Defender Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning added a fortune to her defense by getting Brandon Hagel in two fourth-round picks for two first-round picks and two prospects, reports Sportsnet Elliotte Friedman.
Hail goes to TB with two quarters, for two firsts and prospects. Of course, still working on perspectives
– Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 18, 2022
Raddysh & Katchouk are the two Lightning players
– Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 18, 2022
Along with the hail, Lightning will receive fourth-round picks in 2022 and 2024. The Blackhawks will receive a first-round pick in 2023 and 2024, plus prospects Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk, both members of Canada’s 2018 World Juniors team.
After saying nothing was off the table, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois went all-in as he did in 2020 when he traded for Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. These moves set the table for Tampa Bay to win the 2020 and 2021 Cups.
The acquisition of Hagel has a similar vibe. A late Bloomer drafted by Buffalo in 2016 and unsigned, the native of the small town of Morinville, Alberta, outside Edmonton took advantage of injuries last season in Chicago to establish himself in the NHL.
The hail was just another forward prospect for Chicago when he made his debut on March 11, 2020 – the last game before the season was suspended due to the pandemic and faced with a full roster picture when the game was revived in 2021.
Then a series of health problems with the Chicago forwards created an opening, and the hail took a regular role with his nonstop engine. He had nine goals and 15 assists in 52 games last season, and the Blackhawks rewarded him in August with a $ 4.5 million, three-year contract.
Tampa Bay takes over the entire salary, using the cap space saved by sending Raddysh and Katchouk to Chicago. It’s another impressive head move by BriseBois who managed to bring in veteran forwards Corey Perry and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and bring back defender Zach Bogosian in the offseason after Coleman and Goodrow lost in free agency and Yanni Gourde to Seattle Expansion Design.
Hail is another piece to fill that void. He has a career-high 21 goals and 16 assists in 55 games this season. It looked like he could be a key player in Chicago’s long-term plans under new general manager Kyle Davidson, but the Tampa Bay package is irresistible for the Blackhawks’ rebuilding.
“I said a few weeks ago that we were rebuilding, and this is clearly the beginning of that,” Davidson said. “Getting two first-round draft picks as well as two, young, NHL players will help us kickstart this process in a big way. We know Brandon Hagel was a fan favorite – our fans love him for all the reasons we love him. have – and we know he’ll be successful with Lightning.
The Lightning are again banks that can run long and have the scouting skills to find talent in later rounds of the draft. They showed that they could by selecting Brayden Point in the third round of 2014 and helping him develop into their top center.
With three years left in what BriseBois defined as the Tampa Bay championship window, the price was almost secondary after rival Florida Panthers traded for top-four defender Ben Chiarot and could be in line for another big move before the deadline Monday. to do.
–With files from the Associated Press
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