Need to take a breath and think this one through

Team: 2020-21 Vegas Golden Knights

Initial Creation Date: Sep. 17, 2020

Published: Sep. 17, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

If moving Flower is going to cost us $3.5M in retention, or a high draft pick sweetener, or even a buyout....what the hell are we doing? He's a very very capable goalie and will continue to be a great #1 for us. And he'll be motivated! And we all love him!

If Edmundson fetched a 5th as a UFA, I have to think Lehner could fetch us at least a 3rd. So what's wrong with keeping Flower and getting a 3rd rounder to send Lehner to Carolina (or wherever)? This would also allow us to somewhat control where Lehner goes. If we buy out Flower and he proceeds to sign with Colorado or Calgary or Edmonton....guess who we have to potentially face in the playoffs? And you just know Flower will find a way to stick it to us.

It seems like this goalie headache can go away just like that. Do I like Lehner? Of course. Would he be great for us? Of course. But at what cost? Why cripple ourselves?

And in two years when Flower maybe calls it quits there's going to be another goalie that we can pursue. But it's going to be hard to pursue anybody if we are paying Flower for 4 years to play for someone else.

#don'toverthinkthisKelly

(I stopped my roster below at 22 bodies and $6.9M space....but lots of deals will be out there as other teams will be dumping players so this could easily be a 23 man roster with $5M+ in space. How sweet will it be to have cap space, especially when the other teams have to get roster-ready for the expansion draft next year and may wish to lean on us.)