Équipe: 2022-23 Lightning de Tampa Bay

Date de création initiale: 8 août 2022

Publié: 8 août 2022

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

Sources say that towards the free agency period, Palat and his agent told TBL they would take a long-term low AAV deal to stay with TBL (Nick Paul's contract) and allegedly they refused. Here is what the team would look like if they retained Palat

First off, 3 players would not be retained into this season: Philippe Myers, Vlad Namestnikov & Ian Cole. All 3 were offseason additions and take up just over 8 million dollars, we can better allocate that.

In addition to Palat signing an identical deal to Paul, we also choose to buyout Myers. It seemed like the obvious thing to do heading into the buyout period but was not executed, not to say he's a bad player but TBL can allocate their cap better.

As much as I wanted to bring in Klingberg on a much lover AAV than he got in ANA, i will honour the current FA market in who I choose to replace Cole & Myers (Palat replaces Namestnikov)

As we see TB not afraid to bring in former players, they continue with the trend offering Stralman a 1 year deal. Stralman was an intregal part of TBs team in the early to mid 2010s before pricing himself out in FA to Florida. Bring him back for one last kick at the can. Another defence to take a chance on is Ryan Murray. Former 2nd overall pick's been struggling with injuries his entire career and unfortunate for him has not yet lived up to the 2nd overall stature. Two 1 year deals later with NJD & COL, gets another chance with TBL after winning the Stanley Cup (despite playing 0 playoff games). Speaking of former Lightning, Brian Boyle comes in on a league minimum deal to act as a 13/14th forward.

With this much cap space remaining, you gotta wonder if TB will be in on some big targets come trade deadline. One name that would come to mind is ANOTHER former lightning in JT Miller? 50% retained and he's making under 2.5, would give an undeniable jolt to the offence. While defence is their weak point, I like Zub, Shattenkirk (former Lightning) and specifically Klingberg if 50% retained and money comes back the other way.