KIRK
Registered User
- Aug 2, 2005
- 109,700
- 51,216
Ya, I highly suspect this is the case. I know for sure upper mgmt expected JR to be around for another season or two minimum... so this is all really weird as hell.
A guy like JR doesn’t just suddenly quit and then hint he over stayed his welcome,
Looks like the brass want to go down with the ship and hope these guys can bail water well for a couple seasons..
Jiggy, I'm highly dubious ownership told JR he wasn't allowed to trade Letang, if only because I know, with ownership's green light, it got really close with Florida in December 2017 and then there was more casual exploration of possibilities in the summers of 2018 and 2019.
I can't speak to the summers, but my understanding of what happened with Florida is they were offering a player from list A, a player from list B, and a first, and JR and ownership were on the same page that the deal had to be for two players on list A (pretty sure their big 3 weren't on list A but guys like Trotchek and Dadonov were).
So, I don't think Letang was off limits.
What I'd wonder-- IF LETANG IS THE REASON-- is if the disconnect wasn't over whether Letang could be traded but instead over his value (which is what nuked the deal to Tampa years ago, if memory serves).
Anyway, it's a subtle difference, but in this speculated scenario, I highly doubt the idea of trading Letang is the issue.