If your favorite NHL team hasn't made a big splash in free agency in July, that's OK. NHL teams should build the best regular-season team they can, but they don't need to have every hole filled (and often can't due to the salary cap) until they reach the trade deadline in March. The last four Stanley Cup champions — Tampa Bay, Colorado, Vegas and Florida — have used the trade deadline to great effect.
Because of the COVID-era flat salary cap, teams with limited cap space got creative to successfully build out a roster that could do two things: carry them through the fall and winter into the playoffs and then to a championship in the spring. For years prior to winning consecutive Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021, the Lightning were just another high-powered team, one that suffered a "disaster of this magnitude" during the playoffs in April 2019. April 16, 2019: The Columbus Blue Jackets defeat Tampa Bay 7-3 in Game 4 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to sweep the series from the Presidents’ Trophy winning Lightning.
pic.twitter.com/sF0nxwKzUD After building a strong core through the NHL Draft, the Lightning made use of subsequent trade deadlines to build a consistent winner that continues to be the envy of most NHL franchises.
In the waning moments of the 2018 trade deadline, NHL insiders learned of a blockbuster trade. Tampa Bay dealt five assets to the New York Rangers, who had recently announced their intention to strip down their core and rebuild, for two p.
