Rielly Smith is a good young player. He simply had an unlucky year. I wonder if this is simply a contract dump or if Florida is getting something decent back.
Yeah there's no way a single GM in the league thinks R. Smith is a cap dump. Slightly overpaid yes, but that's about it.
He has value. I could easily see teams calling in what would it take for you to pick R. Smith and retain salary for us ?
Or Vegas wants Smith for themselves (he is under contract for 5 more years which is good for Vegas) and someone wanted Marchessault. McPhee really likes the offer for Marchessault.
Then Tallon says well you can have Marchessault too if you get X player from team A for us
Then McPhee says okay fine and picks that player and trades them to the Panthers later for "future considerations" or whatever.