Tampa Bay Lightning make huge mistake by trading for Barclay Goodrow

For the second time this season, the Tampa Bay Lightning have overpaid for a forward. This time, they sent a first-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Barclay Goodrow.

After acquiring Blake Coleman earlier in February, the Tampa Bay Lightning made another deal to assumably respond to the Bruins deal for Nick Ritchie. They acquired Barclay Goodrow and a third from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for their 2020 1st round pick and Anthony Greco.

The Lightning have now given up two first-round picks and top prospect Nolan Foote for Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. Those were hefty prices to pay, but this trade makes far less sense than the Coleman one.

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I did not initially like the Coleman trade but, after taking some time to look it over, I have learned to really like the acquisition. However, upon first look, this trade for Goodrow is very bad.

I get it, it’s a late first-rounder that they’re giving up, and you have to give to get. You can’t keep every prospect and every draft pick while also throwing the best roster you can put together out on the ice every single night. But this was very confusing nonetheless.

Goodrow is a 26-year-old center and right-winger who is slated to make $925,000 through to the end of next season. Prior to the start of this season, Goodrow had never eclipsed the 20-point mark. This year he has eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points in 62 games. Those numbers are not great, to say the least.

He is good with the puck, having a takeaway to giveaway ratio of 126 to 77 on his career and a 40 to 22 this season. He also plays a physical style of hockey, as he has racked in 265 hits since the start of last season (140 this season). He’s good with possessing the puck as well, evidenced by his previous two seasons being over 50% in CF%, as well as this season, as he has racked up a 52.2% CF%.

This season, Goodrow’s role in San Jose has jumped drastically. His time on ice before this season averaged at just under 11 minutes. This year, his ice time has risen to over 16 minutes per game. He has gotten a decent amount of ice time on the PP with San Jose thus far (a total of around 45 minutes), recording just 2 assists there. However, he is the Sharks top forward on the PK, racking up over 145 total minutes there. That puts him at 11th in the league for most PK minutes.

Goodrow is tied for 114th in the league among players with 100+ PK minutes for scoring chances allowed on the PK. He’s also tied for 116th in the league within those same parameters for high-danger chances against on the PK.

Then again, he did play for the Sharks, who are not good at all. Not to mention, the Lightning PK has been bad recently and they keep losing key contributors in that area, including Ryan McDonagh and Erik Cernak. He’s also tied for 116th in the league within those same parameters for high-danger chances against on the PK.

The additional third-rounder that the Lightning got was nice, as this draft is loaded and it could be the equivalent of a second-round selection in the third round. The first-round pick they gave up certainly hurts, but they’re getting a somewhat capable NHL player for under $1 million through to the end of next season.

Additionally, the Lightning parted with Anthony Greco, but he is nothing more than a roster dump. What do I mean by that? The Lightning had the maximum amount of contracts allowed with 50 in their organization, thus meaning they needed to trade someone, anyone, to get under that number in this deal. Greco is nothing more than an AHL player.

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All-in-all, with the third-round pick included, this deal isn’t abysmal. But they 1) didn’t need Goodrow and 2) gave up too much for a below-average PK player and a not-so-good player offensively. Yes, they have to give to get, but you can control how much you give up and BriseBois decided to donate.

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