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2017 NHL Entry Draft: What to Expect from Tampa Bay

June 23, 2017, 8:50 AM ET [12 Comments]
John Gove
Calgary Flames Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT


We are now two days removed from the expansion draft of the Vegas Golden Knights and it is now time to move on to the NHL Entry Draft and all that it entails.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have six picks throughout the weekend, including two from other teams. The Bolts have their own picks in rounds one, three, six, and seven. In addition, they have a second-round selection from the Toronto Maple Leafs as a part of the Brian Boyle trade and a sixth-round selection from the Montreal Canadiens as a part of the Nikita Nesterov trade.

When it comes to who the Lightning should take with each pick, the answer is quite simple. Steve Yzerman must draft the best player available and not base his picks on need. Tampa Bay's current pool definitely has more promising forwards than defensemen. Yzerman will be sure to keep his eye on quality blueliners but he should not let that mean passing up on better prospects at the forward position.

Everyone should also expect the Lightning to be very involved in the trade chatter throughout the weekend. Yzerman has expressed that he is in the market a defenseman and a top-nine winger and does not want to rely on free agency to fill these needs. This means he plans on being active in the trade market and now has the freedom to bring in some bigger names with his $23M in cap space.

Similar to the trade deadline, there is always a lot of hype surrounding the draft. Everyone expects a lot of moves to be made throughout the weekend but you never know if this is actually going to happen. Most of the time, the hype will usually outweigh what actually takes place.

Still, this weekend has the potential to be quite the exciting one for the Tampa Bay Lightning and the rest of the NHL. I will be sure to keep you posted as things unfold.

Enjoy this year's draft Lightning fans!
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