Quoting: BigAnderson
Probably get so many of those comments because it’s a valid point. Maybe if they hadn’t given half their team no trade or no move clauses it wouldn’t be such an issue lol. Think about it, why would a player want to leave a consistent contender in a beautiful place like Tampa, Florida, where there is no state tax, if they have the contractual right to stay? Killorn’s no trade becomes modified this year, so he’s movable. Palat is a year away from his being modified so maybe you get him to waive. Johnson, maybe if you find him a decent spot where he’s promised more ice time, but he’s certainly not going to want to go to a dumpster fire organization like Buffalo has been. Maybe Detroit with the Yzerman connection, but best bet would be in a year he agrees to waive to go to Seattle since he’s from nearby Spokane. Or accept that keeping all three of top RFAs is unlikely and move one for some soon to be ready prospects. Sorry to say but there’s no easy fix to Tampa’s cap crunch
Those No trade/move clauses are a big reason why they can get guys to sign for less. Obviously the tax breaks make a big difference, but those go away if the player is traded to another state/province. Players want to make sure they don’t get shorted down the road. A quality player on a relatively inexpensive contract would be a pretty coveted trade piece.
I don’t think you can really fault Tampa for doing that, or for being in the position they’re in. The don’t have any monster bad deals and they’ve paid their core guys to stick around. Most of those core guys are players they drafted, many outside of the first round. They did too good of a job at building their team the right way and can no longer afford all those guys. Chicago did the same thing after the 2010 Stanley Cup when they had to move out guys like Byfuglien and Ladd because they couldn’t afford to keep them.
In my opinion, they should mostly target future assets when trading off pieces they can’t afford. Trust their scouting and development staffs to continue to do a great job. They will still have a very good hockey team; and they should be able to pick up a few free agents on short and inexpensive deals to round out their roster, both because of the tax breaks and the opportunity they offer to win a championship. The futures they acquire will become the next wave of inexpensive role players on their first or second contracts who can help their core continue to compete; just like Cirelli, Cernak, and Sergachev now.