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Confirmed with Link: [TBL/SEA/DET] Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde (75% retained), Kyle Aucoin, 2026 5th for Mike Eyssimont, 2026 1st, 2027 1st, 2025 2nd, 2025 4th

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Stelio Kontos said:
Agreed.. I have to be honest seeing this trade made me want to throw up. You give up two firsts and a second and the best player you get is Bjorkstand?

I get that this coaching staff couldn’t develop a chia pet so picks are moot but f***
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DarrylshutzSydor said:
Lets see if these posters are still around in 3 years when this team has no assetts
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Look at my sign up date friend.. I was the 2nd Bolts fan here. LOL

EDIT: er... 3rd. @Rschmitz AND @Hoek GOT ME BEAT, I remember them both from sunshine network boards pre-04 cup era, although I had a very different screen name those days.
 
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Sky04 said:
He's more of a Palat/Killorn swiss knife type player.
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If I wasn't in love before....

Hagel isn't small, but to me, he plays kind of small. Relies on quickness and skill a lot, even when he's playing a gritty style. That sounds similar to what we are getting here, except I'm hearing a lot about his shot. Killorn had a good wrister
 
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Rschmitz said:
We got 1 more year on Mcdonagh, I don't think we'll re-sign him before the end of next season.

Just to highlight how signing players to long term deals that are supposed to age badly is overblown, I remember there being a ton of flack on this contract about how he was going to be a husk of a man by the end but worth it because he'd bring us a cup.
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Between 2005 and 2011 (lockouts), it felt like the game got really young. Guys aged out quickly. We are seeing more and more players hang on longer again now, the way they did when the two line pass was a thing. I think it's because we are finally seeing the generation that developed without a red line, and the generation that had to make the adjustment are all gone.

I don't think it's wise to fear age as much as teams did 10 years ago. Too many players are being productive well into their 30s now. So, if you want to win now, you just take the best guy. Wouldn't surprise me at all if McDonagh gets another contract in 2026.
 
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DFC said:
If I wasn't in love before....

Hagel isn't small, but to me, he plays kind of small. Relies on quickness and skill a lot, even when he's playing a gritty style. That sounds similar to what we are getting here, except I'm hearing a lot about his shot. Killorn had a good wrister
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Hagel is a better TJ, Bjorkstrand is now a Drej.

More 2004 said:
Can tomorrow night get here already??
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It has in Fiji.
 
More 2004 said:
Look at my sign up date friend.. I was the 2nd Bolts fan here. LOL

EDIT: er... 3rd. @Rschmitz AND @Hoek GOT ME BEAT, I remember them both from sunshine network boards pre-04 cup era, although I had a very different screen name those days.
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Damn, I was on Sunshine Network boards lol

Is that still active somewhere? Archive? Screenshot?
 
In the end, Francis was under no pressure to move Bjorkstrand, so any team wanting him was going to have to pay up. He's exactly the kind of player Tampa likes to go after, and he has term on a solid contract. Tuch was a pipe dream given what Buffalo was looking for (by most accounts), and there were few other top 6 RW candidates out there that weren't ufa's. One 1st wasn't going to be enough to entice Seattle for Bjorkstrand, nor likely the Pens for Rakell ( one of the only other high quality RWs with term that was likely available for even a somewhat palatable cost). If it was between giving up a '27 1st vs one of Geekie or Howard, or one of Gauthier/Duke plus another decent asset, I'd much rather have seen JBB give up the magic bean that may have a 25% chance of helping the team by 2030.
 
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So proud of having JBB as our GM, the guy gives our team a chance to go for it every single year. I don't recall another GM being such a baller.

Dom from The Athletic said this about us getting Bjork "The fit makes a ton of sense, the missing piece that gives Tampa the strongest and deepest top-six in the league".
And for Gourde, he's currently having one of his best defensive seasons in a reduced role, which is exactly what we need from him.

Getting exactly what we needed without giving up any of our prospects is a big win in itself: plug into this lineup Geekie and Howard? Lmao, I'm here for it.

...and good God, this season isn't even over and I'm already hyped for how our team will look next season: we truly have a chance of being a juggernaut again.
Thank you JBB.
 
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Zwui21 said:
So proud of having JBB as our GM, the guy gives our team a chance to go for it every single year. I don't recall another GM being such a baller.

Dom from The Athletic said this about us getting Bjork "The fit makes a ton of sense, the missing piece that gives Tampa the strongest and deepest top-six in the league".
And for Gourde, he's currently having one of his best defensive seasons in a reduced role, which is exactly what we need from him.

Getting exactly what we needed without giving up any of our prospects is a big win in itself: plug into this lineup Geekie and Howard? Lmao, I'm here for it.

...and good God, this season isn't even over and I'm already hyped for how our team will look next season: we truly have a chance of being a juggernaut again.
Thank you JBB.
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Julien Big Balls.

Seriously. This guy does stuff other GMs just don't have the stomach for. Sergachev? That deal made SO MUCH SENSE and yet you know 95% of GMs ever wouldn't have the guts to pull the trigger on it. Then he lets Stamkos walk while staring us (the fanbase) down like "You're gonna eat this and like it."
 
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DFC said:
Julien Big Balls.

Seriously. This guy does stuff other GMs just don't have the stomach for. Sergachev? That deal made SO MUCH SENSE and yet you know 95% of GMs ever wouldn't have the guts to pull the trigger on it. Then he lets Stamkos walk while staring us (the fanbase) down like "You're gonna eat this and like it."
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He just makes logical choices, yeah he over thought himself on the Jeannot trade but you can see the logic behind it, he was banking on Jeannot improving on his wrecking ball playstyle from his rookie year. Sergachev made so much sense to move to anyone not blinded by emotions.

The McDonagh trade was stone cold, to make that move he pretty had to say f*** you to Stamkos and Sergachev. There was like 2M left after that trade or something ridiculous and he said yeah we got enough for what we wanna offer Stammer.
 
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I like Bjorkstrand and could see us playing him on either on either the 2nd or 3rd. I think Cooper's been proving recently you can play anyone with Hagel and Cirelli and still have a decent line. I'm going to assume he's plays on the 2nd though.

I haven't seen Gourde play since he left the team, but he's currently on the 40+ point pace he managed his first two seasons in Seattle. I really wish we could have kept Eyssimont and sent Gonzo down as I consider Eyssimont to be a more effective player than Chaffee, Girg or Gonzo.

Our bottom six still needs offensive help. I'd like to think we could bring Geekie back up, but he's not been lighting up in Syracuse so far. Half of our bottom six remains very unexceptional.

I hate that we gave up two firsts. Paying for retention instead of getting an additional player is kinda depressing. Most everyone thinks our draft picks are just tickets to the next cup round, but in spite of this trade, I only consider our cup window to be potentially reopening because of Vasy's play the second half of this season.

All that aside, I'm excited to see what Bjork can do for the offense and Gourde does for the bottom six.
 
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