(Las Vegas) There’s never a dull moment with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Florida organization traded defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to the new Utah team.
In return, Tampa gets defenseman JJ Moser, center Conor Geekie and a 2025 second-round pick and a 2024 seventh-round pick.
The Lightning then traded forward Tanner Jeannot to the Los Angeles Kings for a 2025 second-round pick and a fourth-round pick ($118.95).e) in 2024.
Caught in a financial bind, the Lightning is freeing up more than $11 million in salaries for the 2024-25 season. Sergachev alone was due to receive an average salary of $8.5 million over the next seven years. The Russian, one of his club’s best defensemen, was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Jonathan Drouin in 2016 and was a key part of the 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup victories. His current contract has a no-trade clause that was set to take effect Monday, March 1er July.
As for Jeannot, for whom the Lightning paid a fortune at the 2023 trade deadline, he never found his feet in Tampa. His departure is therefore not a surprise in itself. The sums saved by the club could ensure the return of Steven Stamkos, who is about to become an unrestricted free agent.
The draft picks will also allow the Lightning to replenish its prospect bank, as the team did not have any picks in the first three rounds in 2024. In Geekie, the club gets its hands on a high-ranking offensive prospect, who was chosen in the first round (11e in total) in 2022 by the Arizona Coyotes, who just moved to Utah.
Speaking of this new franchise, it has thus achieved the first coup in its young history. Adding such a player, and such a contract, to its squad is in itself a complete break with the austerity regime in force in Arizona for years.
Not satisfied, the Utah team immediately added John Marino to its defense from the New Jersey Devils, in return for two second-round picks in 2024 and 2025.
PHOTO FRANK FRANKLIN II, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
John Marino (6)
Elsewhere in the league, the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Kevin Hayes and a second-round pick from the St. Louis Blues for later compensation.