Speculation: Tampa Bay 2017 RFA's

[dkollidas]

Just out of curiousity, not that any are or will he available, but if one had to go, who would Tampa fans be most willing to lose/trade out of Palat, Johnson and Drouin.

Supposing they're forced to protect Filppula & Callahan from expansion, along with Stamkos, Kucherov, Palat, Johnson & Drouin, I would expect Killorn gets taken ahead of Namestnikov. I still see it as hard to re-sign all of these players.

I do give Yzerman credit for what he's been able to do so far, but I also believe Palat & Johnson do have arbitration rights as well? So maybe it gets tricky and they look to make room bybdealing one of the potentially larger contracts.

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[FlamesFan18]

I wish the Flames had all these guys to choose from .

I would expect Johnson to be most likely moved of the 3 from an outside perspective after the Stamkos re-signing. Drouin is younger and oozes talent, and Palat plays a solid two way game. Point can replace Johnson.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I wish the Flames had all these guys to choose from .

I would expect Johnson to be most likely moved of the 3 from an outside perspective after the Stamkos re-signing. Drouin is younger and oozes talent, and Palat plays a solid two way game. Point can replace Johnson.

Maybe eventually.

 

[SI90]

They will all sign for well below market value. It's the Tampa way

 

[Iceman]

Starting this early this year?

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Tampa shouldn't have much of an issue keeping everyone.

Drouin isn't getting a big contract. He'll get a bridge deal in the 2.5M range. He had a great playoff last year, but thus far this year it doesn't look like he is building up a resume to command a 6x6 type deal right now. Look at Zibanejad who already was a 20g/50p player and what he signed for.

Assuming Killorn isn't taken, they might have more luck trading Filppula in order to clear cap space. He'll be on the last year of his contract, which will make him an easier fit cap wise for other teams, there'll also be an extra 70M+ of cap space added to the league via Vegas coming in so teams will have more room to splurge on adding players than they had this past off season.

 

[DFC]

Getting Kucherov under contract was key for TB. Once the expansion draft goes by, a lot of our contracts will suddenly become moveable. I'm thinking Filppula, Garrison, and Coburn here. The latter two are valuable players, and Filppula is off to a shockingly good start. If he puts up 40-50 points while playing a 3rd line role, it shouldn't be hard to move him in the last year of his contract. The Callahan contract, on the other hand, looks like an anchor.

I think Vegas will likely take Killorn, Bishop will walk as a UFA, and then Yzerman will be one or two moves away from being able to get the rest of the core under contract.

 

[dechire]

Point can replace Johnson.

Maybe we should wait until he has at least 2 goals and takes more than 6 faceoffs before penciling him in as the 2C on a Cup contender

 

[tjs*]

Tough to say. A lot's going to come down to how everybody performs this season/offseason and how much money each of them is asking for. I'm still not so certain Yzerman doesn't try to package a first or somebody like Adam Erne with Filppula to move him before the draft so he can buy out Callahan and keep the entire top six intact. There's not a guy in our top six that I want to see go and if a (hopefully late) first or a solid prospect for whom we have no room on the roster would let us keep them all then that's a price worth paying in my opinion.

 

[Djp]

The issue is TB can't protect them all so likely 1 of them gets traded. Most likely Johnson given he would cost high for a 3rd line center. They could trade him for an exempt replacement.

 

[DFC]

The issue is TB can't protect them all so likely 1 of them gets traded. Most likely Johnson given he would cost high for a 3rd line center. They could trade him for an exempt replacement.

Killorn is likely to be exposed. We have room to protect Johnson.

 

[I am not exposed]

They will all sign for well below market value. It's the Tampa way

Wish it was the Florida way.

 

[Djp]

Killorn is likely to be exposed. We have room to protect Johnson.

Sure its possible but Johnson will cost more to resign than Killorns cap hit.

looking at 2017 Tampa Bay has about $13M+ cap increase+Killorns salary for 10 spots. with 2 of those players likely costing $5M or more to resign.

 

[dkollidas]

I was just thinking if Tampa would be willing to sweeten Filppula with something like Namestnikov. Or is he considered to valuable by the club?

I could also see Tampa realizing that Killorn is likely the player to be left for expansion, unless he performs well enough that it prompts the trade of one of Johnson/Palat, which I guess is a possibility since they signed Killorn to such a long-term deal (I'm assuming it means they have great faith in his long term consistency).

The expansion draft to me is a big hurdle for Tampa Bay since they have such vast talent, particularly in their top-9, plus the NMC/NTC given to to Filppula & Callahan.

 

[Sky04]

Palat and Johnson aren't going to get a whole lot considering their plays over the past year, Drouin will be bridge, there's almost no reason why he wouldn't be.

We can keep all 3 by moving Filppula and one of Coburn/Garrison or if Vegas claims Killorn.

 

[DFC]

Sure its possible but Johnson will cost more to resign than Killorns cap hit.

looking at 2017 Tampa Bay has about $13M+ cap increase+Killorns salary for 10 spots. with 2 of those players likely costing $5M or more to resign.

We have money coming off the books too, including that Killorn contract (likely, anyway). And, again, players like Garrison and Coburn, who are very tough to move coming up to the expansion draft, will be easily moveable once teams aren't freaking out over their protected list. They're top-4 defensemen on a contending team, on easy-to-live-with contracts. And Val Filppula actually looks like he has decent value again too. With 1 year left on his contract, we'll likely be able to move him if we need to (after the expansion draft).

A lot of our cap crunch was solved when Kucherov signed. Because that gets us to the expansion draft, which was giving us huge problems.

If a core move makes sense, it makes sense. But it's no longer a "must." There will be options available.

 

[mikeyp24]

How is Johnson playing this year? I honestly would kill to have him in a CBJ uniform previous to this year. I don't have the season pass to watch him this year though so I don't know if he is playing like 2 years ago TJ or if he has slowed down. I'm not making a trade proposal because it is below a 1% chance they would likely do one before the season is over due to 1 being a contender and the other still trying to figure out long term who is our C's going to be with PLD in the system and Wennberg stepping up but the possibility of losing Karlson to LV and Dubinski starting slow.

I guess Hypothetical what positions would you be looking for if you traded him? Because there is so many guys the team might have trouble keeping is picks and prospects (obviously on top of some type of current player who would help you compete) an option for you?

 

[dkollidas]

What about something like Namestnikov & Filppula to Buffalo for Carrier & Girgensons. If before the expansion draft, it opens a spot for Tampa to protect Killorn, and lose Girgensons or Carrier to Vegas instead. This way Tampa keeps Killorn but ditches Filppula's cap hit, basically at the expense of Namestnikov (but still getting Carrier as well).

If after the expansion draft, Tampa gets a couple of younger guys who can fit well in a 3rd line role and do spot work in the top-6 when needed and save cap space

 

[HoseEmDown]

What about something like Namestnikov & Filppula to Buffalo for Carrier & Girgensons. If before the expansion draft, it opens a spot for Tampa to protect Killorn, and lose Girgensons or Carrier to Vegas instead. This way Tampa keeps Killorn but ditches Filppula's cap hit, basically at the expense of Namestnikov (but still getting Carrier as well).

If after the expansion draft, Tampa gets a couple of younger guys who can fit well in a 3rd line role and do spot work in the top-6 when needed and save cap space

This doesn't work. We lose Namestnikov and say Girgensons just to move Filppula. Better to hold onto everyone and only lose 1 player, Namestnikov or Killorn. We can then try to move Filppula and some others to fit under the cap.

 

[DFC]

This doesn't work. We lose Namestnikov and say Girgensons just to move Filppula. Better to hold onto everyone and only lose 1 player, Namestnikov or Killorn. We can then try to move Filppula and some others to fit under the cap.

Yup. We're gonna lose a player to the expansion draft. No point in losing two if the return isn't worth it.

I feel like we signed Killorn knowing he would likely be a Vegas casualty.

We free up money by losing Killorn, Bishop, and then trying to move Filppula. Maybe one more move needed. But we have replacements for everybody on the way out.

 

[tjs*]

I was just thinking if Tampa would be willing to sweeten Filppula with something like Namestnikov. Or is he considered to valuable by the club?

That's a tough one. Before this season I would have said no as Namestnikov was our heir apparent to Filppula at 3C, but Point is looking like he'll be ready for a permanent role at the NHL level sooner rather than later so filling that spot isn't the concern it otherwise would have been. I'd still hate to lose Vladdy as I think he has a lot of potential but I'd do it if I were confident that by making this move I could keep our entire top six intact. In other words before pulling the trigger I'd want to get at least one or two of our RFAs inked to an extension so that I could be confident that I'd be able to fit them all under the cap - otherwise if we're going to have to lose a top six forward to the cap anyway we might as well move that guy at the end of the season and hang onto Namestnikov.

 

[dkollidas]

Ok. So if Killorn was taken in expansion, would something like Girgensons/Carrier for Filppula/Namestnikov be close? Would save Tampa some big cap space and give them a guy who replaces at least the size/speed combo of Killorn in Girgensons.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Ok. So if Killorn was taken in expansion, would something like Girgensons/Carrier for Filppula/Namestnikov be close? Would save Tampa some big cap space and give them a guy who replaces at least the size/speed combo of Killorn in Girgensons.

No because we'll keep Namestnikov and try to trade Filpulla on his own. After the expansion draft Filppula will have value again so no need to add anything to him.

 

[tjs*]

Ok. So if Killorn was taken in expansion, would something like Girgensons/Carrier for Filppula/Namestnikov be close? Would save Tampa some big cap space and give them a guy who replaces at least the size/speed combo of Killorn in Girgensons.

No, the only reason we add Namestnikov to Filppula is to move him before the draft and with zero retention; that in turn allows us to buy out Callahan which gives us the protection spots and quite possibly the cap space to keep Stamkos, the Triplets, Drouin, and Killorn (as well as protect one other forward, though if Namestnikov is the price we pay to move Filppula then it's unclear who that last spot would go to.) If we have to give up one of those top six forwards to either the cap or expansion then we have no reason to deal Namestnikov as he would be a cost effective replacement somewhere in our top nine.

 

[Byrddog]

Not even 1/4 in and there is no clear way to pick who you would move.
Killorn started out on fire, Point has been impressive, Johnson, Palat have been solid and Names looked like a superstar last night with Stammer and Kuch. Such a bad spot to be in all this talent. heck even Flip has looked good. Sure sure there have been a couple stinker games but all in all. This is a tough team to beat. Honestly Its hard to imagine moving Bishop to free up cap too. It gonna be interesting In the end I see Flip traded and a deal with Vegas sending a player and a pic to keep Killorn and the odd man out will likely be Stralman traded to free the rest of the cap needed to resign the three forwards and Sustr. Bishop may well be moved at the trade deadline and Vasi takes over or they could extend him and work out a deal with Vegas to take him. Hard to imagine a better goalie that could be exposed to Vegas.