A busy day of trades continued on Saturday with the Tampa Bay Lightning adding another major piece to its lineup when it acquired defenseman David Savard in a three-team trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings.
The trade breaks down as follows:
Columbus receives: 2021 first-round pick (from Tampa Bay), 2022 third-round pick (from Tampa Bay)
Detroit receives: 2021 fourth-round pick (from Tampa Bay)
Tampa Bay receives: David Savard (from Columbus), Brian Lashoff (from Detroit)
Here is how the three teams got to that point:
Columbus initially traded Savard to the Red Wings for Brian Lashoff and retained 50% of Savard’s remaining salary.
The Red Wings then sent Savard to Tampa Bay for a fourth-round pick and retained 50 % of his remaining salary from the original move with Columbus.
Tampa Bay then sent the two draft picks to Columbus for Lashoff.
All of that maneuvering means Tampa Bay is getting Savard at just 25% of his salary cap hit for the remainder of the season. Given how close they are to the salary cap, that is very important.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman, of course, spent years as the general manager in Tampa Bay and obviously has a strong relationship with current Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois.
[More: ProHockeyTalk’s 2021 NHL Trade Tracker]
In the end, the Lightning end up giving up three draft picks (a first, a second, and a fourth) to get Savard at a greatly reduced salary rate.
Savard was one of the top defenders available at the deadline and should further strengthen an already great Tampa Bay team that still has a Nikita Kucherov return looming for the playoffs.
It is definitely a steep price to pay in terms of picks, but the Lightning have not been afraid to pay steep prices at the deadline. Remember it was just one year ago that they traded two first-round picks and prospects for Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. That duo, along with Yanni Gourde, helped form one of the best lines in the playoffs and was a major factor in their Stanley Cup victory. That line has still been great this season. If the Lightning are able to put together another deep playoff run, and perhaps even repeat as champions, nobody in Tampa Bay will care about the draft picks.
Columbus, meanwhile, gets a very nice return in terms of draft pick capital for a veteran defender that it probably was not going to re-sign after the season.
Detroit gets an extra draft pick for simply getting involved and eating some salary to help Columbus and Tampa Bay make its trade work financially.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.