Ok so your a Leaf fan, I'm a lightning fan. Is Toronto willing to pay to get rid of Kerfoot or Johnsson? No you guys are going to want some value back for them. I can't see Ottawa being that interested in them in the first place let alone willing to pay for them. Kerfoot and Johnsson just clog up the forward spots for Ottawa and aren't a big enough upgrade to make them interested. Same with Tampa we aren't looking to give away any of our forwards, we would want some value back. I also don't think Ottawa would want the older vets of ours who will take a top 9 spot. Someone like Eriksson is a 4th liner or he's sent to Binghamton, not taking a spot from an Ottawa prospect. He also makes just 1M next year which no Toronto or Tampa forward does.
Pay to move Kerfoot or AJ, probably not. But that's comparing an apple and a razor blade. Kerfoot & AJ aren't stellar, but they are decent, legit middle of the lineup NHL players. Their salaries aren't out of whack either. We might not get much back compared to normal times assuming there's much interest in the 1st place. I'm guessing there will be other free agency options that could be roughly/nearly equivalent that could be acquired on bargain basement type deals. I'm probably not your typical Leaf fan (stereotype image I'm referring to) anyhow, so I'm not expecting the big return like others probably are.
Speaking of TBL, given that Killorn has a modified no-trade (a 16 team no trade list), I can see a team squeezing Tampa for a less desirable (compared to normal markets) return, so it might cost an asset, etc., or it might just be a surprising low return (e.g., late pick). That would be a more desirable & useful alternative for a team with lots of cap space to get than LE. And, Tampa is going to have to find a way of meeting cap, so some tough decisions (and player movement) will have to be made.
If I'm a team with cap space, I'd put some feelers out there with some lowball initial offers. Then I'd just wait until reality hits home and the mad scramble begins.
