It appears that Noah Hanifin's hope is to join the Lightning.
It appears that Noah Hanifin's hope is to join the Lightning.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have been working the phones to add at least one more defenseman to their roster before the deadline passes. Sean Walker, David Savard, and Matt Dumba are a few names that they have been connected to, but their number-one target is Calgary Flames star defenseman Noah Hanifin.
The feeling is mutual, too, as prominent NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada last night (March 2) that the Lightning are Hanifin's preferred trade destination. He is not the first insider to say this, either, as Frank Seravalli also recently reported this. Clearly, there is something really heating up here.
Here is what Friedman had to say on the matter: "When it comes to Hanifin, he's focusing on places, and they're focusing on places where he wants to sign with an extension. And the belief is that Tampa Bay is his number-one choice. Now, I think that if this was so easy to do, it would be done already, so everybody continues to work at it. We will see how this goes over the next week. I believe that they are his preferred destination."
Hanifin, 27, would be a massive addition to the Lightning's roster, so it makes sense that they are trying to take advantage of this situation. He would work beautifully in their top four and be an option for both their power play and their penalty kill if acquired.
While both the Lightning and Hanifin want to get something done, their limited cap space is making things a bit challenging. However, until we get to deadline day or a trade occurs, we should expect the Lightning to do all that they can to try to bring in the Massachusetts native.
In 60 games this season with the Flames, Hanifin has 11 goals, 35 points, and a plus-16 rating.
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