I feel like the same things keep getting repeated.
No, players like Panarin typically do not hit UFA.
Yes, players are traded all the time. Typically by the same bad GMs/Ownership. Chia is now gone and hopefully in the near future, he can sabotage another team to our benefit.
It's about utilizing your assets. Cap space is an asset. What's the main difference here?
Would you rather give up cap-space (which we would have because of the ELCs), OR trade prospects/players?
The failed logic behind 'trading for the players' is you will STILL HAVE TO PAY THEM MONEY0.
Signing a Panarin > trading for a Panarin. 9.9/10 times.
Once again...
Signing a Panarin will cost cap space. We will have cap space. Enough to sign our RFAs and re-up Kreider.
Trading for a Panarin will cost picks/prospects AND cap space.
I don't even understand how this is an issue. The debate is not about, 'where Panarin wants to sign' or if he would even consider us, that's subjective... The debate is, should we go after Panarin. The answer should be a resounding, 'Yes'.
We will find out in 4 months time. Panarin is definitely on Gortons radar.
You're missing an important component. If we are trading for a Panarin, it won't be a 28 year old Panarin. It will be someone younger who maybe isn't as good as Panarin, but has the potential to be that good.
Seguin, Hall, Wheeler, Panarin, Burns, Kessel, O'Reilly, Duchene, Teravainen, Domi, Skinner, Lindholm, Zibanejad, Voracek, Palmieri.
All of these players were traded prior to becoming free agents, some of them more than once. All of these players are good and some are great/elite.
What if Mitch Marner becomes available? Let's say they sign Matthews, but Marner holds out, and they decide to trade him. Oh, but we already used up our cap space on Panarin, at least 2 years before we are realistically ready to compete. Or maybe they decide to trade Nylander instead so they can sign Marner. Nylander would cost less, but he'd still be a good player for us to get, and we'd need the cap space to be able to add him. Maybe none of these things happen and no good young players become available, but if we sign Panarin, we may not have the cap space to take advantage of an opportunity if it does come around.
So no, it's not a resounding "yes" that we should try to sign Panarin. What I outlined above isn't the only concern. The other concern is our timeline. We are all thinking that this team should be ready to compete again in 2021-22, once the big contracts are off the books. But what if we aren't ready by then? What if it takes another 2 years? How many years of Panarin's prime are we willing to waste? Panarin turns 28 less than a month into next season. In 2021-22, he will be 30. He may still be just as good then as he is now. Will he be just as good 2 years later? 3 years later? How many years of elite Panarin will we get while our cup window is open?
Obviously, if we could find a way to get a player like Marner, we would be getting many more years of high quality play (all other factors being equal, such as injuries). Yes, it would cost us more than just cap space, but he would fit better with the age of the rest of our players and allow us to be true cup contenders for a longer period of time.
The situation in Toronto certainly bears watching. Florida is interesting too. There was a rumor about Huberdeau possibly being available. I can't imagine why they would trade him instead of Hoffman, but if they are all in on Bob/Panarin as has been rumored, and they are willing to trade Huberdeau to make room, that would certainly be worth exploring. And then there's Tampa, who will have to find a way to sign Point. They only have 16 players under contract for next year and if the cap goes up to 83 mil, they will still have less than 10 mil to work with. Maybe we use our cap space to take Callahan in exchange for a good prospect, or maybe we trade Kreider++ for Point.
I'm not trying to say that it's likely that such an opportunity will present itself. I'm just pointing out that just because Panarin is elite and he is available and we have the cap space doesn't automatically mean we should try to sign him. There are certainly reasons to do it, but there are reasons not to, as well.
