December 2, 2011. The Tampa Bay Lightning are mired in mediocrity with an 11-11-2 record, good enough for third place in the Southeast Division, six points behind the Florida Panthers. In his second year of coaching, Guy Boucher was struggling to find the same results that had propelled the team to the Eastern Conference Finals the previous season.
So they did what any team would do to shake things up - made a trade. It was on this day that the Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Evan Oberg and Mike Kostka. In exchange they sent the Florida Panthers Michael Vernace and James Wright.