CBC-Sports

Tracking Toronto-Tampa trade talk

May 13, 2009 04:08 AM | Posted by   Elliotte Friedman  

Okay, Toronto/Tampa and the No. 2 pick.

To be honest, I was surprised at the attention my Fan 590 comments received, simply because Pierre LeBrun reported a similar scenario two weeks ago on The Hotstove, and Damien Cox went even more in-depth in the Toronto Star.

Anyway, this rumour is all over the place.

First heard about it late in the regular season, but could get no confirmation. Heard it again a couple of times during the playoffs and found out it was kind of an open secret but since the primary focus was Boston/Montreal, then Washington/Pittsburgh, never really got a chance to deal with the principals.

Pierre and Damien beat me to it.

Since I'm in Washington, I couldn't really follow what was going on back at home, but I understand Brian Burke said that Tampa asked for Luke Schenn and Tomas Kaberle for the No. 2 pick. Never heard that one. Can't imagine Burke would do it, either.

But it's clear the Lightning are willing to listen, which is not a bad thing. And asking for Schenn and Kaberle is smart business. Even if you're pretty sure you’re not going to get both of them, you can't shoot a guy for trying.

Last year, Ryan Malone signed a seven-year, $31.5-million US deal. The Penguins knew he'd hit it big in the free-agent market, which is why they dealt his rights to Tampa before July 1.

Malone is a great teammate and his loss really affected Pittsburgh on and off the ice until Ray Shero made his Kunitz/Guerin moves. He was coming on in Tampa before his season-ending injury.

If the contract was a little less onerous, I think Burke would do it. But with many GMs in the league assuming a huge cap drop for the 2010-11 season, it's much less likely. It will eat at his flexibility.

However, let's look at what's happened in Tampa over the past year:

  • The Lightning have signed several players to contracts that they now regret.
  • They fired their newly hired coach six weeks into the season.
  • They openly shopped their franchise player around the league, infuriating what remains of their fan base. (And, they will do it again before his no-trade kicks in July 1).
  • Their GM claimed no Montreal reporters called him about it.
  • After the season, they fired their mascot and laid off several employees in cost-cutting moves.
  • One owner is on-record as saying the franchise is looking for new investors.

And critical to this story - on deadline day, the Maple Leafs bought a draft pick from them, eating some unwanted salary in return.

When it comes to Tampa, anything is possible. The pick is available. We'll see where this goes.

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