Round one of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft was relatively quiet on the trade front. However Day 2 kicked off with a blockbuster as the Tampa Bay Lightning traded defenceman Mikhail Sergachev to Utah in exchange for a slew of picks and prospects.
Heading back the other way is pending RFA blue liner J.J. Moser, forward Conor Geekie, a 2025 2nd round pick, and a 2024 7th round selection. Utah wasn’t hiding the fact that they were in the market for NHL ready defenders as they were set to enter the offseason with zero blue liners under contract for 2024-25.
The NHL’s newest franchise wasn’t done there, as they then acquired New Jersey’s John Marino in exchange for the 49th pick in the draft, and a 2025 second rounder. Utah now features Sergachev and Marino to anchor their back end, and will have to make decisions on pending RFA’s Sean Durzi and Juuso Valimaki, as well as pending UFA’s Joshua Brown and Travis Dermott.
Sergachev, 26, is entering the 2nd year of an 8-year contract extension, and registered 19 points (2G, 17A) across 34 contests in an injury shortened 2023-24 campaign. Meanwhile, Marino is under contract through the 2026-27 season, and registered 25 points (4G, 21A) in 75 games for the Devils last year.
Tampa now adds a blue chip prospect to their pipeline in Geekie, while also freeing up additional cap space to lure pending UFA Steven Stamkos back to the Sunshine State. Geekie amassed 99 points in 55 games split between the Wenatchee Wild and the Swift Curren Broncos in the WHL last season.
But much like Utah, the Lightning weren’t done there. Moments after completing the Sergachev deal, they flipped forward Tanner Jeannot to the Los Angeles Kings for a 2025 2nd round pick and pick number 118 in 2024.
After Tampa gave up a king’s ransom to acquire the 27 year old forward from Nashville (Tampa traded a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th round pick as well as defenceman Cal Foote), Jeannot was unable to replicate the level of success he had with the Predators where he scored 24 goals in 2021-22.
Opting to move on from the former Predator will also go a long way towards the club’s Stamkos centred negotiations as well.
Photo: Michael Miller. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.