Latest on the Lightning, Islanders, Hurricanes, Red Wings and Canucks in your NHL rumor mill.
What next for the Lightning?
Has Steven Stamkos played his final game for the Lightning?
ESPN.COM: Craig Custance believes the Tampa Bay Lightning must settle the Steven Stamkos situation, re-sign Nikita Kucherov to a long-term contract and consider trading goalie Ben Bishop while keeping left wing Jonathan Drouin.
Regarding Stamkos, who’s a pending UFA, Custance believes he’ll have to accept less than market value, maybe a lot less, to re-sign with the Lightning. As for Kucherov, Custance suggests the contract of St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (eight-year, $7.5 million per season)as a comparable, citing Kucherov’s playoff performances and the fact he’s a more complete player than Tarasenko.
Andrei Vasilevskiy’s solid performance in relief of the sidelined Bishop in the 2016 Eastern Conference Final and the possibility of an expansion draft next summer could make it possible to move Bishop this summer. Custance believes teams in need of a quality starter (Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs) should inquire about Bishop’s availability this summer.
As for Drouin, his turnaround during the playoffs was amazing. With several players due for raises this summer, Drouin (who has a year left on his entry-level contract) becomes more valuable to the Lightning.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: If you thought the Stamkos watch was nuts over the course of this season, it’s about to ramp up significantly in the coming weeks.
The Lightning could move Bishop this summer, but they could also hang onto him for one more season. He’s a UFA next summer, which makes him a risky acquisition for an expansion team. They could keep Bishop for one more run at the Cup and then trade his rights before the UFA deadline. Granted, they won’t get as much back as they would by trading this summer, but given how many Bolts players are due for big raises this summer and next, perhaps they won’t want to take on additional salary.
Drouin’s playoff performance certainly bolsters his trade value. However, I think Lightning management will now retain him, especially if Stamkos departs via free agency in July.
Free-agent options for the Islanders.
NEWSDAY: Arthur Staple wonders if New York Islanders GM Garth Snow might be tempted to pitch a big contract offer to Tampa Bay Lightning star Steven Stamkos if he hits the open market in July. Doing so, however, would also mean re-signing Isles captain John Tavares to a comparable deal, tying up considerable cap space in just a handful of players. Staple also evaluates the pros and cons of pursuing UFAs such as Andrew Ladd,Loui Eriksson, Milan Lucic, David Backes, Mikkel Boedker Jamie McGinn and Viktor Stalberg.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Of the UFAs Snow could pursue, Ladd or Boedker could be the best bets. Stamkos is tempting, but there could be a lot of clubs pursuing him this summer and no guarantee he’ll want to join the Isles. And as Staple notes, signing Stamkos and re-signing Tavares will take up a huge chunk of the Isles payroll.
Updates on the Hurricanes, Red Wings and Canucks.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: Chip Alexander recently reported Carolina Hurricanes GM Ron Francis intends to meet with goalie Cam Ward’s agent in early-June “to see where we’re at.” He doesn’t rule out re-signing the 32-year-old Ward, who’s completing a six-year, $37.8 million contract. Term and money are the issues Francis believes must be discussed. He’d also like to re-sign RFA forward Victor Rask to a deal comparable to that of Elias Lindholm’s two-year, $5.4 million contract. With the Hurricanes possessing plenty of cap space. Alexander suggests they could pursue a scoring forward via free agency.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ward will have to accept a considerable pay cut on a short-term deal to re-sign with the Hurricanes. I’m guessing at most $3 million per season on a two-year deal.
MLIVE.COM: Responding to reader e-mail questions, Ansar Khan doesn’t rule out the possibility of goalie Jimmy Howard returning with the Detroit Red Wings next season. He cites the limited number of teams in need of a starting goalie and Howard’s contract (with its $5.2 million cap hit) among the factors that could hinder trading him this summer. If the Wings decide to add a forward via free agency, he lists Chicago’s Andrew Ladd and St. Louis’ Troy Brouwer as their top targets. He doesn’t believe they’ll bring back Jiri Hudler.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Howard also has a modified no-trade clause, meaning the Wings can leave him unprotected in an expansion draft next summer. If there’s not a lot of depth available for goalies in that draft, Howard could be targeted by an expansion club.
TSN 1260 (VIA TODAY’S SLAPSHOT): Darren Dreger believes Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning isn’t done shopping this offseason after acquiring defenseman Erik Gudbranson from the Florida Panthers. He speculates Benning could have interest in Dallas Stars defenseman Kris Russell if he enters the UFA market this summer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I still think the Gudbranson addition means Dan Hamhuis could be a goner via free agency. Russell is a shotblocking specialist and could be a good addition to the Canucks blueline, provided they don’t overpay to get him.
One thing for certain, if Bishop is dealt, the team getting him won’t get him as cheaply as did the Lightning from Ottawa.
For certain. It’s up to him whether or not he is traded tho. NMC. His agent may suggest stay in Tampa, keep your numbers good and wait for UFA. And you know Cooper wants him starting. But you never know. I don’t think anyone would argue that it won’t be just Vasilevsky there after next year.
No need to trade him…he’ll be a UFA the summer of the expansion draft. That pretty much makes him not an option for an expansion team since July 1 he can bolt for free agency before he even has a chance to strap on the pads to play for that expansion team. The lightening don’t need to protect him because of that. The only reason the bolts would trade him is to cash in on him with some cheap but good replacement players and avoid paying him the $$$ players of his ilk will command.
We will need to wait for the NHL & NHLPA to determine dates for these things. The expansion draft is slated to be prior to the draft, so sometime in mid June. I may be wrong but I believe NHL contracts are deemed to be in effect from July 1st through June 30th. If that is in fact the case Bishop although a UFA on July 1st would still be TB property. I’m not saying they would be required to protect him because of his pending UFA status if not extended but just another issue that hasn’t been finalized as yet.
Boy did Edmonton ever jump the gun on making Talbot their starting goalie. If they waited until this summer they’d have a real shot at Fleury or Bishop with their first rounder.
That being said I wouldn’t mind seeing
Bishop and the Lightnings 1st to Calgary or Edmonton for their first.
Lightning could let Stamkos walk and draft his replacement at 4 or 6.
Yet could he not bolt from the Lightning at the same time resulting in Tampa receiving nothing in return for him. Which would mean they should trade one or the other tender.
I have not seen any reason for Edmonton to second guess their decision of Talbot as there number 1. Have you?
Nobody and I mean NOBODY wants to play in Brooklyn! You can forget about the Islanders signing any big name free agents unless of course they overpay.
OK, I never been. What’s so bad about Brooklyn that nobody would want to play hockey for millions of dollars?
For one thing the rink is a joke. A good portion of the fans can’t see the scoreboard since it’s not located over centre ice, and one end can’t even see the play deep in their end.
wow. never knew. Didn’t they build a new rink? Or did they move to a already established older rink?
New rink but it was built for basketball. The ice surface actually extends under a portion of the seats. Look up some pictures. The Coyotes had the same situation playing in Phoenix before the new arena in Glendale was built.
My Islanduh buddies say the place is a dump. Move them back to Nassau where they belong.
Not that it really matters as NYI makes the vast majority of it’s revenue from having a cable package in 1 of the largest TV markets in North America but their average attendance their last season on Long Island was 15,334. Their 1st season in Brooklyn 13626.
Sounds like the Dodger crowds Brooklyn used to get at Ebbets Field those last years before they moved to LA.
The area is awful for the fans. The real issue for the players is the commute. The whole team lives on Long Island. The commute is less than favorable for any ice time at the rink. The arena is over booked too. The Panthers had to go to Newark to practice at one point during the playoff this season.
I don’t think players will make career decisions based on the fans happiness or lack of with the building.
On a side note, I don’t see the islanders and Barclays marriage lasting more than a few more years anyway.
Maybe – maybe not – but the thing is, I don’t think too many players look forward to going to an area that is a constant butt of jokes IF they have other choices.
Mhan is the only sane Defeoit writer (ie not calling for Wings to pursue Stamkos) They need a big puck moving Dman that plays with an edge. They have a boat load of centers who have been playing winger so they don’t need to target a C per se. Regardless, their a cap mess right now with a bunch of confused and underperforming players right now with questionable leadership behind the bench and upstairs. The very first thing they need is an offensive asst coach ready to take the reigns when the Wings are imploding in December.
Good luck finding 1 of those. A big puck moving Dman that plays with an edge that is. Almost every team in the NHL needs 1 as well.
After Drouin’s playoff performance I agree that the Lightning should keep him and honestly think they will at this point. They’ll give the player top 6 minutes next season. The player will be happy, the Lightning will be happy that they’re pulling that kind of talent and production for minimal money. They burned some bridges during the year between both sides but all of that can easily be patched up during the offseason… if it hasn’t already. After his performance I’m sure he’s won over a good portion of the locker room. Should be no ill feelings towards him, he’ll play for Lightning next season
Stamkos, however, I feel is done in Tampa… the fact that it has gotten this far without him being locked up long term tells me the player is weighing options beyond just the financial ones, maybe Stamkos is adamant about playing in a new city for a new fan base… and NO I’m not one of those that feel it’s a two team race for Stamkos (Tampa and Toronto). If he becomes available there will be a very long list of suitors waiting to wow him with their pitch. The contracts floated towards him will likely be relatively similar in length and amount… I feel it’ll come down to preference of team, how he fits in as the solution, long term and short term goals of the team/organization, ect.
I agree, I feel that he is leaving. For exactly the reasons you stated. The thing about him signing with a team is that it has to make sense from a roster point of view and financially. Finances eliminate 2/3s of the league.
The teams that have the available finances and roster spot to give are the Blues, Red Wings, Leafs, Sens, Devils, Preds, Sabres, Isles, Coyotes, Canes, Jets. Unless some other rich teams unload some contracts, I think these are it. Of these, the Devils, Coyotes, Canes, Sabres, Jets are eliminated because of undesirable destinations. Sorry guys.
The Sens, Isles and Red Wings I consider luke warm contenders. All of them have roster spots filled and Stamkos would mean other players moving out eventually.
The Leafs, Blues, and Preds, I consider Hot contenders. Leafs for the obvious home town connection. The Preds because they are that one player away from becoming great. Imagine Johanssen, Forsberg, Neal and Stamkos with that defense?? The Blues I feel should be the hottest on his tail. Backes will leave but the Blues are hairs away. They have a great, youngish team and Stamkos would put them in that elite team category for sure. They would probably trade Shattenkirk to free up more space while getting an affordable top 6 D as part of the return if he signed.
Being a Sens fan, I want them to get him too, but I don’t see the big Euge dusting off the ole wallet for that one lol.
At the end of the day, the contracts will the be the same and it will come down to where he sees himself succeeding. That’s why I can’t help but think the Blues and Preds have a legitimate shot. Anyone have other suitors I didn’t think of?
I can’t fathom how Buffalo can ponder adding Stamkos with Eichel and O’Reilly (with that huge contract) on the books and set down the middle. You should knock them off your list.
Hey Jeff – I do not see Stammer in Buffalo. I believe he wants to play center and the Sabres are fine at center. Buffalo needs a left winger and a left handed, top 4 defenseman.
That’s not even considering their future contractual obligations.
I’m not sure Buffalo should even entertain going after Stamkos anyways… doesn’t make sense to me
Drouin was the Bolts’ best forward last night.
I would love to see Stamkos return to TB, but I too think he is gone.
I had been advocating for such for a long time. No slight to Stamkos but TB can’t make it all work financially moving forward if Stamkos gets more than 8.5 mil per.
TB is a very good team even with out Stamkos. This is 1 of the best run & stocked teams in the NHL. They are young & have studs coming at virtually every position.
I’m also a huge Yzerman fan as well as most of you know.
I’m not the biggest Cooper fan though. I seriously question a # of his personal decisions. A bunch don’t make sense to me.
On Cooper – Bolts should have been a lot harder on Letang than they were. He’s the best defenseman by far. If I were coach I would have been on him, like the way the Sharks will be on him in the finals.
Drouin finally realized that he needs to earn his keep in the NHL. His progress and the number of upcoming pay raises for good young talent mean one thing – Steven Stamkos, as great as he is, will be playing for a different team next year. Tampa Bay has too many good young players -nice problem to have.
Striker,
“TB is a very good team even with out Stamkos”
Absolutely agree… look at the damage they did in the playoffs without Stamkos and made it to Game 7 of the conference finals. There is life after Stamkos. I do feel bad for all of the Tampa Bay fans that have grown attached to the player, he’s an elite talent and I’m sure it sucks losing that to free agency but they have a ton of talent up and coming on the team. They’ll be in a good place without the player from just purely a talent standpoint and then when you factor in not having the burden of the contract Stamkos is about to get… they’ll be fine and move on. What sucks for the Lightning is that with such a high profile player likely moving on in free agency, what the return may have looked like had they decided to move the player during the season. Would’ve been nice to have had a 1st round pick and high end prospect coming back. But come to think of it I don’t think at the deadline Stamkos was hurt yet so I guess technically they were retaining him for the playoffs but hindsight is 20.20
That’s my issue as well Chad. Asset management in this cap world is essential. Teams should use all the leverage they have in the early years as these studs can potentially become UFA’s at 26 no later than 27.
That’s part of why I advocate for bridge deals even if it potentially costs nominal more cash in the long run. Gladly incure nominally more salary to buy more years of UFA status.
Like Mtl did with Subban. If you take his salary from his 2 year bridge & then his long contract it averages out to about 7 mil a year but they got him 2 years longer in term by doing so.
Striker,
Makes a lot since
Funny how Once Drouin was given a prominent role he was able to prove his worth. Funny how that works.
Lol bang on Jeff I was saying that right from the start!
You could say the same thing about almost any player. Talent is required obviously but quantity & quality of minutes are a huge factor as importantly as talent. Even an average hockey player can generate reasonable production if given that opportunity. See a player like Abdelkader. A 3rd line player getting 1st line icetime & power play time & because of that with his limited talent he can score 20 goals & 45 points where as a player with actual offensive abilities will score significantly more.
The opposite of this holds true. Take a 1st or 2nd line player put them on the 3rd line & give them no power play time & their production will suffer significantly. Many of us have discussed this. Eriksson is a great example. People complain about his early Boston production but he never got the opportunity to play that role really in Boston until this season.
Striker,
A lot of that is on the coaching staff obviously as well. Drouin received his opportunity and took advantage of it. Imagine what kind of points Pastrnak could put up if he was utilized on the PP consistently and received the same minutes a night that Marchand, Krejci, and the likes get.
I personally dislike the fact Boston decided to keep Julien… I felt there was a lot of mismanagement with the roster of players and where they slotted in most nights. Case and point about Eriksson, and you can add Pastrnak to that list. He only received on average 13:56 TOI yet still played 51 games this year (he was hurt for a big chunk) but the point is he still played a significant portion of the season and was given limited minutes. Still able to score 15 goals. Had barely any opportunities on the PP.
Agreed Chad on essentially all your thoughts. Part of opportunity is simply earning the right & on teams that simply don’t have the space or your not doing all the things asked of you or simply need time to learn your sheltered. That all ties into elc contracts, waiver rights, UFA status etc.
There are significant advantages to clubs who don’t need to rush their young players in sll of the above. TB is 1 of those teams.
Whether you agree with Drouin or Yzerman. This is the basis for Drouin’s disgruntle meant. He felt he wasn’t given the best opportunity to succeed in the league. Pretty much everyone agrees with that as those who support Yzerman often state Tampa’s depth as to why he doesn’t get more ice time. Hence my and other’s opinion that the guy should of been traded awhile ago to give him that chance. Some believe that the GM’s around the league only responsibility is to their team and how it succeeds. I disagree and believe they all have a dual responsibility to insure the players in the league have the best chance of succeeded. It is why I argued that Drouin should of been traded. It is why I often use Prince’s move from Ottawa to the Islanders as an example. Perhaps that move by Ottawa will prove to be beneficial for the Islanders and bad for Ottawa but in the end Prince’s chance of establishing himself as an NHL regular on Tavares’ wing is far greater than his being flopped back and forth from the minors to the majors playing in Ottawa. That is why Murray moved him. He could of held on to him until the new coach arrived or other players were moved out. Instead he moved him as it was the best thing to do for the player.
Well that is what I believe anyways
Jeff.
You know I don’t agree with that. This is big business with complicated CBA issues.
Drouin was buried but had he done as requested he would have been a full ti e NHLer sooner. The Drouin who came up for the playoffs was a co pletely different player than the 1 prior. The message f4om Yzerman & Cooper was received & he started playing the way he was & had been asked to repeatedly but hadn’t bought into in the past.
Don’t get me wrong though he still made a bunch of mistakes as any you g player does but his effort, team play, back checking & forechecki g efforts pre & post were black & white.
I love how some people wanted to trade Drouin for nothing. Now they flip more then a survivor cast member.
I agree 100 % with Striker , He needed an attitude adjustment. Now he gets it. He found the toolbox for his tools.
who flipped yankee? I said right from the start the cooper and yzerman were wasting a third overall offensive forward on the third line you just cant do that in todays game! I think he did the right thing and even heard he wouldn’t play on the bottom 6 if he got called back up and what happened?? he produces like crazy!! lol cooper and yzerman mishandled that situation right from the start he should never have been on the third line with his offensive ability
striker how do you figure he adjusted his attitude? the only reason he got called back up was because of stamkos injury and if you don’t believe that your lying to yourself! the only way he was coming back up was if he played top 6 and in the spot he should have been in all year he outplayed the guys he should have bumped at the start of the year. no matter how you look at it yzerman and cooper didn’t handle the situation very well
Nice to see you think all my comments are directed at you, you’ re paranoid bigbear lol
its funny how you never add anything informative to the comments and just troll ppl! lol than when you know your wrong you say something totally not about hockey! lmao
lol paranoid and schizophrenic. Youre a classic bigbear, a real classic.
lol yankee do you really think your fooling ppl? you sound like an 8 yr old maybe shtickys son?? lmao
ok troll
Not a rumor comment but Kucherov is still not given the props for how good he is.
I said when the 2015-16 season started that if Kucherov wasn’t their best player now he certainly would be by seasons end & repeated it several times over the course of the season taking some heat from the usual suspects. Which is all good. It wouldn’t be any fun debating these issues if we all agreed.
It’s the debate that gets the information & perspective out there that helps all of us see things others may that we don’t. I enjoy the people that post comments here. For the most part we stay on subject & the insight is top notch.
Thumbs up
Kucherov should be given a lot of props, I think he’s been a great player and bright spot for the Lightning. He is an RFA this offseason so they’ll need to get working on that end but he has a good future with that organization.
If a team trades for Stamkos rights, will they be allowed to sign him to eight year contract?
Yes.
well I see a trade coming within next couple of weeks…
A number of us here have said just that & we have debated endlessly what that compensation for Stamkos’s rights may be.
We all certainly have… we’ve speculated about Stamkos’ rights, Eriksson’s rights, even to a lesser extent Vesey’s rights. I feel there is a strong case for all 3 of those players to have their rights moved.
Stamkos: Obvious reasons, big time free agent… Lightning would like to recoup whatever they can in terms of an asset they can use.
Eriksson: Obvious reasons as well, one of the next biggest free agents in the market behind Stamkos. Boston will try to sign him, I give it a 90% chance he walks… Bruins will trade his rights around draft day or right before (similar to the Soderberg trade a few years back)
Vesey: Tough one because there will be so many teams after him… but for the sheer fact that Nashville hasn’t signed him yet. Multiple reports stating there is no chance he is with the Predators. Haven’t heard much lately about it or any changes in Vesey’s plans. I think the Predators will do everything they can to try and move his rights to a team on Vesey’s list, likely via the players agent. I’m sure the agent and Vesey have a strong idea or feeling of where he’d like to go already. Predators move the players rights around the draft and it allows the team to workout a deal from late June to Aug 15th. Plenty of time.
The way everyone is talking about Vessey you’d think he was he was another Mathews who somehow slipped through the cracks. He was a 3rd round pick – 66th overall. When was the last time such a fuss was made over a 3rd rounder who refused to sign with the drafting team? Looking at the 35 guys drafted before him, up to the first pick in the 2nd round (# 31) , a total of 13 have played games in the NHL, and not one is being talked about in the same manner as this guy. The best of the 13, strictly in terms of NHL play, are Damon Severson (60th by NJ) – a D with 123 gp 6g 32a and Chris Tierney (55th by SJ – a C with 122 gp 13g 28a. After that it drops to Jordan Martinook, a C taken 58th by Arizona – 89 gp 9g 16a and Jake McCabe a D taken by Buffalo 44th – 86 gp 4g 11a. Then you have Colton Sissons, a RW taken 50th by Nashville – 51 gp 5g 5a and Phil Di Giuseppe, a LW drafted 38th by Car – 41 gp 7g 10a and Joomas Korpisole – a Goalie taken 62nd by CLB – 31gp 0 and 2.
None are exactly lighting it up, and mixed in are names we’ll likely never see at the NHL level like Opscar Dansk, Mitch Moroz, Sebastian Collberg, Matt Finn, Ville Pokka, Mitchell Heard, Martin Frk, T im Bozon, Raphael Bussieres, Dalton Thrower, Alexandre Mallet, Cristival “Boo” Nieves, Lukas Sutter – all taken ahead of Vessey! Either a lot of scouts had it wrong, including Nashville’s who took a RW named Pontus Aberg well ahead of him, or this much ado about ultimately nothing. A tempest in a teacup.
I should have added that, to me, this appears like a well-orchestrated ploy by Vessey and his agent to pump up a deal far greater than that which would have fit a 66th pick overall. Caveat emptor indeed! He could turn out to be another Bobby Butler who, last time I checked, is playing somewhere in Sweden.
& Datsyuk was drafted in the 6th round 171st overall. Dan Boyle was never drafted. I haven’t heard anyone talk about Vesey like Matthews.
The people who have a reasonably good handle on this kind of stuff, Mackenzie, Button, the Hockey News etc have him as 1 of the best prospects not playing in the NHL.
The hype is that he is going to be a UFA which is rare. We have only had a handful of NHL prospects that went the college route choose to do what Vesey’s doing. Every team in the NHL will offer him the ELC max.
Hard to say what he will be but the concensus is a top line winger when fully developed. I add dropped him & stashed him on my prospects list in all 3 of my fantasy leagues along with Conner, D. Strome, Werenski & M. Murray.
I’ll role the dice.
Enough people in here seem to think he’s “top line” player without ever having seen him play one pro game. If that’s true, a lot of scouts were blind in his draft year. I could not possibly care less where YOU had him considered in your bloody fantasy pools and you can “roll the dice” all you want. But don’t be surprised if someone over-pays him and gives him a long-term contract only to find out that he’s not another Datsyuk or Boyle but,rather, another Butler.
Yes but IMO nobody is lining up just to give him 8yrs. Idk why that makes sense to any team unless desparate &/or hard up. Leafs?
Stamkos gets a great tax break living in FLA – something I am sure he has already considered
Beautiful place to live as well. I love the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida.
Brakov, Trochet and Bjugstad won Florida’s middle. I don’t see room for Stamkos.
*down Florida’s middle
OH wait a second. Tampa is in florida. ‘facepalm’ just ignore me haha
He can play wing with McCann on the other wing. 2 out of position players for the adv stat freaks to bore us with.
Amen Gordie. I am SO frikken tired of these analytical prophets and their endless streams of statistics.
True #1 centers don’t come around often and when they do every team should try to acquire him because no one will trade #1 type players. Also when it will only cost you a roster spot and cap space, you try to make room to insure it will work. A team such as the Habs don’t have a true #1 center, much like Toronto and like other teams… I’m amazed there isn’t much talk of Stamkos going to Montreal. They have two of the three must haves in order to win a championship. They have a world class goalie and a world class #1 defenseman in Subban who also happens to be good friends with and played together in their youth.
Montreal makes a lot of sense for Stamkos – not sure they are willing to meet the contract expectations though. An interesting couple of weeks ahead.
There is a huge fit there. I think montreal’s issue would be moving out contracts inorder to bring in Stamkos. Which is why there isn’t more chatter regarding it. Most of the Chatter regarding Stamkos centre’s around teams with the money to spend and cap space available or the traditional teams known to make big acquisitions. Which although I don’t think NYR should or will acquire Stamkos their history of drawing in big name free agents causes me to think if they did I would not be surprised in the least. Of Coarse others moves would need to be made much like in montreal to allow it to happen.
2 words….
Cap space
Tampa should have moved Stamkos before losing him for nothing.
Think of the return they could of had.
I don’t get why GMS do this.
If I knew I was gonna lose a player at the end of the season I would trade him for the best package possible.
Well you don’t move him if you think he will help you win a cup. The injury isn’t something you can predict. Cup Windows are short lived. Teams like Chicago who have been keeping the window open longer than most are rare. Most people thought SJ was done and going to start rebuilding a while back. Look at them now, that is not the norm.
Stamkos got a NMC. The ball has been in his court all this time. You could fault the GM for once having signed that type of contract but you can’t fault the player not wanting to move.
I am not expecting the Bolts to move Bishop. Vasilevskiy was solid against the Pens but his season numbers didn’t look all that exciting. He’s young and still unproven and I’d want to give him more time next season to assess properly. Meanwhile, you know what you have with Bishop, he’s a UFA next year and Lyle points out that the UFA status could be problematic for an expansion team. If I was Stevie, I would likely keep the tandem (one of thier strengths, which as we can see in Dallas, means a lot) and protect Vasilevskiy in an expansion draft. If Bishop is selected, you aren’t out anything more than if he walked on July 1st. Only way I’d move him is if you get a no brainer offer on a trade.
It comes down to quality of play and cost of dollars. If there isn’t much difference between the two in regards to their play over the next season but a huge difference in contract demands then decisions will be made.
Keep Bishop? So he can miss yet ANOTHER playoff series with an injury?
There is the Lightning’s Cap relief, no matter what happens with Stamos.
It even provides more $ than the intial TB offer, if the cash is Steven issue.
Many of us have discussed the variables Bill & agreed that is 1 of several solutions should TB sign Stamkos, 1 I really like if Stamkos would accept nothing more than 8.5 any more & I let him walk. He’s never really been the same player since StLouis left. It ties into the same timeline as his injury but for me Stamkos is a stud but not sure he makes my top 15 NHL players never mind top 5 for salary.
That said being the youngest stud UFA todate teams will line up to pay him as such as the have no other investment in him like TB
Not understanding why Francis would even entertain giving Cam Ward a 2 yr 3 mil per deal. They could go for a cheaper back up OR maybe use their cap space to their advantage by working out something with Det.
Say Howard & Tatar or Nyqvist to Canes
for 2nd rd pk, Wisniewski and something.
Det leads out Howawrds contract , though takes Wis’s back. With Quincey maybe leaving it gives them 3rd pairing offensive minded D man.
Canes for taking Howard get a Tatar or Nyqvist as compensation. Francis has said he is looking to bolster his offense.
Then expansion draft he does not have to protect Howard.
I don’t see a place for Ward in Carolina or in the league as a whole. Too many promising, younger, cheaper goalies with equivalent or higher ceiling. If Carolina commits to Ward yet again, it’s some sort of loyalty deal.
Ok I am throwing out a crazy proposal but for some reason it sort of makes sense.
to Dallas—-Shattenkirk
to St.L——Rick Nash
to NYR——Nichushkin & 2nd (from Dal)
Dallas gets their Dman and gives them leverage in signing Goligoski/Demers
St. L gets Nash for 2 more years , so no long term commitment, to offset maybe Brower and Backes leaving.
NYR gets cap space and a young forward to revamp that 1st line. I would think kreider/Stepan/Nichushkin would be a fun speedy power line to watch.
Does it make sense for all teams?
It would not surprise me if all these teams move those players mention so it makes sense in that context. I’m not sure St. L picking up Nash and his contract makes sense though or if Dallas can fit Shattenkirk and his contract demand within their salary structure. Yet I haven’t done any digging into the numbers just me speculating with me vague recollection of these teams issue. I honestly thing though the trade idea isn’t terrible.
If StL can’t afford to keep Shattenkirk az they don’t have the cap space to extend him why would they want Nash?
bc they offer Backers 3 for 5.5 and he turned it down and Brouwer , with his playoff performance, will be 5 per as well. So they might take a cost control for 2 yrs. Plus he is well liked by Hitch, whom might get resigned for another 1 or 2 yrs to coach.
Brouwer is not worth 5 mil a year. If he is can you say Dave Bolland ?
Or Joffrey Lupul?
Brown to hometown Buff to Gionta? LOL
where will Brown end up?
Jiri Hudler is not a Red Wing. He is a Calgary Flame.
No he isn’t. He ended the season as a Florida Panther.
Hudler is a Panther