Yzerman: Lightning not planning to make big trade

Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman doesn't expect to swing a blockbuster deal in an effort to improve his underachieving club.

"Don't sit around holding your breath waiting for us to make this big giant move," Yzerman told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.

"If everybody is sitting around waiting for this big huge deal that's going to turn things around, those are hard to do," he added.

The Lightning are 11th in the Eastern Conference with a 14-13-3 record through 30 games, after earning a berth in the Stanley Cup Final last season. The team has endured 65 man-games lost to injury, primarily to key contributors Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Cedric Paquette.

"We have a good team that's been (in) a grind, (and) injuries have been another complication for us," Yzerman said. "We'll keep working towards it. We generally like our team, but all I can say is, if something makes sense to make us better, we'll do it."

The GM said he's happy with the roster as it's constructed, and he'd prefer to keep it that way.

"We like our team; we like our players," Yzerman said. "We'd like to keep everybody if we possibly can."

The future of pending unrestricted free agent Steven Stamkos and the looming significance of Feb. 29 complicate matters, but Yzerman says he's not thinking about the trade deadline.

"At this stage of the season, we're around 50 games left, we're in a dogfight for a playoff spot," he said.

"We're trying to win every single night. The trade deadline is a long way off, so I'm not necessarily thinking about that. I'm thinking as far as the trade market goes, is there a way we can improve our team that makes us better today but also makes us better in the long term?"

The Lightning begin a three-game road swing in Columbus against the Blue Jackets on Monday night.