It's an ok offer, but why should Dallas pay so much for Pirri and Honka?

Also Gardiner's unnecessary. Lindell's underpaid.

Thanks for the context. Gardiner I was throwing in because right now you've got the cap space, he costs you no assets to obtain, and in a year or two if you're running into cap issues then he or another D becomes a tradeable asset. I also admitted that some of the salaries may be out of whack but the space is there. I was moreso going for a certain makeup then exact figures.

Most people I've talked to say that the RFA forwards wouldn't work going back to Tampa and that it would need to be one of the defenders going back, that also makes room for Gardiner.

Pirri has a career avg PPG of 0.47. Dallas has all of 3 players above that pace and they all play on the top line. Someone is going to give Pirri a decent contract and the stars need depth scoring. So, why not Pirri to Dallas? Hell, Pirri would be 8th for forward scoring in Dallas right now and he's only played 14 games.

Yes, I know Pirri's performed well for an AHL player. At least in VGK he is just that, and I don't see any teams paying +2M for an AHL player, unless it turns out to be a f**king Marchessault 2.0. I like him, but I wouldn't pay him that much.

Honka's should get a half of that offer, tops. He's been no good whatsoever, a 7th d-man.

And for Gardiner, I think he's just wasted money. Stars are one of the top teams in goals against, and since Gardiner's virtually no help at the defensive end, he'd might cause some issues to Montgomery's system. If we can't score, we certainly must have the defense, and Gardiner doesn't fit to that system.

Also it's not offensive D-men that we need. Klingberg, Heiskanen and Lindell can perform in both ends pretty well, and they are the biggest reason why Dallas still is in the playoff race.

I'd personally use that money for getting a scoring forward. We just simply need no more D-men. Our defense is pretty good.

And knowing Tampa's situation, I think DAL could just trade that 2019 1st round pick straight for Miller at the draft. We get a good forward, and Tampa saves money. Win-win solution.

I'm sure you know about the Dallas D-men than I do but there is no way a young, physical 2-way center with term who keeps putting up 50+ points a year is worth a mid to low first round pack. Antoine Vermette a few years ago went for a 1st rounder and he was a rental, Hanzal went for a 1st and you've seen just how awesome he is. JT Miller is worth closer to two 1sts than he is one and that's not debatable. He's still young, his ceiling if he gets back to 2C and plays 17-19 minutes might even be 60-65 points - we just don't know yet because the depth in Tampa is insane.

Pirri doesn't score like Miller, but his production cannot be denied. He is absolutely not an AHL player. His career PPG is much lower than what he's been doing right now in a 2nd line role for Vegas. Most of the Dallas forwards have played 49 games. If you use his career average that's 23 points. Exactly 3.. THREE Stars forwards are producing at that rate. You're a defensive team, cool. That's great. Pirri is a pretty decent 2-way player, Miller is a solid 2-way player. There are 20 NHL regular UFAs scoring at a higher rate than Pirri's .47PPG over his career (Pirri is one of them but I excluded him). 6 of those players are NHL stars and will likely get in the $7MM-$10MM range and everyone will be going for their services. Then there's Thornton who likely only re-signs in SJ and Williams who probably stays in CAR. So there's 12 players left. All of those players are proven point producers or are breakout players. Pirri will likely sign cheaper than allll of these guys such as Eberle, Donskoi, and even guys below him like Simmonds, Silfverberg, and Panik.

I do agree that Dallas can simply improve via free agency. I think Kevin Hayes would be a great get, but he's going to get paid. You could try Eric Staal on maybe a 2-year deal, but I think Hayes is a better overall fit.

You probably have a point in that Miller statement, although 2 1sts seems a bit of a stretch. Maybe if DAL agrees to take Callahan's contract in the Miller trade as well a 1st+cheap roster player(s) like Carrick or Ritchie or something to that kind should do the trick. The thing is however that Tampa is almost forced to move one of their depth forwards, and Miller's probably the easiest one to move before/during the draft, because his NTC is not yet active then.

And I said Pirri is an AHL player because VGK uses him like one. At least for most of the previous seasons he's been there. Since 2017-18 season, Pirri has only played 16 NHL games.
I get that he's good, and as a DAL fan I'd love to have him in there, but it needs to be at reasonable cost.

Hayes will probably be overpaid, I don't think he'll end up in Dallas. We don't really need that much centers, what we need is a scoring winger, and I'd hope Dallas goes after one at the free agency.

Pirri has played 242 games, not 16. He has 68 goals and 114 points over that time frame. He's 27 so he still has years of tread on those tires. His career pace is that of a $3MM depth scoring forward but for whatever reason he keeps getting passed up just like Boyes and Stempniak. His pace this year in Vegas is that of an $8MM player but 1) he won't keep it up and 2) nobody would give him that based off of one year. His career scoring rate is solid. Analysts were reporting lots of interest in Pirri and they wouldn't budge. Rumor is they were looking to move out one of their experienced 4th liners in Reaves or Bellemar but then injury struck and suddenly there was no need to send him back to the AHL. And again like I said, he outscores everyone on Dallas not on their top line

Ryan Callahan is an experienced 30-40 points 3rd/4th liner on another team, although he's on pace for those numbers this season. There's no doubt in my mind that Tampa could ship him off with a 2nd rounder for at the very least a 7th rounder to a team like AZ that honestly needs that kind of player. Callahan still has plenty of usefulness, he just has a NMC and his cap hit is pretty bad - but not immovable (this summer)

I don't think any team in the NHL is in 'cap hell' like the hawks were back in 2010. The Hawks also put themselves in that situation by signing Hossa, putting him on LTIR, and then spending to the cap at the TDL. They had the playoff MVP so Toews bonus rolled over to the following seasons cap hit for $1.3MM. There's also a time gap: the cap has gone up about 40% since then but salaries have only increased about 25%. The number of teams willing to take cap dumps is also much higher. Even MTL has said they're willing to do so again

I know Pirri has played 242 career games, but last two season combined, he has only played 16 games, as I stated.



Tampa is not in cap hell, but they can't afford to re-sign Point, who'll most likely be at $8,5-9M, if they keep all of their depth players.

My bad on the Pirri deal. I read at a 3rd grade level.

It's not going to be challenging at all to move out salary in order to retain Point. I think they're more at risk of an offer sheet than TO is with Marner, because TO will absolutely match. Would Tampa? I'm not so sure, depends on what the offer presented is. Tampa is also known for getting players below their MV. I don't think Kucherov sets the bar for Point, I think Stamkos does and I think he comes in under Stammer at around $8MM

Indeed. The problem with Tampa is currently that many of their depth players have NTCs in their contracts, making them hard to trade, because who would want to leave the best team in the league?
Only depth player currently without NTC or NMC is Miller, hence I suggested acquiring him.

And for Point, I think Tampa will re-sign him immediately after the draft, with a big contract like 8x8 or something like that.

I think 8x8 is in the ballpark for Point and actually, after this offseason there are only 3 NTC's. The NMCs are 16 team lists, those aren't the worst to work with. Callahan may actually have value in the offseason, not a ton but it could be a 4th rounder which is fine for a 3rd liner cap dump. I don't think TB will actually have to Bryan Bickell him away. Bickell was awful at that time, Callahan is still really useful just overpriced.

Side note: I'm happy with this Pitt/FL trade for both sides.