Lightning wheeling and dealing ahead of the trade deadline, move Boyle to Toronto

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
February 27, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – The wheeling and dealing continued for Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman on Monday.

With the trade deadline approaching, Yzerman has been out in front of the market having already dealt goaltender Ben Bishop to the Los Angeles Kings Sunday night.

On Monday, after claiming center Greg McKegg off waivers from the Florida Panthers, Yzerman dealt popular veteran forward Brian Boyle to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a 2017 second-round pick (the highest of three Toronto second round picks) and minor league center Byron Froese, who was assigned to Syracuse of the American Hockey League.

Tampa Bay also recalled forwards Adam Erna and Yanni Gourde from Syracuse earlier in the day.

With two days left before the deadline -which is Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST – the Lightning have already dealt Bishop and Boyle along with a fifth-round pick in exchange for veteran goaltender Peter Budaj, Froese, a second round pick, a conditional pick that potentially could be a second round pick and 19-year-old prospect defenseman Erik Cernak.

And Yzerman may not be done.

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” We do have some restricted free agents that we’re hoping to sign,” Yzerman said. “We need to create space for them. Our roster is likely to change between now and the opening of the season next year. What exactly it will look like I can’t predict that now but we’re going to have to make some changes to be compliant to start next year.’’

Meanwhile, moving out Boyle, who will be an unrestricted at the end of the season felt like a move made by a team that is sitting well outside the playoff picture. The versatile forward, who has filled in on defense at times during his two-plus seasons with Tampa Bay, was a popular part of the locker room who helped fill the leadership void in the absence of Steven Stamkos and Ryan Callahan this season.

Which is exactly the reason why Toronto acquired Boyle, who had expressed interest multiple times in remaining with the team. Though there had been some discussions on an extension, Yzerman opted to move out an expiring contract for assets as two key members of a team that made successive long playoff runs starts to get broken up.

”It’s just kind of the business side of it,’’ Boyle said in a conference call with reporters. “And it’s talked about a lot and for good reason, there is a salary cap, it’s a hard cap and you have to make decisions based on that sometimes and it’s a little different from the hockey. Bish’s name has come up since the draft last year and that’s just finally when it went down. You can try to wrap your head around it or you can try not to worry about it.

“But when the phone call comes and you are moved, you don’t really know what is going to happen or how you are going to react. It’s just kind of something to experience and it happened for me and I’m trying to start to get a little organized here. It’s disappointed in the aspect that what we had down in Tampa and our expectations of this year were not met and that’s probably the most disappointing part of it. But again, there is business side to it and you don’t really know what is going to happen regardless. Then you just hope that if you do get moved you go to a good place and I’m very excited about where I’m headed.’’

The direction of where the Lightning are headed is also pretty apparent. Though the goal remains to make the postseason – and Monday night’s victory against Ottawa is a step in the right direction – Yzerman has kept things in perspective, ensuring that some key players are not lost for nothing in the summer while trying to maneuver a way to keep as much of the core intact.

”With what we have in performance bonuses for some of our young players we’re going to be squeezed and we don’t even know what the cap is going to be,’’ Yzerman said. “We know Hedman’s new contract is going to kick in next year and we know we’re going to try to sign some of our other players so we felt the need to do this right now to give ourselves as much cap space for next year as we could.’’

Some of that performance bonus pay for Jonathan Drouin, Brayden Point and Vasilevskiy – all on their entry level deals that include bonus clauses – will now be able to be applied to the salary cap this year instead of pushing the overage to next year’s salary cap. Tampa Bay can use all the space it can create in that scenario with Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Slater Koekkoek, Jake Dotchin and Drouin all restricted free agents after the season while the extensions for Hedman and Vasilevskiy also kick in.

The moves might put a hit on the rest of this season, but are made with next year and beyond in mind.

”People will look at it and say there’s been subtractions, are there going to be more,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “But that’s not how we’re really looking at things. We have our core, we have our group and unfortunately some of our core is injured right now but there is a lot of belief in our team, who we have and what we are going to do moving forward. None of that has changed.’’

Budaj, meanwhile, joined the team on Monday and dressed as the back up to Vasilevskiy. The veteran netminder, who leads the league this season with seven shutouts, was just trying to get his bearings and acclimate himself to new surroundings.

”We landed in Minnesota, then I got a call and I went to the hotel and talked to the staff and found out I was flying out (Monday) morning,’’ Budaj said. “It’s exciting. The weather is great here.’’

McKegg, a former third round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2010, was en route to Tampa from South Florida on Monday and did not arrive in time for the game but was in the locker room following the game. The 6-foot, 190-pound center has appeared in 50 career games, recording five goals and eight points.
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