Lightning and Capitals make significant trades on 2nd day of NHL draft

It is retooling time around the NHL before the start of free agency, and a handful of teams in the Eastern Conference used the second day of the draft to shake up their roster for next season and beyond.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals were the most active, each making two significant trades, while the Toronto Maple Leafs made one that might look minor on paper but could have a major impact on the next few chases for the Stanley Cup.

Tampa Bay sent two-time Stanley Cup-winning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to Utah and depth forward Tanner Jeannot to Los Angeles in moves that cleared more than $11 million in salary cap space.

“We started the day with little cap space to improve our team," said general manager Julien BriseBois, who added the money will not immediately go to Steven Stamkos as the captain and longtime face of the franchise is expected to test free agency. “We got younger, and we now have a war chest of cap space to go out and improve our team in free agency.”