Blue Jackets apparently ended up like this:

...And as an adorable follow up:

-It was reported last night that Buffalo Sabres and the Anaheim Ducks completed a trade involving Brendan Guhle and Brandon Montour.

-Former Lightning goalie prospect Adam Wilcox has earned his way from an AHL contract to an NHL contract with the Buffalo Sabres. The move came after the Sabres lost goalie  Jonas Johansson to injury for the rest of the season.

-The Chicago Blackhawks and the LA Kings swapped forwards, with Spencer Watson going to Chicago (and getting assigned to the AHL) and Matheson Iacopelli going to the Kings organization.

-The Nashville Predators and the Toronto Maple Leafs also crafted a minor league trade, with Nicholas Baptiste going to Toronto for Future Considerations. Baptiste was then assigned to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. In a possibly related move, the Marlies then traded forward Emerson Clark to the Milwaukee Admirals in exchange for future considerations.

-Lee Stempniak has been signed by the Boston Bruins and was placed on waivers yesterday because of it.

-The Ottawa Senators did something new and rather special at their game last night: They hosted the largest Citizenship Ceremony in Canadian sports history.

-Late last night, the San Jose Sharks landed Gus Nyquist from the Detroit Red Wings for a 2019 2nd round pick and a 2020 conditional 3rd round pick. The Wings also retained 30% of Nyquist’s salary. The 2020 pick becomes a 2nd rounder if San Jose makes it to the Stanley Cup Final or if they re-sign Nyquist. Those aren’t bad conditions for Detroit and that could easily end up being two 2nd rounders.

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