Valtteri Filppula

Lightning trade Valtteri Filppula to Flyers for Mark Streit

Published Mar. 1, 2017 3:12 p.m. ET

Pete Blackburn

In the final hour prior to the NHL's trade deadline on Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning dealt Valtteri Filppula to the the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Mark Streit and two draft picks.

https://twitter.com/Brock_Seguin/status/837024900766437379

It's not a deal that holds a lot of immediate excitement the Lightning, who are on the wrong side of the Eastern Conference playoff bubble. Streit is a veteran defenseman with an expiring contract, meaning that this deal is a big-time salary dump for Tampa Bay. But it's one that will likely prove to be an important one for the future of their franchise moving forward.

By shedding Filppula's contract, which still has a year remaining beyond this season, the Lightning will free up about $5 million in cap space going into 2017-2018. That money will come in handy, as Tampa has a number of restricted free agents — including Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Jonathan Drouin and Andrej Sustr — to negotiate with this summer.

Philadelphia, on the other hand, acquire a veteran center in the 32-year-old Filppula, who has seven goals and 27 assists in 59 games this season. His cap hit isn't exactly fantastic, but the Flyers are one of the league's few teams who can afford to take on money, and the Lightning threw a couple of draft picks their way for the favor of absorbing that money.

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Valtteri Filppula

Tampa Bay Lightning

Philadelphia Flyers

National Hockey League