there is a salary cap. a first round pick is outrageously generous.

Dude if you would give up that quality of a first for a washed up vet you are borderline insane

There is also a thing called Deadline Cap Space..

OK 2nd rounder then .. doesnt matter .. at half season cap hit around 2M .. somehow Tampa will have 11M at TDL .. Tampa needs veterans .. who this years Charlie Coyle or Marcus Johannsson?.. Bruins literally almost won Cup on TWO TDL moves .. their 1st line was garbage and Bruins still almost won .. not to take risk move is foolish .. prefer Janokowksi but only need a solid veteran rental .. interesting factoid on NBCSN last night during game .. ZERO teams have won a Stanley Cup in last 40 years without a previous Cup winner on team .. guess who doesnt .. Tampa .
JUSTIN WILLIAMS WOULD BE THE DREAM add
. Winners win in life and losers lose

so, just to be clear, 5.5 divided by 2 is 2?

TDL is little past halfway of season and what are you a math teacher? .. I have thrived in life with the approach of "directionally correct".. lol

Patrick Maroon literally won the cup last year what are you even saying. And guess how many cups mikko koivu has won ZERO, the dude has barely won a playoff series.

Yes Maroon fits that bill now .. no accident there .. The point which you still don't get is veteran influence .. calling out younger internal developed guys .. Stamkos doing it now is no accident but it still internal.. more veteran leadership needed.. maybe Wayne Simmons 4th line time?

you said half way. you didn't say TDL.

My favourite part of this massive overpayment for Koivu is that not only is it a 1st rounder in an extremely deep draft year, but the 1st rounder is Vancouver's, not Tampa's, which significantly adds to the value of the pick. Even though the Vancouver's pick is playoff protected, it'll probably still be 10 spots higher than Tampa's (if the Canucks make the playoffs) or could be an unprotected pick in 2021 should they not take a step forward