{"id":464815,"date":"2026-02-20T19:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/464815\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T19:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:04:14","slug":"where-tampa-bay-is-looking-to-upgrade-ahead-of-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/464815\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Tampa Bay is looking to upgrade ahead of trade deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nhl\/tampa-bay-lightning\/1-trade-lightning-must-make-before-nhl-olympic-break\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa Bay Lightning have only lost once<\/a> in regulation since the beginning of 2026. Tied at the top of the Eastern Conference with the Carolina Hurricanes, the Bolts are all in for a return to the Stanley Cup Final. With the <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/tag\/nhl-trade-deadline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NHL trade deadline<\/a> upcoming, Lightning GM Julien BriseBois will likely be aggressive once again in improving the roster. NHL insider David Pagnotta discussed an area of concern that BriseBois <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prohockeyrumors.com\/2026\/02\/lightning-aiming-to-add-right-shot-defenseman.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">could look to bolster<\/a> ahead of the deadline. Pro Hockey Rumors&#8217; Josh Erickson relayed Pagnotta&#8217;s thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe right side of that \u2018D\u2019 corps has been something that they\u2019ve been looking to add,\u201d Pagnotta stated on Thursday. \u201c[I] wouldn\u2019t be surprised if [Lightning GM Julien] BriseBois pulls that off. Now, one of the things he did tell me during the Stadium Series was that if they make a move, they don\u2019t just want it to be for this season. They view it as adding now and impacting the roster moving forward. So, to me, that means somebody with term or at least somebody controllable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Currently, <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nhl\/tampa-bay-lightning\/lightning-news-make-flurry-roster-moves-injury-pileup\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Lightning&#8217;s top three when<\/a> fully healthy are Erik Cernak, Darren Raddysh, and Maxwell Crozier. However, only Cernak is penciled in as a bona fide long-term option. Raddysh will be a free agent this coming summer, while Crozier is out until at least the playoffs after undergoing core muscle surgery. Pagnotta&#8217;s thoughts that BriseBois <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=E4t0_sHkUkw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">will attack the right side<\/a> of the blue line make sense.<\/p>\n<p>Who are some options the Bolts could consider?<\/p>\n<p>Lightning look to return to Stanley Cup Final for first time since 2022<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3709386\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Lightning-D-Darren-Raddysh.jpg\" alt=\"New York Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider (4) moves the puck against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period at PPG Paints Arena.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\"  \/>Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>One option that Erickson discussed is the <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nhl\/new-york-rangers\/rangers-rumors-new-york-defenseman-trade-gossip\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Rangers&#8217; Braden Schneider.<\/a> The 24-year-old is a pending restricted free agent, so if a deal doesn&#8217;t work out, then the Lightning could let him leave in the summer. However, if Schneider can focus on a more offensive-oriented role on the third pairing, it&#8217;s easy to see how he could fit in with the Bolts.<\/p>\n<p>There are some more expensive veterans on the market, like the New Jersey Devils&#8217; Dougie Hamilton, yet the Lightning might not have the cap room to make a deal like that work. <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nhl\/tampa-bay-lightning\/nhl-rumors-lightning-depth-trade-deadline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BriseBois will certainly look for<\/a> cheaper and younger upgrades, if possible. In any case, the GM won&#8217;t rest until he feels like the Bolts have a Stanley Cup-winning roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Lightning have only lost once in regulation since the beginning of 2026. Tied at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5105],"tags":[5,189,4,107,548,540,92,5168,5167],"class_list":{"0":"post-464815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-lightning","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-lightning","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-nhl-rumors","12":"tag-nhl-trade-deadline","13":"tag-tampa-bay","14":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","15":"tag-tampabay","16":"tag-tampabaylightning"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}