Lightning Strike twice for these two former Chicago Blackhawks
It seems that the Tampa Bay Lightning have had the best trade payoff when it comes to trading with the Blackhawks. As two former Blackhawks are now top players as the team races towards a three-peat.
Brandon Hagel was a part of one of last season's biggest trade deals, as a return for Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk, as well as two draft picks. During his time as a Blackhawk, Hagel had scored 37 goals prior to his trade. Where he has had a slower start in Tampa during the regular season. However, during the playoffs Hagel has shown out nearly matching his regular season points of 7 with 6 playoff points so far. As well as dropping the gloves most recently with Ranger's Frank Vatrano. Hagel has definitely gotten comfortable playing with Tampa from just the past few games.
Jan Rutta was traded from the Blackhawks to the Lightning in 2019 for Slater Koekkoek. Rutta was first drafted in 2017 where he scored a career high of 20 points. Koekkoek only scored 15 regular season points and 3 playoff goals, until he was traded to Edmonton. Rutta on the other hand while having a slow start in Chicago and his first season in the Lightning has come into his own this year. The defenseman has scored 3 goals and 15 assists in the regular seasons as well as 5 points this playoff season. His most recent goal, in game 5 against Colorado put up a fight for Tampa to bring the series 3-2.
It seems that Tampa pulled the wishbone on both these deals as the players performances are compared. As the competition heats up between the Lightning and Avalanche, it'll be exciting to see how this two players perform in the last few games of the season.
Rutta's goal in game 5 against Colorado 👇
Hagel vs Vatrano👇
