Welcome to CapFriendly! Sometimes, it's not too friendly.

You will find that many people will react pugnaciously to trades involving their favorite teams. Learn to take their criticisms with a grain or eight of salt and in particular, automatically dismiss any comment that contains a personal insult ("you ought to watch some games" or "what kind of idiot would do that?", etc.). Good luck and keep posting!

P.S. In my experience, some team fanbases have several "homers" whose minds are so closed The Pink Panther couldn't open them. Your fellow Tampa fans do not number such an annoyance among them.

Right on, thanks for the welcome!

Welcome to the site! In regards to your lineup, I don't see Tampa going after another bottom 6 or 4th line F with the available cap space they have/can still create. They also likely won't run a 23 player roster, but 22(or even 21 if they have to). I would hope they are still looking for a middle 6 winger that can be effective in a top 6 role, such as Tatar. Other options could include Comtois or Boqvist perhaps. Trading for a winger with retention that's entering their final year, such as Niederreiter or Kubalik(may not need much, if any retention with Kubalik) could also be an option.

Fair. I'm a fan of Motte's game but I'm also realizing he is probably worth closer to an even million. Regardless, if I was to predict what JBB is going to actually do, it would be something closer to what you suggest. I think we stand pat and go into the season filling that 4th line role with one of the AHL guys (Koepke, Merela, Goncalves?), and grab somebody at the deadline. Whether we're going to need to add to the Forwards or the Defense at that point, I'm not sure yet. Niederreiter would be an amazing acquisition for the middle six, but I feel like he will be expensive and we're not exactly swimming in assets.

Yeah, one of ABB, Merela, Goncalves, Edmonds etc could certainly grab the last spot and be given an opportunity in the top 6/middle 6. I proposed a '25 2nd, '26 3rd and ABB for Niederreiter at 50%, and while not many responded, one Winnipeg fan seemed to be positive about it. I figure he's worth at least a 2nd, and then, with 2 million retention and the picks being further down the road, Tampa would need to entice them a little more.