Confirmed with Link: [TBL/OTT] Braydon Coburn, Cedric Paquette, & 2nd rd pick ('22) for Marian Gaborik & Anders Nilsson

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Mcd is gone after this year. It's as obvious as betting Zegras 33-1 to win the scoring title at the tourney

 

[The Gongshow]

I think we'd be boned without McD. I think we keep him till 2023, three years left is easier to move than his 6 years left right now anyways.

He was fantastic in our playoff run, specially the final.

 

[DFC]

I'll miss Paquette.

 

[Todd1a]

I think we'd be boned without McD. I think we keep him till 2023, three years left is easier to move than his 6 years left right now anyways.

He was fantastic in our playoff run, specially the final.

any contract with term on it is impossible to move these days it apparently costs a 1st , Johnson and a prospect to move him to Detroit lol . 2 years ago I think we could have got a 2nd round pick for Johnson at least !

 

[Lightning1995]

Any team with a good roster....or great roster like the Lightning.....is gonna get hosed by the economic environment.

 

[Rschmitz]

I agree.

Palat's not a huge loss but he's valuable.

But that's not the key consideration. When next season comes around, McD will be a 32-year-old who's got a cap hit of $6.75m for the year and committed to a total of $33.75m over 5 years. Palat will be a 30-year-old with $5.3m just owed.

We'll need the extra $1.4m next year, and we'll need the McD savings after that, with Point due in '22 and Serg/Cernak/Cirelli the year after. McDonagh's got a NTC, which doesn't protect against expansion draft exposure, so it's really our best shot to move him.

I'm not too moved by idea we can't do without McDonagh. Cernak's been eating big minutes since his rookie season, and he'll be passing 200 games next year. Serg will be at 300 games. Would be great to round out our top 4 with McD, but he's not critical. We're better with him than without him, of course -- but there are better ways to deploy his $6.75m.

JBB might see it differently, of course. And he's the one with much more intel than any of us.

Giving up a legitimate #1 defenseman making 6.75 million is a difficult decision to make, we'll never be able to replace him and keep this team intact, effectively shrinking our window. If you think he'll be a top 4 defender to the end, it'll be a real gut check letting Seattle have a crack at him.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

I'm glad Paquy got his ring before leaving, he'll always be a Bolt... I miss him already.

 

[JTBF81]

I agree that having Seattle take McD will be the easiest way to move his contract before it *may* become an anchor. Some of the decision could hinge on how JBB feels about Coleman and Goodrow staying and if they want to re-sign. Having Seattle take McD and Tampa trading one of Johnson/Palat/Gourde may give them enough room to keep Coleman and Goodrow, and still ice at least a 21 player roster to start 21-22. If they keep McD, it's almost a certainty that at least 2 of Palat/TJ//Gourde/Killorn are gone. Additionally, in this scenario, there likely wouldn't be enough left for Coleman, possibly Goodrow. I'm sure JBB has some ideas in the works but losing 3 top 9 F to keep McD seems steep vs maybe adding a small sweetener to have Seattle take him, just my opinion.

 

[Crunchrulz]

I agree that having Seattle take McD will be the easiest way to move his contract before it *may* become an anchor. Some of the decision could hinge on how JBB feels about Coleman and Goodrow staying and if they want to re-sign. Having Seattle take McD and Tampa trading one of Johnson/Palat/Gourde may give them enough room to keep Coleman and Goodrow, and still ice at least a 21 player roster to start 21-22. If they keep McD, it's almost a certainty that at least 2 of Palat/TJ//Gourde/Killorn are gone. Additionally, in this scenario, there likely wouldn't be enough left for Coleman, possibly Goodrow. I'm sure JBB has some ideas in the works but losing 3 top 9 F to keep McD seems steep vs maybe adding a small sweetener to have Seattle take him, just my opinion.

As others have noted, the cupboard is starting to become bare on the blueline on the farm. Keeping Foote and Witkowski for the well deserved Taxi Squad is going to leave almost nothing in ready reserve. Forward has depth, far better than the blueline.
As noted, the biggie is going to be who we offer Seattle to take which contract.

 

[These Are The Days]

Why are we talking about Seattle taking McDonagh? We don't owe that team anything like that. They can take Johnson and be happy with it. Anyone on earth will gladly take Palat or Killorn. We can eliminate salary just fine. But trading our 2nd best defender to do it is insane. Our salary issues are overblown. Kucherov is eating an entire season now. Meanwhile the rest of the NHL has a whole year to cycle contracts off the books. We can revisit these moves in July. The forum is forgetting teams are going to have millions and millions in cap space for players we have to trade. Seattle will eat the salary of cast offs and those teams will replace cast offs with our guys that we trade.


I'm not saying the concerns aren't valid but straight up yeeting McDonagh when we've got like 2 or 3 more years of Cup window is the worst asset management I can think of. We DO have to get out of the woods but it ain't gonna cost McDonagh to do it. We arrange for his protection and go from there.

 

[These Are The Days]

And I'm gonna call our shot again like last year. To be fair it was like the safest prediction I've ever made too. But we are repeating boys

 

[JTBF81]

As others have noted, the cupboard is starting to become bare on the blueline on the farm. Keeping Foote and Witkowski for the well deserved Taxi Squad is going to leave almost nothing in ready reserve. Forward has depth, far better than the blueline.
As noted, the biggie is going to be who we offer Seattle to take which contract.

Agree to some extent, but even at F who is really ready to step in and take over what 2 of Palat/Gourde/Killorn/TJ bring now, plus likely Coleman? Barre-Boulet deserves a chance after what he's done in the AHL the past couple seasons, but both Raddysh and Katchouk seem borderline to be in Tampa anytime soon, if ever. There are some other younger guys with potential as well, but hard to say how long before they are ready.

The blue line depth isn't great, but even if McD was exposed/taken, Tampa would still have Hedman-Serg on the left, and Cernak, Foote, Rutta on the right. The defense wouldn't fall to pieces or anything.

Several key questions to be answered during and just after this season: is Foote finally ready to be an NHL dman, are Coleman and/or Goodrow part of the long term plans here, who among the 4 ~5 million older F's are staying etc. If Foote can't show he's capable of handling the NHL game, then yes, I'd say protect McD for sure and accept the several losses on offense that will occur if that happens. If Foote earns his spot and shows he's capable of playing at the highest levels this season, maybe McD is exposed and perhaps only 1 top 9 F is moved.

 

[Stammertime91]

I know Coleman provides more offense, but Goodrow was superb on the penalty kill, and in big moments. Coleman is great but if I'm picking between the two with their cost coming into play, I take Goodrow. Let a cheaper option take Coleman's role.

 

[VinikToWinIt]

Coburn had one of my favorite goals in this era. This was before we were truly over the first round hump with the new core, and his goal was a gigantic sigh of relief in a deadlocked game 7. Without him, we may have never had that 2015 run.

Thanks for the memories boys.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Coburn had one of my favorite goals in this era. This was before we were truly over the first round hump with the new core, and his goal was a gigantic sigh of relief in a deadlocked game 7. Without him, we may have never had that 2015 run.

Thanks for the memories boys.

Great memory there! Awesome series that was. Thanks for posting.

 

[DFC]

I do not understand why we would be in any way interested in giving up McDonagh in the middle of a cup window. Losing him would take us from probably the best top-4 in the league to a top-4 that's a Hedman injury away from being pretty terrible.