Considering my pitch for Crosby was a 5 for 1 trade in terms of roster players and the fact Florida wasn't in the top 10 total salaries under the old CBA, I would still have roughly $15 million available to spend on the open market via Free Agency.
This is a Jacques Martin/Mike Keenan team now and they look to fill four important holes; top line sniper, top line flash, top 2 d-man with offensive skill, and top 4 d-man.
Top line sniper:
1) Bill Geurin - If Dallas buys Geurin out, we try to sign him for 3 years @ 4 million/year.
2) Glen Murray - Only if Geurin is not bought out or we are outbid in the Geurin sweepstakes. In that event, we try to sign Murray for 2 years @ 2.8 million/year.
3) Paul Kariya - Kariya can still put the puck in the net and would be dynamite alongside Crosby. If Geurin's gone and Murray wants more $$$, we sign Kariya for 3 years @ 2.6 million/year.
Top line flash:
1) Marcus Naslund - Probably Anahiem bound, but we make a solid offer of 4.5 million/year for 3 years.
2) Zigmund Palffy - Our second choice after Naslund, we offer 3.6 million/year for 3 years.
3) Pavol Demitra - Option #3, we try to sign Demitra for 2 years @ 2.8 million/year.
Top 2 D-man with skill:
1) Scott Neidermayer - Replaces Bowmeester easily and works with our remaining young d-core, offer $5 million/year for 3 years.
2) Chris Pronger - Option 2, offer $4.8 million/year for 3 years.
3) Sergei Gonchar - Option 3, offer $3.5 million/year for 3 years.
Top 4 D-man:
1) Mike Rathje - Quality guy, offer $2.2 million/year for 2 years.
2) Roman Hamrlik - Option 2, offer $2 million/year for 2 years.
3) Alexei Zhitnik - Option 3, offer $2 million/year for 2 years.
If I was to sign my 4 top choices = Geurin, Naslund, Neidermayer and Rathje = at the $$$ I suggested then the four additions would only add up to an extra $15.7 million per year and the remainder of my roster is young and cheap outside of Luongo so we would still probably be in the $35 million/year total range.
That is of course as HIGH as it would be and presuming I go with Option 2 or 3 to fill one or more of my four holes then that total salary would be even lower, so YES I can afford to sign four of the aforementioned guys.
Florida's roster if Pittsburgh accepted the Crosby offer and I added four quality Free Agents:
Forwards
(Geurin/Murray/Kariya) Crosby (Naslund/Palffy/Demitra)
Hagman Stewart Olesz
Huselius Taticek Kolnik
Campbell Nedorost Globke
PB = Two of Hordichuk/Shvidki/Berglund
*Dany Roussin is in the system and may be used as Option 4 on the Top Line if signing two first line wingers is not feasible or if five of my six targeted names sign elsewhere. If I can bring in two of those premier players to play with Crosby, Roussin continues to develop in Rimouski.
Defense
(Neidermayer/Pronger/Gonchar) Novak
Van Ryan (Rathje/Hamrlik/Zhitnik)
Biron Mezei
Goal
Luongo
(Cheap veteran free agent backup to ride pine and play start about 10 games)
What does everyone think of Florida's *depleted* roster?
If you were the Pittsburgh GM would have you accepted that package? I could break down the Pens roster with all those additions, and trust me it is stacked for the future, but this post is plenty long enough as is.
Is Florida one of the teams in the right position to take a serious run at Crosby come draft day and still have enough talented young depth and money to build/throw around?