Tampa Bay trades Valtteri Filppula to Flyers for Mark Streit, then trades him to Penguins

Update:

In a strange three-way trade, after the Flyers dealt Mark Streit to the Lightning, Tampa Bay has now moved Streit to Pittsburgh for a fourth round pick.

It’s not the first time the Lightning have flipped recently acquired assets to teams, and it’s a pretty masterful move by general manger Steve Yzerman to get cap space for free. The Lightning will also retain just 50 percent of Streit’s salary.

Original story:

After re-signing their fourth-liner and backup goaltender, the Flyers have finally made a move at the trade deadline by sending defenseman Mark Streit to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Valtteri Filppula, a fourth round pick, and a conditional seventh-round draft pick in 2017.

The move is a break in Tampa Bay’s pattern over the deadline, as they’ve mostly been sellers until the last hour.

Philadelphia has a log jam at defense with a multitude of blue line prospects likely to make the jump to the NHL next year. The trade moves one of their biggest contracts on defense and frees up a spot for one of their prospects. Streit himself has 21 points in 49 games this year for the Flyers, but at age 39 is a lot slower than he used to be.

In return, the Flyers will be getting Filppula, a third-line center who has 34 points in 59 games for the Lightning, and a seventh-round draft pick. The removal of Filppula, 32, from the Lightning roster frees general manager Steve Yzerman from having to expose one of their younger forwards in the expansion draft.

The final year of Filppula’s contract also comes off the books, as Streit is under contract until the summer and will free up $5 million in space. Philadelphia now holds the remainder of Filppula’s five-year, $25 million contract.