Tampa Bay Lightning: Top Five Trades In Franchise History

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May 29, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop (30) before the first period of game seven of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Lightning defeated the Rangers 2-0 to win the series 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Not everyday is an elite level goaltender is traded away. However, that is exactly what the Lightning got in return when the team made a trade with the Ottawa Senators that would send the 6’7 Ben Bishop to Tampa Bay in exchange for forward Cory Conacher and a 2013 4th round pick.

With goaltending continuing to be an issue for the team, Yzerman understood that he needed to make a move in order to sure up that position. In order to do that, he had to find a team willing to trade away a goaltender without giving up the farm. What he found was a star in the making battling for playing time with an organization that had a healthy supply of goaltending available.

Back in Ottawa, the team was riding with Craig Anderson and Bishop as the team’s NHL goalie tandem with Robin Lehner also knocking on the door. The organization felt that Bishop was someone they could afford to move from a position that also had Andrew Hammond and Chris Driedger as potential NHL level prospects. Senators general manager Bryan Murray would pull the trigger on the deal hoping that Conacher would provide some depth scoring on a team that desperately needed help putting the puck in the back of the net as the team ranked 27th in the league in goals scored per game.

Unfortunately for Murray and the organization, Conacher did not pan out to be what they had hoped when they traded for him. He scored 25 points in 72 games with the team and was later waived.

Where is he now you might ask? Well, after playing with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Utica Comets, the former Les Cunningman award winner signed a two-year contract with SC Bern, a team from the National League A in Switzerland where former Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Guy Boucher is the bench boss.

However, they may have found a nice player with the draft pick that came with Conacher in that trade. Tobias Lindberg, who plays for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League, scored 32 goals and 78 points for the team in the regular season and was a key piece in the Generals Memorial Cup championship run.

RELATED: How Elite Is Ben Bishop?

The Stockholm, Sweden native could end up being a good NHL player, and as his 6’3 215 lb frame continues to fill out there is a chance for the young Swede to top out as a second line scoring winger for the Sens.

Meanwhile, back in Tampa, Ben Bishop begins his road to becoming one of the leagues best goaltenders. He earned a two-year, $4.6 million dollar extension in April of 2013 after taking over the starting role from Anders Lindback.

This deal would later seen as a bargain as Bishop quickly became one of the leagues best goaltenders and was nominated as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, which is given to the league’s top performing goaltender.

Bishop has a career 2.24 GAA and .920 SV% in his time with the Lightning (including playoffs) and has solidified a position that was once a weakness for the organization. With Bishop, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Kristers Gudlevskis, Adam Wilcox and recent 2015 draft pick Kristian Oldham now making up the organizations goaltending depth, the position should be a strength in the organization for many years to come.

The Lightning won this deal by a landslide, and are hoping Bishop has the ability to bring home the team’s second ever Stanley Cup title.

Next: Number Two: Lightning Grab Khabibulin From Coyotes

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