For the Tampa Bay Lightning, trading Cory Conacher to the Ottawa Senators for a relatively unproven netminder in Ben Bishop at the 2012 trade deadline was quite the gamble. One that left many scratching their collective heads, as Conacher was in the midst of a breakout rookie campaign while Bishop spent much of his time shuttling between Ottawa and Binghamton, home of the Senators AHL affiliate.
Since then, Bishop has taken the reigns in Tampa and never looked back, putting together one solid season after another. He’s twice been voted a Vezina Trophy finalist (2013-14 & 2015-16), led the Lightning to the 2015 Stanley Cup finals before falling short in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks and got them to the 2016 Eastern Conference finals before an injury forced him out of the lineup.