Was Savard worth a first though

a 2nd straight Stanley Cup was definitely worth a first

Agreed. Think it was an overpayment the moment the trade happened though, but if it brought them the cup, then it was obviously worth it.

Although I'd be willing to bet TB would've won the cup without Savard too.

I'd agree with you. I wonder how much of getting Savard was more about stopping him from going to someone else.

Savard might get signed by the Stanley Cup runner-up in July, but if Tampa can win back to back then it’s definitely worth the rental!

We probably do win without Savard, since he only really made an impact in the MTL series, but having depth doesn't hurt at all. Better safe than sorry.


I think this was GMJBB's reasoning. We did the same thing when we got Coleman - it was heavily rumored that Boston wanted him as well - and look how that turned out.
It's not like we really need the 1st round picks anyways. We've got plenty of high-end talent, and as we see each season (such as today with Barre-Boulet going on waivers), there really isn't much room for prospects. Unless they're really good ones.

Having a core of Point/Kucherov/Stamkos/Hedman/Vasilevskiy alone makes those 1st's expendable. Add in high-end complementary pieces like Cirelli, Palat, McDonagh, Sergachev and Cernak, and it'd be stupid to not use the 1st's as extra leverage in trade negotiations.