It was a hard sight to see Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev being stretchered off the Madison Square Garden ice on Wednesday night.
After missing 17 games after injuring his foot back in December, Sergachev returned to the lineup, and was injured after awkwardly falling to the ice following a collision with Alexis Lafreniere in the second period.
The Russian-born blueliner was visibily distraught as he was leaving the ice, despite players, and even head coach Jon Cooper, coming over to offer their support.
Now, the question is, what do the Lightning do?
The team also saw the return of Erik Cernak against the Rangers, which seemingly gave the Bolts a fully healthy blueline. With the trade deadline on the horizon, general manager Julien BriseBois has to make a decision on whether to stick with the defensemen that he has left, or make a move to bring someone else in.
The Lightning currently hold the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, and just one point back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for third in the Atlantic Division.
On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk look at what is next for the Bolts’ blueline.
Frank Seravalli: I think big picture, really what it makes you wonder is…for a team that was already on the market for a defenseman, when Sergachev was in the lineup, what does this do to their deadline plans? More to the point, does it potentially put a nail in the coffin for this team being a seller, or will Julien BriseBois double down and go that much harder, and be more aggressive, to try and fill what is pretty clearly two holes on their blueline.
I don’t know how that’s going to shake out, but the tough part for the Lightning is…they’re just still on the fringes of the playoffs.
You can watch the entire segment, and the full episode here…
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