Jim Bob
RIP RJ
I think this line of thinking is counter productive. Same with refusing to trade Eichel in conference. If a deal benefits us, it benefits us. The rest doesn't matter. Sure you use their cap space need to maximize return. But you don't refuse a trade just to spite them. You don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
It's not like we are going to be competing with TB for the cup next season.
This isn't helping TB for this season. It's helping them for the next three seasons.
A 1st and a 3rd for 3 years of a bad $5M cap hit for a team in your division that people constantly complain about getting out of bad contracts?
Hard pass.
A lot of times you can get a 1st for 1 year of a cap hit like that.