The Tampa Bay Lightning have traded defenseman Zach Bogosian to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 2025 7th-round pick.
Bogosian, 33, was in his second stint with the Lightning. Initially signed in February 2020, Bogosian helped the Lightning win the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals. After a year in Toronto, he re-signed in Tampa for three years in the summer of 2021 and helped the Lightning make the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. Over the past two seasons, he's seen his role reduced to make room for prospects like Nick Perbix and Darren Raddysh.
Bogosian had four goals and 11 assists for 15 points in 106 games over four seasons with the Lightning and eight assists in 47 playoff games across three playoff appearances in Tampa.
During the summer, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois had stated that he was looking to trade the veteran defenseman in an attempt to get him more playing time, and with the recent wild trade that saw defenseman Calen Addison get sent to the San Jose Sharks, this is the perfect spot for Bogosian to get that time.
This trade makes sense for a couple of reasons, the main one being cap space. With goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy nearing a return from off-season surgery, the Lightning needed to clear up $850,000 in cap space with their current roster, even with the defenseman Haydn Fleury currently on a conditioning assignment in AHL Syracuse.
The second reason is just due to roster compliance. Before this trade, the Lightning had eight defensemen on their main roster, even with the Fleury assignment. Though defenseman Nick Perbix has struggled in his sophomore season, players like Philippe Myers have excelled for quite some time in Syracuse, leading the Lightning to believe that they have enough depth to let go of Bogosian.
With this trade, the Lightning now have five 7th-round picks of the next two drafts, three in 2024 and two in 2025. They've hit on some pretty intriguing prospects of the past few years in the seventh round, including Niko Huuhtanen, Klavs Veinbergs, and Ethan Hay. It's a pretty intelligent business getting a pick for someone who probably wasn't going to re-sign after this season.
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