Sports

Lightning trade Filppula to Flyers for Streit, flip to Pens

Herald staff and wire reports
Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman gestures as he speaks to the media about recent trades before an NHL game against Carolina on Wednesday in Tampa, Fla. The Lightning, over the past few days, have traded goaltender Ben Bishop to the Los Angeles Kings, forward Brian Boyle to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and forward Valtteri Filppula to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman gestures as he speaks to the media about recent trades before an NHL game against Carolina on Wednesday in Tampa, Fla. The Lightning, over the past few days, have traded goaltender Ben Bishop to the Los Angeles Kings, forward Brian Boyle to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and forward Valtteri Filppula to the Philadelphia Flyers. Chris O'Meara AP
TAMPA

The Tampa Bay Lightning completed their trade-deadline sell-off on Wednesday, making three deals in the final hours.

First, they sent veteran center Valtteri Filppula and draft picks to Philadelphia for defenseman Mark Streit, who was then dealt to Pittsburgh. Finally, they acquired veteran goalie Mike McKenna from Florida in exchange for goalie Adam Wilcox.

The Lightning sent Streit to the Penguins for a 2018 fourth-round pick. They traded their 2017 fourth-round pick and a seventh-round pick to the Flyers.

The seventh-round pick was conditional on Tampa Bay trading Streit, which they did before the deadline.

Filppula, 32, has seven goals and 27 assists this season. He’s signed through next season at a salary-cap hit of $5 million and had to waive his no-movement clause to approve the trade.

The deal clears $5 million more cap space for the Lightning, who already traded goaltender Ben Bishop and pending free agent center Brian Boyle.

“All three were significant contributors to our success and it’s very important I make note of that,” Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman said during a media availability on Wednesday afternoon.

After losing to Chicago in the Stanley Cup finals in 2015 and losing to Pittsburgh in seven games in the conference finals last year, the Lightning have struggled this season. They have been near the bottom of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference for most of the season and are 28-25-8 with 21 games to play.

“I have to make decisions based on our record,” Yzerman said. “They had to be made at some point and our record dictated right now.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Lightning trade Filppula to Flyers for Streit, flip to Pens."

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