NHL Insights: Tampa Bay Lightning Colorado Avalanche, and Florida Panthers

Welcome to another edition of NHL Insights. It was another exciting week in the NHL as several teams got in on the action of making trades prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on Monday. The Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Boston Bruins positioned themselves for deep playoff runs come on the spring. And a couple of those teams are not finished yet. Then there is the Vegas Golden Knights who are still a mess with so many players hurt, you have to wonder if they get in on the action. And a couple of milestone moments this week involving Claude Giroux, Alexander Ovechkin, and Mark Giordano.

Time to dive into some NHL Insights for the past week.

NHL Insights: Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche, and Florida Panthers

Tampa Bay Lightning Acquire Brandon Hagel

The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to fly under the radar this season. Despite the Lightning being the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions. Tampa Bay out of nowhere acquire Brandon Hagel from the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. Many people were shocked by this move, but this is another example of the Lightning looking for value in a player. With three years left on his deal that pays him $1.5 million a season, Tampa Bay found their next version of Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow or Yanni Gourde. He fits their system perfectly and will slide right into the third line. This is exactly what the Tampa Bay Lightning needed. The Lightning have been looking to retool that third line ever since they lost all the players mentioned above to free agency, trade or expansion. Again this shows the champs are the champs for a reason.

Colorado Adds Josh Manson

The Colorado Avalanche were the first team to get in on the action. Colorado acquired Josh Manson from Anaheim. The Avalanche have been looking to add to their defence as they have been pushed around the last couple of years in the playoffs. Now they will be pushing teams around as Manson brings that physicality needed to win in the playoffs. With Samuel Girard out for at least four weeks and Gabriel Landeskog out for longer than that, the Avalanche have some cap space to work with. Speaking of cap space they moved out Tyson Jost to Minnesota for Nico Sturm. This has freed up at least $1.5 million in cap space for the Avalanche to use. Unfortunately, it will not be for Claude Giroux.

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Panthers Going All-In

Speaking of Claude Giroux, he is taking his talents to South Beach. After playing in his 1,000th game for the Flyers and recording his 900th point, everyone knew Giroux was going to be traded. It was just a matter of where and when he was going to be traded. Once the Flyers announced he was not going to travel with the team, the moves were in place for Giroux to get traded. And traded he was. The Panthers made the second of three moves thus far by acquiring Giroux from the Flyers. Florida gave up a 2024 first-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick, Owen Tippett and the Flyers will retain 50 percent of Giroux’s salary. Giroux will bring some much-needed depth scoring that is needed for the playoffs.

The Panthers also added to their defence as well. They first added Ben Chiarot from the Montreal Canadiens as a depth defenceman. However, after defenceman Aaron Ekblad got injured Friday night and will be out through the end of the regular season coming back sometime in the first round of the playoffs, the Panthers added Robert Hagg from the Buffalo Sabres. Meanwhile, the Panthers may not be done making moves with Ekblad going on LTIR as they have $7.5 million in cap space to use now.

Bruins Acquire and Re-sign Hampus Lindholm

The Boston Bruins got in on the action as they acquired Hampus Lindholm from the Anaheim Ducks. The Bruins gave up a boatload for Lindholm. However, they see him as part of their future. Boston re-signed Lindholm to a new eight-year, $52 million deal that carries a salary-cap hit of $6.5 million. This is a win-win for the Bruins and Lindholm. Lindholm was never going to re-sign in Anaheim and the Bruins window is still open despite what many think. He is the perfect player to compliment Charlie McAvoy. Like Manson, Lindholm is physical and is a defensive defenceman. But he can add offence when he sees it is the right time to jump into the play.

Does Vegas Miss The Playoffs?

Who would have thought the Vegas Golden Knights would be fighting to make the playoffs? If you told anyone at the beginning of the season, they would have laughed in your face. However, you look at the roster and the man-games lost to injury. They lead the league. Key players like Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, now Jack Eichel. The Golden Knights are a mess. Add to the factor that Robin Lehner is hurt and may not return for the start of the playoffs and they have to overwork Laurent Brossoit, who they never trusted to begin with. Vegas is a team that will look to make moves at the deadline. You have to wonder who they decided to go after to fill a need, especially between the pipes. Jake Allen, Alexandar Georgiev, and Semyon Varlamov are all available.

Things are heating up prior to the deadline with so many players being held out of the lineup. If the weekend is any indication, Monday, March 21st, will be a fun day, for sure.

Stick taps to Alexander Ovechkin for passing Jaromir Jagr on the NHL goals list as he moved into third place. Also congrats to Mark Giordano in playing in 1,000 games.