BriseBois on where the Bolts stand post-trade deadline

General manager Julien BriseBois recaps Tampa Bay's moves at the deadline

On the expectation heading into deadline day:

"We expected today to be quiet, to be honest. We didn't have any particular targets going into today. When we did the Eyssimont trade, the idea at the time was that Mike was a player that we had targeted as a good fit for us. He's a young player who's still getting better. He's a relentless forechecker, someone that's going to add some speed to our bottom six and who can move up and down the lineup. We play at our best when we're relentlessly forechecking and that's the style of play that Mike likes to play. He has a really good engine that keeps on going. That helps us as well in terms of pushing the pace. When we got him, that added some depth to our forward group. We cleared up a little bit of cap space by sending Vlad Namestnikov in the deal, enough cap space to recall players down the stretch here in case we have injuries. We have a number of players in Syracuse that can help us, who haven't necessarily had an opportunity to showcase themselves this year, or haven't in a while, that we think if we have injuries, they can come in and fill a void. That was kind of the genesis for that trade and once that trade had been completed, as much as we were on the lookout for opportunities, we didn't have any going into today that we were hoping to take advantage of."

On if trade action across the league impacted Tampa Bay's deadline strategy:

"Each team has their own set of cards that they need to play and that they can play. We're trying to assemble the best team possible with those cards. We knew going in what our cap space was. We knew going in what our draft capital was. We knew what our roster makeup was and areas where we thought we could help the group be a harder team to eliminate come playoff time. Tanner Jeannot was the player that we had targeted as being the best fit for us to help us win, not only this year but into the future. Once we were able to secure his rights, we turned our attention to Eyssimont as a player who we thought was a good fit for us considering the cap hit. He's going to be an unrestricted free agent after the season, but hopefully he's someone that we can keep after we've gotten to know him a little bit better and he's gotten to know us. We saw value in adding him to our group, again, hopefully for not only this year, but in the future as well. We're focused on our team. We're trying to build the best iteration possible of our team and I'm assuming my counterparts are trying to do the same thing with their respective clubs."

On balancing this year's team along with the team's future years with deals at the deadline:

"I think that's an important element in all the decisions we make, not only this year, but in past trade deadlines as well. We're not only trying to win the Stanley Cup this year, but next year we're going to be trying to win the Stanley Cup and the year after that as well. Considering our core, their age, the level of play that they are performing at, we have every reason to believe that we're going to be a contender going forward. Odds are, we're not winning the Cup this year. That was true in 2020 when we traded for Coleman and Goodrow. It was true in 2021 when we traded for Savard. It was true last year when we traded for Hagel and Paul. If you consider that every round is a 50/50 proposition going into the playoffs, well once you're into the playoffs, you have a 6.25% chance of going all the way. So, odds are against us and they're against every other team that is going to make the playoffs as well. But someone's going to overcome the odds. The idea by acquiring players that not only help us now but are good fits for us going forward is that not only do they help us take advantage of those odds this year, but they also help us hopefully take advantage of the odds in future years as well. So, we're kind of banking additional return on our acquisition cost."

On the Lightning's defensive depth:

"I think we have Philippe Myers and Darren Raddysh, who we sent back to Syracuse today, as two right-shot defensemen who can come up and play for us and we'd be comfortable playing them in the playoffs. Philippe Myers has playoff experience at the NHL level and has played really well since going down to Syracuse. He was assigned for cap purposes, but he's an NHL player. Darren Raddysh is having as good a season as you can have at the American League level for defenseman. He did well when he played with us last year. He did well overall last night in his limited minutes. As far as I'm concerned, we have good depth. Our regular six are all good NHL defensemen. All of them have had success in the playoffs in the not too distant past, other than Nick Perbix, who is having a good season in his own right and is only getting better. It's not an area of concern for me. It just isn't. I'll put our D-core up against anyone else's D-core. We're up there with some of the best D-cores in the league."

On Philippe Myers' play in Syracuse:

"Considering his size, his skating ability and his shot, to be honest, every game I see him in Syracuse, he looks out of place. He should be playing at the NHL level. Players that have his skillset are usually at the NHL level. He's been a really positive influence on that team. Their record has been much better since he's been there, obviously because he plays a lot of quality minutes for them. I expect that he's going to be back playing at the NHL level in the not too distant future."

On the Lightning's recent defensive lapses and scoring chances against:

"The last 10 games, prior to last night, we haven't been as good. We've given up too many scoring chances, too many high-quality scoring chances. Our play in our D-zone - and that's not just the defensemen, it's the forwards, it's everyone - hasn't been as good as it was in the 20 games previous to that where we were playing at a pretty elite level. It's going to happen over the course of a season. Especially when it might be a little human nature, as much as we don't want to admit it, that we have a little bit of a cushion with regards to securing a playoff spot. We're playing against teams who often are in the midst of fighting for their playoff lives already at this point. We haven't necessarily matched the level of urgency of our opponents. I have all the faith in the world in our players and our coaching staff that that will get resolved in the not too distant future."