Tampa Bay Lightning trade deadline updates

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
March 1, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – It’s trade deadline day around the NHL and while the Lightning were ahead of the curve, moving Brian Boyle and Ben Bishop earlier in the week, Tampa Bay is actively seeking to make more moves ahead of the 3 p.m. deadline.

Plenty of rumblings involving the Lightning leading up to the deadline with the potential for some surprising names in play on Tampa Bay’s end.

Click below to get the run down, and I’ll keep the paywall restrictions off this for the time being.

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Just to recap what Tampa Bay had already done heading in to today:

* Sunday – Ben Bishop was dealt to the L.A. Kings along with a fifth-round pick in exchange for G Peter Budaj, a seventh-round pick, a conditional pick and prospect defenseman Erik Cernak.

* Monday – Brian Boyle sent to Toronto in exchange for a second round draft pick and minor league center Byron Froese.

While it’s been a slow day around the NHL, which is not uncommon in the salary cap era, the Lightning did make one move in the early afternoon involving the Florida Panthers.

2:00 p.m EST – Tampa Bay dealt goaltender Adam Wilcox, one of the members of Tampa Bay’s stellar 2011 draft class, to the Panthers in exchange for goaltender Mike McKenna, a veteran goaltender who will be a big boost for Syracuse down the stretch. McKenna was with the Lightning in an earlier part of his career, pitching a shutout in his first career start on home ice with Tampa Bay, stopping 28 shots to defeat the New York Islanders on Feb. 7, 2009. It was McKenna’s second career start.

McKenna appeared in 15 games with Tampa Bay down the 2008-09 season and has bounced around since his time here, appearing in seven NHL games with New Jersey, Columbus and Arizona.

But in the American Hockey League he’s been among the better goaltenders the past few seasons. McKenna won 33 games last season with Portland in the AHL.

Wilcox had won the top job for Syracuse this season, outplaying Kristers Gudlevskis. In 34 games with the Crunch, Wilcox had a 18-9-2 record with 2.87 goals against average and .895 save percentage.

2:45 p.m.Tampa Bay acquires veteran defenseman Mark Streit from Philadelphia in exchange for center Valtteri Filppula, a fourth-round pick and a conditional seventh-round pick. This saves Tampa Bay $5 million off the salary cap next season and opens up another protected spot for the expansion draft as Filppula has a no-move clause in his contract and would have required protection. The Flyers also retained 4.7 percent of Streit’s contract – that’s correct – to essentially balance out the remaining salary for this season.

3:15 p.m.The Lightning flip Streit to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a fourth-round pick, which means Tampa Bay recovers the fourth-round pick they sent to Philadelphia in the Filppula deal.

NOTE:According to Lindsay Kramer from the Syracuse Post Standard, the Lightning assigned Gabriel Dumont (who cleared waivers earlier in the day), Jake Dotchin and Adam Erne to the Syracuse Crunch. But this is a normal move, referred to as Clear Day, and is a paper transaction that allows those players to be eligible for the playoffs in the American Hockey League. The only surprise here is that Brayden Point was not on this list.