After being acquired by the Tampa Bay Lightning in advance of the trade deadline, David Savard took part in his first practice as a member of the team today. And, it looks like Jon Cooper is going to set him up for immediate success; he found himself in the enviable position of skating next to Victor Hedman.

According to Natural Stat Trick’s “Defence Pairings” tool, Hedman’s two most common blue line partners since 2018-19 have been Jan Rutta and Dan Girardi. That Hedman has been able to deliver such spectacular results in those circumstances is nothing short of a miracle, and only serves to emphasize his talents. Playing with Savard will be a material upgrade for Hedman, which should hopefully serve to make him even more effective. Savard, on the other hand, has seen most of his five-on-five minutes with Vladislav Gavrikov and Markus Nutivaara. So, it’s fair to say that he’ll be getting an upgrade as well.

Considering that Julien BriseBois and the Lightning have a lot riding on this acquisition, it’s no surprise that the team is putting him in a spot to succeed. The right-side defence has been a noticeable weakness for the Lightning this season, often relying on names like Luke Schenn to play regular minutes. Between Schenn, Rutta, and Cal Foote, there’s a whole lot of rawness and/or weakness for opposing teams to take advantage of on any given night. With Savard entering the fold, things look a whole lot more stable. A right-side that sees Erik Cernak, Savard, and Foote play regular minutes looks much better on paper.

Landing a player who can make that kind of impact on the lineup came at a cost, though, and the future Lightning will undoubtedly pay the price because of it. With his team in win-now mode, BriseBois felt comfortable sending yet another first-round pick (and more) out the door. That automatically makes this deal one of the bigger ones to hit the ledger at this year’s deadline.

Much as he did last year, BriseBois saw an area of need and was willing to pay a premium to fill the void. People complained about the acquisition cost on Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow just over a year ago, but they weren’t complaining when those two players were lifting the Stanley Cup. The gamble can be worth it.

Let me know what you think:

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