The Coyotes clearly coveted Gagner, and pulled off this deal to prevent him from hitting the free-agent market (since Tampa was set to buy him out). In Gagner, this team gets a young, productive center who still has some untapped upside--one who can fill the spot up the middle left by Ribeiro (who was recently bought out). They also get some grit in Crombeen. This represents a fair amount of added salary for the Coyotes, but they need and wanted Gagner.

For Tampa Bay this deal is all about freeing up salary and cap space. They were hoping to buy out Gagner after acquiring him earlier in the day from Edmonton (for Purcell but by leveraging Arizona's desire for Gagner here they also get to move Crombeen's salary and pick up a late-round pick. The financial flexibility helps the Bolts going forward, although they might somewhat miss Crombeen's feisty contributions. They also hop their younger wingers can step up.

Gagner should play a top-nine forward role for sure, and also become a key part of the power play. The deal should somewhat help Gagner's value (although the injury-prone Gagner needs to stay healthy). For the Lightning, this could mean a boost in minutes for youngsters such as Panik Nikita Kucherov on the wing--and perhaps even the forgotten man, Connolly