Speculation: 2022 Off-Season | Dethroned: What next? - Part 2

[2020 Cup Champions]

Oliver Bjorkstrand went for a 3rd and a 4th to Seattle. Is he not as good as his numbers suggest? What in the blue f*** are we doing?

 

[Outl4w]

Celly for Gourde straight up. Saves us aav and years. Little Tony top end is Gourde anywaus.anyways.

Then kilhorn for bottom6 player to the kraken.

 

[Point21]

Oliver Bjorkstrand went for a 3rd and a 4th to Seattle. Is he not as good as his numbers suggest? What in the blue f*** are we doing?

CBJ needed to move out 2m+ in cap to get under, they were gonna get fleeced no matter what

 

[RussianGuyovich]

Then what?

I dunno I mean killorn is kinda old

 

[BoltzManConstant]

I dunno I mean killorn is kinda old

Jeff Gillooly

 

[BeingTheThunder]

There is a lot of assuming about the Lightning's future on here. Assuming that we're not going to trade one of our high-end core pieces for cap relief and futures... I would not be the least surprised to see one of our top 5 players being dealt for a healthy haul within the next two years.

JBB has proven himself to be forward thinking and I'm certain he can see the cap in the future.

 

[BoltzManConstant]

There is a lot of assuming about the Lightning's future on here. Assuming that we're not going to trade one of our high-end core pieces for cap relief and futures... I would not be the least surprised to see one of our top 5 players being dealt for a healthy haul within the next two years.

JBB has proven himself to be forward thinking and I'm certain he can see the cap in the future.

Anything can happen, but it's obvious he's built a roster that can absorb the $7.5m + in raises that are coming in next year. There's a reason why he's added 3 players on one-year (remaining) contracts totaling $8.05m, and that reason is to absorb the raises.

Whether he's actually going to play it that way of course remains to be seen. But if he had gone out and signed free agents on greater-than-league-minimum deals that are longer than a year, then the whole league would be able to see we've got our cap nuts in a vice next year, putting us in a weak bargaining position like when we were dealing TJ. This way he can call the shots and hold out for a quality deal, rather than have his hand forced.

 

[OffBy1]

so, as i understand it, you run the risk of them going to arbitration, getting paid more anyway for a year or two, and then just walking off the team for nothing after the term.

That outcome and what JB did - high AAV for max term - were not to only two possible outcomes from these negotiations. Would Cirelli would have turned down a 5.5 mil x 5 or 6 year contract, or Sergachev would have turned down a 6.5 mil x 5 or 6 year deal? That would have been over a 10% raise for Cirelli and over a 25% raise for Serge, neither of which has shown dramatic improvement over their 4-5 full seasons. Or if we had to take less of their free agent years to get the AAVs down, I would have much preferred that.

You're saying we didn't have much leverage - he could have threatened to trade them as neither had clauses in their contracts preventing it. If they're really 6.2 and 8.5 mil players, there'd be interest in them. Hell, I'm confident they would have gotten less than what JB gave had they actually chosen to go to arbitration.

Let's say arbitration gave them high AAVs on one or two year deals as you suggested - trading them at some point would still be an option, which I would have been fine with in the case of Cirelli instead of giving him 6.2 x 8. And trading them on 1-2 year deals would be a hell of a lot easier than what they are on now.

You say these deals will be good in 5 years as the cap rises? What about the the 4 years under those contracts up to that point? It's not going to be pretty, especially when the Seabrook LTIR is gone in two years.

 

[BoltzManConstant]

You say these deals will be good in 5 years as the cap rises? What about the the 4 years under those contracts up to that point? It's not going to be pretty, especially when the Seabrook LTIR is gone in two years.

That's not how LTIR works. Sheesh.

Separately, true cap hell is exactly one year -- next year. Then all of Stammer's money comes off and we decide whether to put it toward him again, and if so how much, and if not how to redeploy it to secondary talent.

It's unlikely we'll be as good as we were recently any time again soon, but the way JBB played it won us two cups and nearly a third (just two regulation goals away), which is nearly impossible to beat. So even as those moves make us worse next year and medium term, they were absolutely worth it.

 

[Point21]

 

[TheSchmidt]

Everybody is trashing Florida, but I kinda like it for them. Tkachuck is a bonafide superstar at 24 (not 'generational like their gm said lol).

Huberdeau (29) and Weegar (28) both need a new contract next year. I'm guessing those talks weren't going great and both were probably asking for $8 million+. Still have the Bob problem, but were able to keep Knight and Lundell.

Big hole on defense now. Hope they aren't able to move some money around and snag Klingberg. He'd thrive in their system.

 

[Point21]

Everybody is trashing Florida, but I kinda like it for them. Tkachuck is a bonafide superstar at 24 (not 'generational like their gm said lol).

Huberdeau (29) and Weegar (28) both need a new contract next year. I'm guessing those talks weren't going great and both were probably asking for $8 million+. Still have the Bob problem, but were able to keep Knight and Lundell.

Big hole on defense now. Hope they aren't able to move some money around and snag Klingberg. He'd thrive in their system.

I think for Florida, they are in a win now mode, Tkachuk is the better player but to give up a 100 point winger, a top 4 RHD, a 1st (which they already lacked), and a prospect is steep for 1 player who basically didnt want to play in Calgary anymore

 

[Sky04]

I think for Florida, they are in a win now mode, Tkachuk is the better player but to give up a 100 point winger, a top 4 RHD, a 1st (which they already lacked), and a prospect is steep for 1 player who basically didnt want to play in Calgary anymore

Tkachuk has 15 points in 27 playoff games, there's been a ton of question about him in the playoffs because his productions relies greatly on Gaudreau. He's a pest but he's definitely not as good as his recent regular season indicates, Huberdeau doesn't have much better playoff numbers but he absolutely torched Tampa in that 2021 series and has been a much bigger threat than Barkov the last 2 years, I'm glad he's out of the division.

 

[BeingTheThunder]

I’m just thrilled Huberdeau isn’t going to be with the stinking Panthers. Dude has lit up the Bolts for years and I’m glad we’ll only face him 2 or 3 times

 

[Felonious Python]

I think for Florida, they are in a win now mode, Tkachuk is the better player but to give up a 100 point winger, a top 4 RHD, a 1st (which they already lacked), and a prospect is steep for 1 player who basically didnt want to play in Calgary anymore

They need playoff depth, tho.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Lol fl

 

[Stammertime91]

Wow. Shocked they gave up Huberdeau. Like @Sky04 mentioned, hes the offensive threat there.

 

[DFC]

....Did Calgary just get better? At least for this year?

 

[TheSchmidt]

Wow. Shocked they gave up Huberdeau. Like @Sky04 mentioned, hes the offensive threat there.

29 and will probably want a huge deal next offseason and only plays one end of the ice, albeit very good. I can see why they moved on from him.

But making this reply i didn't realize Tkachuck never had a ppg season until this monster season. Even if he settles in as a 75-80 point player, I think he's better overall than Huby (and much younger)

 

[Sky04]

....Did Calgary just get better? At least for this year?

Huberdeau is better than Gaudreau and they still have 9.3M in capspace, if they swing Kadri they've completely upgraded from last season. Huberdeau-Kadri-Lindholm is a nasty top line for the playoffs. This trade really saves an awful off-season for the Flames, picked up a guy who can replace Gaudreau's offense (they tied for 2nd last season) a #2D and a 1st round pick they can use as trade bait for a guy who's normally a 70 point player.

 

[Sky04]

29 and will probably want a huge deal next offseason and only plays one end of the ice, albeit very good. I can see why they moved on from him.

But making this reply i didn't realize Tkachuck never had a ppg season until this monster season. Even if he settles in as a 75-80 point player, I think he's better overall than Huby (and much younger)

That's ridiculous, it's like saying Tkachuk is better than Kucherov.

 

[Point21]

 

[Sky04]

We traded like half of that for Brandon Hagel.

 

[Stammertime91]

Aaaaaaaand 0 cups lmaoooooo

 

[TheSchmidt]

That's ridiculous, it's like saying Tkachuk is better than Kucherov.

Kucherov is on a different tier than Huberdeau. They aren't the same.

Huberdeau is a fantastic offensive player, yes. This year was also a statistical outlier for him (just like Tkachuck). He was at a little over a PPG the last 3 years before this one. Not discrediting that. But he is also a VERY POOR defensive player where Tkachuck is probably one of the better wingers in that regard. I'd rather lock up the 24 year old two way player than the 29 year old one way player.

Weegar is the bigger loss in that trade. The defense was already leaky with him, it's beyond bad now without him.