Utah is looking to make a big upgrade to their defence with this trade, and bolster their roster ahead of their inaugural season. Ownership was expected to take big swings through trade and free agency to try to make Utah a playoff team this season. With plenty of cap space left, Utah still has room to sign a marquee free agent on July 1st.
The Tampa Bay Lightning will clear $8.5M of cap space by moving Sergachev's contract, and they hope to use the savings to sign Victor Hedman to a contract extension, as well as taking one more run signing Steven Stamkos.
