How the Lightning Could Manage Karlsson

Team: 2019-20 Tampa Bay Lightning

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 6, 2018

Published: Jul. 7, 2018

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

New Jersey has over $20 million of cap space and should have no problem taking on Callahan's cap for two years. They get a promising prospect who is competitive to make their roster immediately, a draft pick, and a veteran leader. The Devils aren't a complete mess and Callahan originally played in the New York area, so New Jersey shouldn't be on his no trade list.

The Avalanche get much needed depth scoring, in the form of both J.T. Miller (a 20 goal scorer, even on the Rangers) and Barre-Boutlet, who plays a similar game to Yanni Gourde. I'm not sure if they'd actually give up a promising prospect like that knowing that the Lightning have little leverage, but other teams would take J.T. Miller without Barre-Boutlet and it makes sense for the Avalanche.

Perhaps I'm undervaluing Karlsson here, but you can exchange Sergachev for Foote if you want, and/or add in draft picks and prospects such as Somppi. I don't think the Senators will get any more than that from anyone. The point of this was to see if they could make the cap work, not to find a fair trade deal, though, and this is how I see the trade ending up.

All of these teams know the Lightning are desperate, but J.T. Miller is not exactly a cap dump and he provides much needed depth scoring. Teams would take him without any prospect, and the addition of a prospect should make it appealing enough that the Avalanche give someone who seems NHL-caliber at some point, such as Timmins or Meloche. If not, the Lightning have Cernak to call up anyway. The Devils get Volkov and a draft pick for two years of a contract they can afford, so even though the Lightning have their hands tied, they shouldn't want that offer to go to waste. And afterwards they should have enough to deal with a Karlsson trade.

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