According to the latest NHL Trade Rumors, Pierre LeBrun is reporting the Tampa Bay Lightning are likely going to pursue Mike Green at the NHL trade deadline
The Tampa Bay Lightning have an extremely great hockey team. They’re in first place as of Jan. 17 and have a pretty comfortable lead in the Atlantic Division. However, the Lightning have bigger goals in mind. Expect them to be a common sight in rumors as NHL Trade Rumors season heats up. During a recent TSN segment, Pierre LeBrun said he thinks Red Wings defenseman Mike Green would make sense for them.
"One team I think you have to keep an eye on is Tampa Bay, who I think would like an upgrade in their top-four. Although again they haven’t talked to anyone yet."
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The Red Wings haven’t talked to any team about Green yet because they’re not ready to give up on the season yet. Current, Detroit has an 18-19-7 record, good for 43 points. With two games in hand over the Pittsburgh Penguins, who occupy the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, they’re eight points out of a postseason spot.
Detroit likely won’t be contenders soon, but crazier things have happened. Still, it would be very surprising if the Red Wings don’t start talking to teams about Green by the second week of February.
The Fit
The Lightning could stand an upgrade on their blueline. Victor Hedman’s injury should give them some perspective. Stop relying so heavily on certain guys and focus on having a more balanced blueline. Green could take some of the power-play burden away from Hedman. He’s one of the best man advantage quarterbacks out there.
Also, Green can handle about 20 minutes a night. And if the Lightning put him with rookie sensation Mikhail Sergachev, that’s a pairing that could flat out dominate against weaker competition.
Next: 5 Teams Who Should Trade For Mike Green
The Lightning don’t have impressive depth on the right side, so acquiring Green makes a lot of sense. Plus, Tampa Bay probably realizes they can’t bank on having both a healthy Steven Stamkos and a relatively inexpensive Nikita Kucherov around for much longer. Now’s the time for them to go all-in, so expect them to be among the teams that talk to the Red Wings about Green.
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