Lightning acquire defenseman Coburn from Flyers for Gudas, picks
After all the trade action was settled, after his early morning movement was long over, Steve Yzerman could crack about his lack of sleep.
''A couple hours,'' the Tampa Bay Lightning's vice president and general manager said of his amount of sleep on Monday. ''We got to bed late. ... I was just up early. Your mind is just kind of racing at these times when you've got a lot going (on).''
Yzerman was burning through early morning adrenaline Monday, before the Tampa Bay Lightning made two deals prior to the NHL's 3 p.m. trade deadline in an attempt to address their blue-line depth and gain high draft picks for the future.
The Lightning acquired defenseman Braydon Coburn, a veteran formerly of the Philadelphia Flyers who made his NHL debut with the Atlanta Thrashers during the 2005-06 season, in exchange for defenseman Radko Gudas, who had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Jan. 6 and has not played since a Dec. 29 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amalie Arena.
Philadelphia also receives Tampa Bay’s first- and third-round picks this year. If the Lightning fail to make the playoffs in 2015 and end up with the first overall selection, the Flyers will receive the New York Rangers' first-round pick, previously acquired by Tampa Bay, in lieu of the Lightning's own first-round selection.
''Our No. 1 goal was to improve our team defensively,'' Yzerman said. ''More specifically, in our top four. … At the trade deadline, we decided, 'If you lose Radko to injury, we’re going to look for a defenseman.'
''The determination was if we really want to give ourselves the best opportunity to advance to have success in the playoffs, we're going to need one more defenseman that can log heavy minutes, that can play in defensive situations, kill penalties and match up against the other team's top players, take a little bit of the burden – particularly on the right side – off of Andrej (Sustr) and Anton Stralman. So we were able to do that.''
Coburn, 30, has appeared in 614 career NHL games with the Flyers and Thrashers, earning 37 goals and 166 points with 504 penalty minutes. He has played in 72 postseason games, earning two goals with 23 points. He has one goal and nine points with 16 penalty minutes in 39 games with Philadelphia this season.
''Tampa's been near the top of the East all year, and they've got a lot of great pieces,'' Coburn told reporters. ''They've got great goaltending and really significantly skilled forwards. And I think their defense is really good too.''
Yzerman said Coburn, who's listed at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, has athletic range, a strong skating ability and intriguing size. Yzerman called his new addition a defensive-minded defenseman who has matched up against opponents' top players.
I would like to thank the @TBLightning organization and the fans for everything the past 4 years.
— Brett Connolly (@bconnolly8) March 2, 2015
''Making these two trades gives us a much greater chance of being successful in the playoffs,'' Yzerman said. ''There's no guarantee. We've all made these deals. … You do what you think is right, and our decision was, 'We're going to give ourselves the best opportunity.' This particular deal gives us the best chance. We're prepared to pay the cost to do it. And it doesn't restrict us moving forward in what we're trying to do also with our draft picks.''
Gudas, meanwhile, was expected to miss about four months after undergoing the surgery. Known for his physical and aggressive style of play, the 24-year-old totaled seven goals with 32 points and 224 penalty minutes in 126 games with Tampa Bay after making his debut in the 2012-13 season. He has two goals and five points with 34 penalty minutes in 31 games in the current campaign.
Connolly had 18 goals and 32 points with 72 penalty minutes in 134 games with the Lightning after making his debut in the 2011-12 season. The 22-year-old has a career-high 12 goals and 15 points with 38 penalty minutes in 50 games in the current campaign as part of a breakout season.
''We feel we've addressed our need to improve defensively, to be experienced, we're a little bit bigger back there as well,'' Yzerman said.
''We were giving up assets to improve our defense, and I wanted to make sure we would give ourselves the best opportunity to be successful in the playoffs without mortgaging a lot of our future. The two deals were tied together. We feel, with our young players, our young forwards, that we can absorb the loss of trading Brett, and with the group that we have, plus the players available to us in Syracuse, we can absorb that loss.''
You can follow Andrew Astleford on Twitter @aastleford or email him at aastleford@gmail.com.
