Doubt this would happen... but curious if NYI would bite.
UFA's now get a 7 day window to talk to teams before signing? Let's say Tavares has made up his mind, and he's gonna come to Boston.
Before July 1st, NYI knows Tavares is leaving, so they trade his rights straight up for David Krejci; Bruins then ink Tavares to the 8 year deal and goes to the team he wants to. Isle's get something back. B's likely throw in a little more incentive, but push comes to shove, they are gonna lose him if he's not re-signing.
Not remotely insinuating he does want to come here. But IF he did...
Doubt this all works for a number of reasons, but hey, we can dream, can't we?
Moving one of Miller / McQuaid + Krejci is 10 million in cap space right there. Backes is another option, but more pieces likely need to go, too.
my biggest thought is... that islander situation is a mess with the arena controversy and a general mismanagement going on. hiring lou is a good step but in his 70's how long will he want to stay if hes dealing with that crap and once he bails... then what
the one thing we all agree about krejci is that with his ntc he isn't going anywhere unless he sees a reason to go. what is that reason for him to go to a mess like that?
but the good news is we don't really need him to go there. there are better places we can move him. and honestly we don't really need to trade for his rights unless we are negotiating prior to the grace period. once the grace period starts we will be able to get an agreement with Tavares and his agent that we are the choice. islanders wouldn't be involved at that point
we might want to act proactive and find a spot for mcquaid/miller before we ever reach this point. maybe islanders would be that spot? and if so... maybe that would be enough by itself to gain us negotiation rights. I honestly cant see any situation where it makes sense to bring back both miller and mcquaid to play behind carlo and mcavoy. not at 2.5 mill each. a guy like holden could probably serve as the 7th dman for half that cost.
with chara and one of miller or mcquaid... we will have plenty of big slow dmen in the lineup... don't need the 3rd guy.
2 big slow guys to help the pk... and then 4 faster puck movers... that's a better formula for the defense than 3 and 3. technically carlo is closer to a big slow guy than he is to a fast puckmover too... so definitely finding a way to get another faster puck mover into the everyday lineup is a good thing
I do hope we land Tavares... and if we do then I definitely think krejci has to find a soft landing spot. so I'm with you that they are connected... I just don't see the island as being the right spot to land tavares
