Even though they’ve already acquired one of the best defensive prospects in the game, the Tampa Bay Lightning are looking for more immediate help on the back end. That’s what Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes, saying that he thinks they might land one tonight at the draft. The Lightning of course opened up one spot when they moved Jason Garrison to the Vegas Golden Knights, and aren’t yet guaranteeing an NHL role for Mikhail Sergachev to start the year.
With rumors bouncing around about Travis Hamonic, Marco Scandella and the crop of defenders Vegas selected, there shouldn’t be any lack of options for the Lightning. Both the Islanders and Wild are rumored to be asking for a first-round pick (and in New York’s case two) to start the negotiations, something that they may not want to part with. If the Lightning did move it, they wouldn’t pick until #48, a selection they received for Brian Boyle at the deadline.
With Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman firmly entrenched as two of the top four, and Jake Dotchin expected to fill a role after a surprisingly good rookie debut, the other three spots are more up in the air. Braydon Coburn, Andrej Sustr and Slater Koekkoek would slot into those spots right now, but the former is becoming less effective by the day and the latter two are both still currently restricted free agents (as is Dotchin). As above, Sergachev could find his way into that group at the beginning of the season or the team could go with several other minor league or prospect types, but it’s clear they’d like a real improvement somewhere.
After moving so much salary out in the last few months, the Lightning could legitimately go after an unrestricted free agent as well, something that was completely out of the question before moving Garrison, Jonathan Drouin and Valtteri Filppula. If they don’t find a solution at the draft or in the next few days, expect them to start talking to free agents when the negotiation windows open next week.