David Savard was acquired by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday in a three-team trade involving the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets, who received a first-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft from Tampa Bay.
Columbus first traded the 30-year-old defenseman to Detroit for minor-league defenseman Brian Lashoff. The Red Wings then traded Savard to Tampa Bay for a fourth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.
Savard, who is in the final season of a five-year contract and could become an unrestricted free agent, has scored six points (one goal, five assists) in 40 games.
“David Savard is a consummate professional and his contributions to our organization over the past 10 years have been significant,” Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “He has been an incredibly selfless player on the ice, a great teammate in the dressing room and a great representative of the Blue Jackets off the ice. We wish he, Valerie, and their family all the best moving forward.”
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Selected by Columbus in the fourth round (No. 94) of the 2009 NHL Draft, Savard has scored 166 points (41 goals, 125 assists) in 597 regular-season games and 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) in 37 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
“He’s been a huge part of our organization,” coach John Tortorella told the Blue Jackets website. “He’s been a huge part. This is my sixth year, just growing with him and him stabilizing the back end. A very important guy in the locker room as far as what we tried to create here. He’s a hockey player. That’s what’s great about ‘Savy’. He’s a hockey player, loves being at the rink, keeps everybody loose and obviously what he does on the ice, he just plays hard. He’s fearless.”
Lashoff has scored three points (one goal, two assists) in 13 games with Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League this season. In 136 NHL games with Detroit, the 30-year-old has scored 15 points (two goals, 13 assists).
It is the second trade the Blue Jackets have made in as many days after sending forward Riley Nash to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
“Yeah, versatile guy,” Tortorella said. “I could move him up and down the lineup. He can play center. He can play wing, kills penalties, takes faceoffs. He was a pretty important guy for us and doesn’t really put up big numbers but he stabilized a lot of things as you go through a game. So we wish him the best and great opportunity for him to play some playoff hockey.”
Tampa Bay (27-11-2) is tied with the Florida Panthers for second in the eight-team Discover Central Division. The top four teams qualify for the playoffs.
Columbus (15-19-8) is seventh, seven points behind the fourth-place Nashville Predators, and Detroit (13-23-6) is eighth.
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