There might not have been another team in the NHL other than the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning willing to pay the head-scratching price of a first-round pick in 2021 and a third-round pick in 2022 for David Savard, a stay-at-home defenseman wholl be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and chips in negligibly at the offense end.

Savards historically been strong in his own end, keeping offensive players wide on the rush and out from the front of the net during opposing teams attack-zone time. Hes started nearly 2/3 of his shifts this season in the defensive zone, which is probably why his Corsi For is just 43.1 percent for the underachieving Columbus Blue Jackets.

But the Lightning believe with improved talent around him hell probably slot in next to Norris Trophy candidate Victor Hedman or veteran Ryan McDonagh hell inch closer to 50 percent Corsi For and hell solidify a penalty kill thats already ranked in the top 10 in the NHL.

They better be right.

By virtue of winning last seasons trade deadline with their moves for Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow, the Lightning went on to win their second-ever Stanley Cup. That came at a cost, thought, as they traded two first-round picks in the 2020 draft for players that were crucial to conquering the Cup playoffs in the bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton, and both will be UFAs this offseason. Now theyve dealt two more high picks, leaving them with no picks before the third round in 2021, and just their first-round pick to make in the first three rounds in 2022.

For a club thats prospect pool was ranked 26th by The Hockey News and 19th by The Athletic, there isnt that bright a future beyond this season and whenever the flat salary cap makes the Lightning part with some extremely talented players for little in return. Their core is relatively young Hedmans 30, Brayden Point 25, Anthony Cirelli 23, Mikhail Sergachev 22 but the Lightning needed some salary-cap gymnastics to get compliant this season (Nikita Kucherov is on Long Term Injured Reserve, working toward a playoff return, when theres no salary cap) and theyre already projected by CapFriendly.com to be over the cap in 2021-22. Even making the Savard trade required getting the Blue Jackets to retain 50 percent of his cap hit, and the Detroit Red Wings to retain 25 percent.

The Lightning are loaded with talent and obviously proved they cut put it all together to raise the Cup last season. But theres a reason just one team (Pittsburgh in 2016, 2017) has repeated as Cup champs in the past 20-plus years. So much has to go right in terms of health, scheduling, bounces and matchups, that winning the Cup two years in a row is one of the hardest things to accomplish in sports. Adding Coleman and Goodrow filled a need in the Lightning lineup with young, hungry players. Adding Savard is more of a gamble because of his struggles this season and the tread he has on his tires from playing the rugged style he has for several seasons.

Tampa Bays season already hasnt gone as many expected, as the Central Division has turned out to be a lot tougher than it looked when the NHL decided to limit pandemic travel by assigning teams to regional divisions with no inter-division play. Chicago and Nashville have proven pesky, Florida has played way beyond what its roster projected and Carolina has taken major strides. Last years Cup runner-up Dallas looks like it might have one more run toward a playoff spot in it after a terrible start. The Lightning are in a dog fight for first place in the division, never mind what its going to take to get out of the division to the NHL semifinals.

Based on their cap situation, the Lightning are unlikely to add anyone else before the trade deadline without removing someone from their roster. They may have discouraged some of their competitors from making additions by raising the price of a one-dimensional rental play so high, but they also through out a lot of their future to go all in for 2021.

Its commendable that the Lightning have built up their talent base and are rewarding their players and fans just seven months after winning the Cup. But its also a gamble that could leave the Lightning looking back at the 2020 Cup win two or three years from now while feeling theyre a decade away from achieving that again because their cupboard for the future is so bare.