BriseBois and Zito have already won the trade deadline
The Lightning and Panther GMs are a couple of cowboys who are unafraid to swing for the fences when they make deals...and we're totally on board with all of the fireworks
If the NHL standings are the same at the end of the season as they are today, there is no way both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers will be playing for the Stanley Cup beyond the second round of the playoffs. And that’s a shame, but it would also all but guarantee the two teams would meet in the second round of the playoffs and, hoo boy, does that have all kinds of potential.
So it’s interesting to see the two southernmost markets in the NHL going hammer-and-tong off the ice leading up to the trade deadline tomorrow afternoon. It’s been fascinating theater so far, almost as entertaining as what these two teams might be able to produce on the ice in a playoff series. And before that happens, we get to see the two teams play once more during the regular season, April 24 in Sunrise. In their first three games, the Panthers have won two, including a 9-3 rout the last time the two teams met.
Bring it on.
It’s pretty clear that regardless what happens by Monday at 3 p.m., Lightning GM Julien BriseBois and his Panthers’ counterpart Bill Zito have already won the trade deadline. These guys are a couple of cowboys, seeing which one can outmanoeuvre the other and we’re totally here for that. Making deals such as these two have made hardly guarantees a championship – hell, it doesn’t even guarantee they’ll get out of the first round in the cage match that will be the Eastern Conference playoffs – but it indicates a willingness for two non-traditional franchises to do what it takes to give themselves the best chance to win.
BriseBois learned his craft under Steve Yzerman, and Zito was trained by Jarmo Kekalainen, both canny and bold dealers themselves. They obviously both listened well and took very good notes. And when it came to swallow hard and make impactful deals, both of them have done that in the past couple of days, giving much-needed oxygen to the deadline process. And the best thing is they both markedly improved their teams without really altering their rosters that much.
Let’s start with Zito, the former batboy for the Milwaukee Brewers who swings for the fences almost every time he makes a trade. Prior to this week, he had already acquired the likes of Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Brandon Montour and Patric Hornqvist, moving pieces around like hockey’s version of Bobby Fischer and keeping the Panthers within the salary cap.
But it was this week when he did his most important work. With his team already in first place in the Eastern Conference, Zito didn’t exactly go all Neil Smith circa 1994, but he did significantly alter the complexion of his team, getting defenseman Ben Chiarot from the Montreal Canadiens, (likely) winger Claude Giroux from the Philadelphia Flyers and defenseman Robert Hagg from the Buffalo Sabres. And it cost a bunch of futures that will have an impact down the road to be sure. It didn’t look like Owen Tippett was going to blossom as an impact NHLer with the Panthers, so moving him to another organization was not devastating.
The Panthers will not have a pick in the first round for the next three years and, yeah, that’s going to come back to bite them. But by that time those 2022, ’23 and ’24 prospects are ready to play in the NHL, the Panthers will have either won a Stanley Cup or killed themselves trying. And perhaps the best thing about all this is the Panthers did not have to give up their first-rounder from 2021, Mackie Samoskevich, who Saturday night had a goal and an assist in Michigan’s 4-3 win over Minnesota in the Big 10 championship.
And when it comes to Giroux, do not be the least bit surprised if he likes what he sees in south Florida and decides to sign a multi-year deal there. It could happen even before the end of the season, but we’re not promising anything. Chances are, though, Giroux will start the 2022-23 season with a lengthy deal with the Panthers.
We’ve come to expect huge moves from BriseBois and, of course, he did not disappoint in his quest to make the Lightning the first team to win three straight Stanley Cups in the salary cap era. His two moves were also brilliant, getting Brandon Hagel from the Chicago Blackhawks and Nick Paul from the Ottawa Senators. There are many reasons why the Lightning won Stanley Cups in 2020 and ’21, one of which was they had a third line without peer. Those guys are all gone now, replaced by Ross Colton at center between Paul and Hagel. Is that as good as Yanni Gourde between Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman? Maybe not, but it’s pretty darn good and it moves the unit of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare between Patrick Maroon and Corey Perry into fourth-line duty, where they’re better suited. And, all of a sudden, the Lightning are all kinds of horrible as a playoff opponent.
Like the Panthers, the Lightning are bereft of draft picks, although they still have their first-rounder in 2022. It’s important to understand that BriseBois has the ability to deal away picks because he happens to have the best amateur scouting staff in the NHL, led by Al Murray. After all, who needs first-round picks when you can find Ondrej Palat in the seventh round, Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli in the third round and Nikita Kucherov in the second?
As we’ve seen this week, the Lightning and Panthers are engaged in an arms race, one that will be entertaining as all get-out to watch unfold. And it has increased the chances of the Stanley Cup staying in Florida for a while longer all the more.