Looking forward to the draft I wanted to check out some trades the lightning made around that time. As Darche was known to be the cap management guy, some of these feel pretty important and could give us hope for what he can do here.
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2020: traded Ryan Callahan (5.8M) and a 5th for Mike Condon (2.4M) and a 6th and immediately buried him. So they cleared like 4M for the price of moving down from a 5th to a 6th. Not too shabby
2021: Tyler Johnson (5M) for Brendan Seabrook (LTIR). Basically cleared Tyler Johnson's cap as Seabrook was on LTIR. Another savvy cap move.
2022: Ryan Mcdonough (6.75) to Nashville for Philippe Myers (2.55). This one hurt a bit, that's not just a cap clearing move - that's a casualty.
2023: Ross Colton, Patrick Maroon, and Corey Perry for picks. Altogether cleared a little over 3M.
2024: Mikhail Sergachev (8.5) for JJ Moser (3.375), Connor Geekie (11th overall pick), and a second. The trade came 1 day before Sergachev's NMC clause kicked in, so they're obviously not afraid of making the tough calls. This move would help clear cap to bring in Guentzel, so when you look at the big picture it feels like a win.
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So how does that translate to the Isles? Does Darche target an LTIR guy like Torrey Krug or Carey Price? I bet STL isn't on Mayfield's list.
Does he move one of our upcoming big money defensemen (Dobson or Romanov) to create cap to bring in an offensive player? While I'm not a fan of trading Dobson in a vacuum for picks, if the overall return was something like the Sergachev return, plus signing Marner it's hard not to see that as a win.
How about Dobson for Hayton, Lamereux and a second? Do you make that trade if you know you can sign Marner? Maybe to the Stars for Bischel and Bourque? Just thinking out loud...