With the trade deadline one week away, the focus in all trade chatter tends to shift to the rentals. And, hey, not without reason. Given the teams in true Stanley Cup contention are up against the cap or will have major contract concerns to address in the off-season, the best course of action at times is adding nothing more than a mercenary, the kind of player who can come in and get the job done before moving on to his next locale.
But as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Sunday swap with the New Jersey Devils for Blake Coleman showed us, that’s not the only approach teams looking to add ahead of the deadline can take.