Negotiating a trade or a contract is about leverage. It’s about striking during the windows that are most advantageous. We saw it at this trade deadline. There was an ebb and flow to just when the perfect time to make a deal was.
Lighting GM Steve Yzerman has as good an understanding of this as anyone in the game. He could have done nothing at this deadline and defended it pretty well. Steven Stamkos is getting healthy. He has a team that could make the playoffs. But it would have come with a painful price this offseason, when contract bonuses would have rolled into next season’s salary cap, and useful players would have had to have been moved for cap or expansion draft purposes. The Lightning would have lost all leverage in making moves this summer to improve their chances of winning a Stanley Cup next year.
So, he sold.
In his mind, it wasn’t even all that much of a choice.
“I don’t have the luxury of waiting,” he said of his moves that sent Ben Bishop, Valtteri Filppula and longtime Lightning fan favorite Mark Streit out of town. “I need to take advantage of the trade deadline. It’s a different atmosphere.”
It was a window in which he could do some serious work and make the most progress towards fielding a Stanley Cup contender for the 2017-18 season.
In the process, the Lightning were able to free up $1.7 million in cap space this year to make room for player bonuses anticipated to track in at just over $1 million. They freed up $2.1 million in actual cash, no small consideration for ownership. They got an additional $5 million in cap space for next season and added an extra slot in the expansion draft protection by trading Filppula, whose no-movement clause required protection.
Ultimately, they did it all without damaging their playoff chances this season. It was great work. In ranking the efforts of all 30 turned in around the trade deadline, the Lightning are right near the top, just behind the clear No. 1 team:
1. There’s been a lot of talk about how the Kevin Shattenkirk addition means that GM Brian MacLellan pushed all in at the trade deadline. The fact that he paid less in draft picks than Minnesota did for Martin Hanzal and didn’t include the Capitals' best prospect suggests he left chips on the table. That may be the best thing -- this wasn’t even "all in."
It was a great deadline for MacLellan, who got good value in Shattenkirk and found a way to upgrade a team that was already one of the NHL’s best.
2. One last thing on the deadline turned in by Yzerman and assistant GM Julien BriseBois: The bet here is they still make the playoffs. Yzerman said coach Jon Cooper addressed the team to remind them that expectations haven’t changed. He said he’d probably do the same himself.
“I’ll let everyone know. That’s our expectation,” Yzerman said when we chatted after the deadline. “Our players know that.”
3. You have to admire a GM who takes a swing at it when his team positions itself for an opportunity to make a run. Chuck Fletcher paid a steep price for Martin Hanzal, but the payoff is a Wild team deep down the middle and talented enough to now be considered a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
Those Ryan Suter and Zach Parise contracts are starting to age, so the time was right to take a shot at it.
4. San Jose was similar to Washington in that they have good depth up and down the lineup, so if GM Doug Wilson was going to make a deal, it had to be a real upgrade. He did exactly that in trading for Jannik Hansen, the kind of player who helps win playoff games. The Sharks have put real distance between themselves and the other Pacific teams.
5. GM John Chayka stood firm on his asking price for Radim Vrbata, and ultimately ended up keeping him. That opens him up to some criticism there.
But the return for Hanzal was a home run, and time has been kind to the Michael Stone trade, which netted a third-round pick at a deadline where some defensemen weren’t even moved because of a lack of buyers.
6. All the fans trying to run GM Jim Benning out of town might want to put their pitchforks away for awhile. This was a good deadline for Benning, who maxed out the return for Hansen despite a limited pool of teams to which he could trade. The Alex Burrows deal for Jonathan Dahlen was really good work. The comparisons to the Filip Forsberg deal are misguided, but Dahlen is a strong return for Burrows.
7. You always suspect GM Jim Rutherford to do something big when it comes to make trades, but his understated trade deadline was actually an effective one. The Penguins are loaded with defensive depth with the additions of Ron Hainsey and Mark Streit, with Streit’s age the only concern.
“[Streit] looked older and less effective the past six weeks or so,” texted one Eastern Conference scout after the trade.
He also hung on to Marc-Andre Fleury, who will likely benefit from the stability this provides in the short term. Fleury provides insurance in goal, and the Penguins still have time to solve the expansion draft issue later, with a Fleury buyout the worst-case scenario.
8. Red Wings fans wanted to see more in the return for Thomas Vanek, but considering his limitations and the way the sellers market took a dive on the last day of the deadline, that deal wasn’t bad. In all, GM Ken Holland did well in the unusual spot (for him) as seller, piling up a slew of draft picks in deals for Thomas Vanek, Brendan Smith and Tomas Jurco.
The Smith deal was especially strong, considering the soft defenseman market. Detroit now has 20 draft picks in the next two drafts.
9. Give GM Jeff Gorton credit for hanging on to his first-round pick. He certainly understands the importance of bringing in young talent to complement high salaries.
But the Rangers also improved by adding defenseman Brendan Smith, who is a good skater, can make plays and has size.
10. Toronto isn’t at the point where they wanted to make a big deadline push, but the addition of Brian Boyle was just about perfect. He’s a great presence in the dressing room, is the perfect No. 4 center and can contribute on both special teams. It's a perfect fit for a young team that needed another center.
11. There are some general managers who are always honest. There are some general managers who bend the truth with their intentions. There are some general managers who openly admit they lie at this time of year. Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman falls under the honest category.
But even when he said he wasn’t moving his first-round pick, there was some doubt. Bowman was a man of his word, retaining Chicago’s first pick, while still improving his team with the return of Johnny Oduya and the addition of Jurco. He’s making a bet here on some of his young forwards, but the Blackhawks are firmly in the Cup contender category.
12. Florida Panthers
Vanek was a strong addition for a team that can use scoring help and a boost for the power play. He may be best served in helping the Panthers get in the playoffs rather than win playoff games, but either way, there should be a payoff for this deal.
13. Calgary Flames
Opinions on Curtis Lazar around the league are certainly split. There are some teams that don’t have a lot of faith he’ll live up to his first-round billing, but this was a nice trade for GM Brad Treliving because it wasn’t a rental. He bolsters his depth and adds another young piece to a growing team.
Stone has helped slot the defense in the right positions in Calgary, too.
14. Dallas Stars
The Patrick Sharp injury hurt GM Jim Nill’s ability to truly cash in on this deadline. You also would have liked to see a veteran defenseman with multiple Stanley Cups like Johnny Oduya draw a bigger return, but the prices being paid on defense just weren’t high this year.
There’s a lot of work to be done this offseason in Dallas.
15. The Lightning had their reasons for having to deal Filppula, but ultimately would rather have kept him around. He’s still a really good, two-way center and those are hard to come by.
It’s a stretch to think he’ll help the Flyers get in the playoffs this year, but he’ll be good for them next season.
16. Ottawa Senators
The best thing the Senators have going for them is that they may end up in the best playoff slot in the NHL -- No. 2 in the Atlantic.
That’s reason enough to support their deadline moves and they added useful players. The moves would look a lot better if the Burrows trade didn’t come with a contract extension.
17. Boston Bruins
GM Don Sweeney was uncharacteristically quiet, although adding Drew Stafford on the cheap was a nice move. There’s nothing wrong with keeping assets in place to try to make a big deal in the offseason. I don’t mind the patience shown in Boston at this deadline.
18. Anaheim Ducks
A healthy price was paid for Patrick Eaves, in part because his salary fit the Ducks' structure. But, it was an otherwise quiet trade deadline for GM Bob Murray, partly due to money issues.
19. Edmonton Oilers
David Desharnais addresses a need down the middle in Edmonton and allows Leon Draisaitl to play on the wing during the playoffs. That’s a plus.
But it would have been nice to see GM Peter Chiarelli grab one of the available goalies to ease the strain on starter Cam Talbot.
20. Winnipeg Jets
GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was able to move Stafford without retaining a penny, which is no small consideration for a money-aware team like the Jets.
Plus, with a little help from Stafford and the Bruins, that could end up as a fourth-round pick if the condition is met.
21. The Devils didn’t have all that much to sell, and they got about what you’d expect for what they did: nothing great, but no issues either.
22. The same goes for the Hurricanes. We'll see if GM Ron Francis has any bigger moves to make this offseason.
23. The message from the Blue Jackets was that they really like their team, but they aren’t at the point where they’re ready to make a huge Stanley Cup push, and the deadline reflected it.
Kyle Quincey, added on deadline day, is a capable bottom-pair defenseman.
24. GM Marc Bergevin clearly thought his team needed physicality and sandpaper, and he got that in abundance with his additions of Steve Ott and Dwight King.
But the best deal he made was adding defenseman Brandon Davidson in the deal that sent Desharnais to Edmonton. There’s still upside there, and that could be a trade that looks good down the road for Montreal.
25. Ben Bishop and Jarome Iginla are big names who will certainly be able to contribute, but they don’t necessarily address the Kings' biggest need, which was and is goal scoring.
26. When Filip Forsberg is lighting the world on fire, apparently there’s no real need to do much of anything else.
27. St. Louis Blues
GM Doug Armstrong’s hands were tied a bit by Kevin Shattenkirk's desire to test the free agent market. He might have hit a home run in dealing Shattenkirk earlier to a team with which Shattenkirk was willing to sign long term -- if that deal existed.
That ended up being an impossibility, and Armstrong was left with the Capitals' offer, which was less than you’d expect for a player of Shattenkirk’s ability.
28. It’s certainly appreciated in this space the way GM Joe Sakic handled Jarome Iginla with absolute class. But this is a struggling team that needs change, and Sakic was otherwise oddly quiet. It puts even more pressure on him to turn in a big offseason where it’s still expected that, at the very least, Matt Duchene will get moved.
29. Buffalo Sabres
It wasn’t like GM Tim Murray waited too long to make a move. Any of his rentals would have been available earlier had contenders been more aggressive in their pursuit of guys like Cody Franson and Dmitry Kulikov. But ultimately, a team that should have been selling didn’t make any moves, and that has to be a disappointment for the Sabres.
30. The ideal scenario would have been landing a player like Matt Duchene to slot in behind John Tavares. Certainly, the Islanders' improved play under Doug Weight had earned them a rental winger for the home stretch. At the very least, trade Jaroslav Halak to get some value out of a goalie lighting up the AHL.
GM Garth Snow opted for none of the above.