The Tampa Bay Lightning have confirmed rumors that they traded defenseman Zach Bogosian to the Minnesota Wild for a 2025 7th-round draft pick. That move is on the heels of the Wild sending defenseman Calen Addison to the San Jose Sharks for a 2026 5th-round pick and Adam Raska.
Bogosian had played sparingly for the Lightning this season, appearing in only four games. Earlier this season he had cleared waivers and was then recalled. With Haydn Fleury’s conditioning stint a temporary solution to the glut of defensemen on the roster, a trade to Minnesota not only helps the Lightning, it gives Bogosian a chance to play every day in Minnesota, a team looking for a little stability on the blueline.
The 33-year-old veteran is in the final year of a three-year contract that has an annual value of $850,000. It does not appear that the Lightning are retaining any salary so they are able to clear his entire cap hit as they start to prepare for the return of Andrei Vasilevskiy in a few weeks.
Once touted as an offensive-minded blueliner back when he was a first round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers (!), Bogosian has evolved into a physical defender who could occasionally chip in a goal here and there. Over two different stints with the Lightning, he played in 106 games for Tampa Bay with 4 goals and 11 assists. During that time he amassed 238 hits.
With the move it looks like the Lightning will settle for the following pairings:
Victor Hedman – Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev – Darren Raddysh
Calvin de Haan – Nick Perbix
Haydn Fleury
In an unrelated move, the Lightning placed Conor Sheary on injured reserve due to the upper body injury he suffered in Tuesday’s game against the Canadiens. They also announced that Waltteri Merela from Syracuse. The rookie was sent down earlier in the week when Tyler Motte returned from injured reserve.
Once Vasilevskiy is healthy (estimates are around Thanksgiving) the Lightning will have enough cap room to bring him back and still carry an extra forward and defenseman. With Sheary going on IR instead of LTIR it’s an indication that his injury isn’t considered long-term.
It’s been rumored that general manager Julien BriseBois has been looking to move Bogosian since this summer, hoping to find a team that the one-time Stanley Cup winner could be comfortable with. According to a Tweet from The Athletic’s Michael Russo, Minnesota is an extremely good fit as Bogosian lives in the state in the off-season and often attends unofficial skates with other Wild players in the summer. His brother Aaron works for the organization as a mental performance specialist. Not too mention his old buddy Patty Maroon is having a solid season for the Wild. Bogo did have a 21-team, no-trade clause in his contract that he either waived to complete the trade, or the Wild were already one of the teams he would accept a trade to.
