Tampa Bay Lightning Need Depth
Anthony Di Marco of The Daily Faceoff joined TSN Radio in Montreal on Monday and was asked what the needs of the Tampa Bay Lightning are at the trade deadline.
Writing for NHLRumors.com
Boss: I’m just asking. You’re looking at the Tampa Bay team, Anthony. Lost (Victor) Hedman for a while. Missing (Andrei) Vasilevskiy for a while. They missed (Brayden) Point for a while. Now, (Anthony) Cirelli) is coming out. Like, Jon Cooper did a great job here, and they’re not a small group. Like, do you expect them to work between now and the deadline? Just try to find somewhere else where they can get a little help.
Anthony Di Marco: “Yes, I would think. So, the team of Julien BriseBois, he seems to be always working. I believe it was last year when he made a trade with the Seattle Kraken to bring back Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand. And now you look at that team at the moment, obviously you have some injuries with Brayden Point, and as you said, Anthony Cirelli.
And I think maybe just adding, like some depth to that lineup, maybe as a depth guy at center, to maybe move Nick Paul to the wing, up the lineup. I just think centerman in general. But hey, every league needs centermen these days.
And then, maybe as a fullback, you’re never going to use too much defensive depth. However, if you look at the history of other players who came with Nyazi and won their cup with them. I mean, David Savard or Zach Bogosian or what have you. I think that would be right up Julien BriseBois alley.
NHLRumors.com Note: In speaking with several people during the Stadium Series, the belief is that the Tampa Bay Lightning want to go after a center who can win faceoffs and has offensive punch. Now, they could go down the route of getting a guy like what the Pittsburgh Penguins had with Matt Cullen, but the Lightning would prefer to get a player with offensive flair. As BriseBois told Sirius XM NHL Network Radio over the weekend, he wants to do something that helps the team now and in the future.
Later during the same segment on TSN Radio in Montreal, Anthony Di Marco of the Daily Faceoff was asked about Artemi Panarin and where he could be traded and talked about the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Di Marco: ‘We talked about the Tampa Bay Lightning. As it could be, that’s the kind of team that could see, in my opinion, Artemi Panarin trying to find his way to it. Like the first thought that would come to my mind was the Florida Panthers, but like, I feel like Tampa is in a position, as an organization, and maybe asset wise, to do that. And I think they need Artemi Panarin probably more than any top team in the NHL. “
As we have now seen, this is the second or third time lightning has been mentioned or thought about. We’ve seen the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning make trades before. Cam Robinson released the idea again and broke down what the trade would look like.
I’m just pulling a loose thread, but I wonder if Tampa is a silent starter for Panarin.
Bjorkstrand’s $5.4M back, 2028 1st, a few 2nds, maybe a guy like Goncalves.. the draft is there.
The Sunshine State. Playoff tied. Russian stars. They check all the boxes.
– Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) February 3, 2026
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