The Tampa Bay Lightning made some huge moves this past off-season, and now it appears GM Julien Brisebois isn't done improving this roster.
This off-season, the Tampa Bay Lightning shockingly moved on from former captain Steven Stamkos, replacing him with forward Jake Guentzel, and after a 3-1-0 start to the year, optimism is high for this team. Then, they would name Victor Hedman as the next captain in franchise history, signalling a new start for this veteran core.
Now, the team are looking to make some additions after a red-hot start to the year, with a new report revealing that General Manager Julien Brisebois is in attendance at tonight's game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Winnipeg Jets, scouting some potential trade deadline additions.
It has not been made clear which players that Tampa Bay could be targeting in this matchup, but given intriguing names like Michael Bunting, Ryan Graves and Rickard Rackell in Pittsburgh, there's plenty of options. With the Jets remaining the NHL's only undefeated team at 4-0-0 on the season, they're unlikely to be moving any players on their NHL roster, so it's easy to assume that Brisebois is focusing in on the Penguins in this matchup.
With the core group of Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vaseilevsky now with the addition of Guentzel, this is one of the most top heavy teams in the NHL, and their surprisingly good start to the season shows just how well they are still clicking. Over the past two years, Tampa Bay have been knocked out in round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs following three straight appearances in the Cup Finals, but with a roster that's still built to win from top to bottom, if they can make a solid addition, there's no reason why this team can't compete for a Cup in 2024/25.