NHL Trade Deadline Needs: Toronto Maple Leafs And Tampa Bay Lightning

The contest between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday featured two of the Eastern Conference’s top contenders.

The Maple Leafs, under new coach Craig Berube, lead the Atlantic Division with 62 points and have been a more consistent defensive club.

The Lightning, under two-time Stanley Cup winner Jon Cooper, have surprisingly been less affected by the departures of captain Steven Stamkos and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev than expected and are currently in third place with 53 points.

Toronto GM Brad Treliving and Tampa Bay GM Julien Brisebois will both be shopping for bargains before the March 7 NHL trade deadline and will likely push the envelope. But with limited cap space and draft capital, each may be limited to one or two moves to strengthen their rosters.

Here are the main and secondary areas of need that each club is likely to address:

Tampa Bay Lightning

Main Need: Veteran Defenseman

The Lightning were without blueliners J.J. Moser and Erik Cernak against Toronto and were forced to play 24-year-old minor-leaguer Max Crozier on the second pairing with veteran Ryan McDonagh and Darren Raddysh on top pairing with Victor Hedman. Auston Matthews burned Crozier on his first-period goal.

Moser and Cernak are not out long-term, but adding a veteran defender capable of stepping up into a top-four role would allow Cooper to have someone more dependable in an emergency situation in the playoffs rather than relying on Crozier or an inexperienced Emil Lilleberg.

Related: The Lightning Getting A Home Run With Guentzel Was Worth Letting An Icon Walk

Secondary Need: Middle-Six Winger

Adding free agent Jake Guentzel to replace Stamkos has kept the Lightning’s top-six group of Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Nick Paul, Brandon Hagel, and Anthony Cirelli at a high level.

Their bottom-six, however, is quite weak.

Former Buffalo Sabres center Zemgus Girgensons played in a third-line checking role on Monday and has no goals in 45 games after playing the last few years in Buffalo as a fourth-liner.

Cam Atkinson and Luke Glendening are solid veterans, and 20-year-old Conor Geekie has promise. That said, they do not contribute much offensively, and the Lightning need to add someone who can contribute some secondary scoring.

Related: Does Maple Leafs' Matthew Knies Realize How Good He Is?

Toronto Maple Leafs

Main Need: Third-Line Center

The need for depth up the middle with Toronto has been apparent all season with Matthews being placed on injured reserve twice with an unspecified injury and John Tavares being out currently with a lower-body injury.

Related: Does The Tavares Injury Hasten The Maple Leafs To Deal For Another Center?

Without one of their top two centers, Berube’s fallback has been a combination of David Kampf, Pontus Holmberg and rookie Fraser Minten. Kampf and Holmberg are solid defensively but unspectacular offensively. While Minten has promise, playing higher in the lineup is too much responsibility for the 20-year-old.

Max Domi has always been questionable as a center and played his best hockey last season on the wing with Matthews. Treliving must add a veteran pivot as insurance if Matthews or Tavares go down and give the Leafs a three-line offensive attack like they possessed when they acquired Ryan O’Reilly from the St. Louis Blues two years ago.

Related: Just How Low Is The Maple Leafs' Scoring From Morgan Rielly And Their Defense?

Secondary Need: Right-Shot Defenseman

Toronto’s blueline has improved dramatically with the addition of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Chris Tanev. It was thought that Tanev would be a perfect right-handed fit with Morgan Rielly, but the shot-blocking specialist has worked best thus far as part of a shutdown pairing with Jake McCabe.

Ekman-Larsson has not been as good at playing the right side, and Berube has had to resort to playing Philippe Myers with Rielly and Conor Timmins on the bottom-pairing with Simon Benoit.

Timmins has struggled defensively at times, and Myers provides size but is a better fit as a bottom-pairing defender. Treliving still appears to need to address the right side of the blueline before the deadline.

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