The Tampa Bay Lightning will be buyers again at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline. While they have games in hand, as many as four on some teams, they are still on the edge of a playoff berth. They need scoring depth, but they must also be wise with who and what they give up for that depth.
Last season, the Lightning gave up a prospect and defenseman Jack Thompson in the trade that landed them Anthony Duclair. That was arguably a good trade, but their willingness to trade prospects instead of draft picks can’t get out of hand, either. They need an “untradable” prospect list. It’s short, with only two. But they need it. Here’s a look at the two Lightning prospects who should be off-limits at the deadline.
Isaac Howard
The team has had one first-round pick in the last five drafts, and it’ll be six after 2025 – they traded this year’s first-rounder to the Nashville Predators in the Tanner Jeannot trade, but it’s top-10 protected, so they could ‘stumble’ onto it. That highlights the importance of forward Isaac Howard, who the Lightning selected 31st overall in the 2022 Draft.
He’s already outdone his 2023-24 season with the Michigan State Spartans this campaign, nearly tripled his goal total (21 this season vs eight last season) and has set a new high in points (40) in 28 games. Last season, he had 36 points in 36 games. He also had a standout performance with Team USA in the World Junior Championship last January, with seven goals and two assists en route to a gold medal.
While Howard has yet to sign his entry-level contract, his potential is too great for the Lightning to consider moving him. He’s 20 years old, putting the Lightning in prime position to keep their Stanley Cup window open while having options that can extend the window. He’s a future core member of the roster, and trading him away for a single playoff run would be unwise.
Dylan Duke
Dylan Duke has slowly shown that he might have been a fourth-round steal in the 2021 Draft. He’s been an everyday player for the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch. In 36 games this season, he has 13 goals and nine assists, putting him on pace for 26 goals and 44 points. It’s a respectable first full professional season for the 21-year-old. Duke also got his first action in a Lightning sweater during the preseason.
Since he’s not quite NHL-ready, it’s easy to default to finding ready-now talent. But he’s similar to Howard. Duke is a future cog in the Lightning’s machine. If the talent pool were deeper, it would be easier to part with Duke. But he’s the top young scorer in Syracuse. The two scorers ahead of him are veterans Conor Sheary and Derrick Pouliot. He looks like he’s a season away from being ready to, at the very least, provide bottom-six depth. Even with the salary cap projected to go up, the Lightning need more affordable long-term depth.
Because he’s further along in his career, he’s also arguably a proven talent. Outside of Howard, it would be better for the Lightning to trade players further down the pipeline with more to prove.
So, Who is Tradable?
The short answer is anybody else. But it’s a lazy answer. A few potential candidates are left-winger Niko Huuhtanen, forward Ethan Gauthier and forward Jack Finley. NHL.com named Gauthier the Lightning’s No. 3 prospect and Huuhtanen No. 4. Finley was not ranked in the top five, but has been a mainstay in Syracuse for the last few seasons.
There is no indication these players will be traded, but they are tradable. Gauthier and Huuhtanen are not expected to reach the NHL for two more seasons. Both players have the upside but could use some more time to develop. This makes them the perfect targets for a rebuilding team or any team that will be sellers at the deadline – there’s a distinction between being a seller and being in a rebuild.
Finley is closer to being NHL-ready than the other two, providing an option on the trade market for a team looking for a player further along in their development. Why trade him over Duke? It’s hard to compare them since Duke is new to the AHL, and Finley is coming off an injury, but Duke’s development in the goal-scoring department is further along than Finley’s.
Duke has the same number of goals this season in 36 games that Finley had in 52 games last season (13). Finley is arguably more of a playmaker. But when you adjust Duke’s numbers to 52 games, he’s at 18 goals and 14 assists. He would be ahead in goals and only five assists behind Finley’s total before his injury last season. The pace is close enough to justify favoring Duke’s goal-scoring.
There’s a chance that more than two names are off-limits in the eyes of the Lightning’s front office. However, somebody will have to be moved at the deadline if they want to add win-now pieces. The best course of action is to leave Howard and Duke out of the discussions and gauge if the return is worth giving up any remaining talent.
