One of the great things about winning the Stanley Cup, among many, is that it renders any arguments about trade deadline “overpayment” essentially moot. When the Tampa Bay Lightning traded Anthony Greco and a first-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Barclay Goodrow and a third-round pick, there was a lot of chatter about Julien BriseBois losing the trade. Quite literally nobody is complaining now.

Of course, a lot of those complaints were detached from reality on two fronts: (1) Goodrow is a really effective bottom-six forward on an affordable contract; (2) The Lightning didn’t “give up a first,” but rather just moved down from the late first to the early third. It was a perfectly fine trade when it was made, and it turned out to be a GREAT trade by the end of the season.

While Goodrow only posted one goal and six points during the Bolts’ 2020 postseason run, he played an integral role on a line with Yanni Gourde and Blake Coleman. The trio delivered a nonstop, tenacious brand of hockey that gave the opposition nightmares. They prevented scoring chances as a unit with ease, and were often able to chip in at the other end of the rink as well. Goodrow’s offensive numbers, both on the counting stat front and the underlying number front, may not be particularly impressive, but that’s not what he was brought in to do. Where he shines is as a shot suppression specialist, and he did that as one of the team’s top six forwards in both actual shots against and shot attempts against per 60 minutes of five-on-five ice time (Natural Stat Trick).

For a Lightning team that felt like it needed to tighten things up after past playoff failures, Goodrow proved to be a profoundly positive acquisition.

My Grade: B+

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