Not trading Howard for a rental

Dome deal lmao

I would not honestly put it past Tampa in this case

As where are they gonna find a 20+ goal scorer for under 1mill

Plus Kuzmenko and Kucherov would be terrifying together.

It's fair but if another team offers a 2023 1st I'm doing that instead

I hate seeing Tampa pop up in the trade lists of Vancouver ACGMs (for obvious reasons), but this might be the one I agree with.

Firstly, I think Kuzmenko makes more sense than Horvat.
Play Kuzmenko on the top line w/ Kuch and Point and that frees up Hagel to re-form the shutdown line w/ Cirelli and Killorn.

And Stamkos (no offense to him) can do whatever he wants w/ Paul and Colton on the third.

My opinion is we need a shutdown line to win, and nothing we have now qualifies as one. Unless we plan on adding a middle-6 forward to address that, freeing up Hagel would be my choice.

As for the trade, if Schenn's market turns out weaker than anticipated, I'd try to get him here too.

Tampa may offer Howard, but yeah, not for a rental. There are plenty of middle 6 guys with term that arent that expensive who Tampa will likely target ahead of someone like Kuzmenko. Brisebois very rarely guts a lot of futures for a rental that he has zero chance of re-signing. Tampa also doesn't really need top 6 winger help this deadline, and while Kuzmenko is very good, he'd be more of a luxury rather than a necessity.

So would the preference be a more defensive wing that can play with Paul and Colton like Trenin

Cause im kind of surprised by that as I thought with Paul Tampa had a kind of make shift shutdown line with Hagel and Colton and would be looking for someone on a nice cheap deal who could add to the offense along with reuniting with Schenn

Hagel is thriving with Point-Kuch, and moving him back to a shutdown role wastes his full potential. There are more than a few middle 6 guys that Tampa can acquire that could provide a shutdown line with Colton-Cirelli or Killorn-Cirelli/Paul.

That's if Hagel is playing in the middle 6. Kind of hard to have that unless he and Stamkos switch lines for a few shifts during a game.

Colton has left something to be desired this season, but I still have faith he'll show up big when it counts.

Cannot have Maroon as a third-liner in the playoffs either.

Hagel is much better on the top line than wasted as a defense first 3rd line shutdown type. I think a winger like Trenin, Cam Robinson, Barabanov, Barbashev, Motte, Nieto etc. should be more along the lines of who Tampa should be looking at acquiring(if they have term,all the better).

They're good, not great.

Moving Hagel around shouldn't be viewed as off limits or a waste of talent. He's not a one dimensional player that must be w/ Point and Kuch to succeed.

Trenin Robinson are interesting names
Barbashev will cost a lot
Motte is a 4th liner
Nieto is a 13th forward

Unless Tampa overpays for a top 6 F rental, diluting the lines to make the offense weaker seems like a poor decision. Hagel can still PK and be used in specific situations depending on matchups, but Tampa needs him as tbe Palat replacement on tbe top line. Hagel-Point-Kuch, Killorn-Stamkos-Paul and Colton-Cirelli-new addition I believe will be the optimal lines come playoffs(Killorn maybe switched with Colton).

Barbashev and Barabanov could cost a bit, but both would be solid fits on the 3rd line. Motte and Nieto are lower on the list, but both could provide a low cost and effective bottom 6 defensive guy. I think Brisebois will try and find someone with term left, but if it's a pending ufa or rfa that he thinks they can re-sign, they could be ideal as well.

There will be a bidding war for him but it shouldn't cost a top prospect, a young prospect with high potential still, and a 2nd. Personally I would much rather add to the blue line with our available assets