Thats pretty fair, Tampa drafts Lundell who is at worse 1 year away.

exactly and Tampa also has a variety of defensemen in their system like Cal Foote and now Walsh to replace him and the Devils beef up their defensive core with a guy whos going to be on the blueline for years to come. Plus Tyler Johnson could become the Devils new Coleman except way more expensive.

Yeah normally id say it wouldnt make sense to trade the 10th overall in a deep draft but to get Sergachev, could be worth it

First off Johnson isn't waiving for the Devils, And secondly if Johnson was moved Tampa could sign Sergachev with the $5 million that they're saving on Johnson's salary.

it's not just Sergachev that needs to be signed, its also Cirelli. Plus Devils have a lot of potential and this Sergachev trade makes us that much better. I'm sure that either Killorn or Johnson would be fine going to a much younger group in NJ.

I never understand why folks think players will waive their NTC to go from a Cup contender to a non playoff team. Players aren't going to fall on the sword because their team has cap issues.

again New Jersey is a team with a lot of young talent and acquring Sergachev and Johnson just make us exponetially better especially with a high draft pick.

Exactly if Johnson were to waive it's for another cup contender. Not a cellar dweller like New Jersey.

good deal, if the coyotes don't get lucky with the picks and than we use their 2021 pick, if that happens, than we may need to swap to the 2020 devils pick, but you will get back the coyotes pick which will be for the 2021 draft

Bottom line is Johnson isn't wasting his time with the Devils, And if Julien Brisebois were fortunate to move him. With his cap savings he could afford to resign Sergachev.

If a player knows he can play top 6 with another team and get over 18-20 minutes a night where he is playing bottom 6 and 12-14 minutes a night with his current team they would consider waiving for an inferior team. Not saying they would go to a bottom dweller but they would waive for teams not as good as their current team if it meant playing top 6 role again or for the first time.

So Tampa doesn't have young talent.? In Johnson' case he has five years till he's UFA. How many years will take NJ just to make the playoff in the Metro division or Eastern Conference? Players have NTC/MMCs for a reason.

You bring up a good point about a NTC being "waived", meaning Johnson for example might accept a trade to team more to his choice than taking his chance on claimed by a non so likeable team.
I'm wondering if the current edition of Johnsson is good value at 5m X5 years

We have potential, yes....but we are still 3 or so years away from competing for the Cup.

No deal from Tampa, Sergachev is part of the plan for both now and the future. If there's a Tampa rfa that has to be moved, it's Cernak and even then seems doubtful. Tampa is in win now mode but also looking to be a top 5 team past the next year or two. No reason to trade a 22 year old top 4 now and potential top pairing defenseman for a lottery ticket and one solid prospect. Tampa traded away picks and prospects to add proven roster players, they have no reason to trade young and good roster players for future maybes. Even if an ntc doesn't waive, there's a solid chance of a cbo if the cap stays flat or drops slightly. If that happens Tampa is fine and if the cap does still end up rising then Tampa can also make it work. Players take less to stay here with a great team, great organization, good location and less taxes. Hard to see these rfa's choosing to leave such a great spot for a little extra $. If Tampa was still a few years away, I could see something like this, but not with the position that Tampa is in now.

This to me sums up the NTC debate. What it allows for the player is the ability to pick their next team for the most part. I remember in 2017 the Lightning tried to move Filppula along with Boyle to the Leafs but he rejected the trade outright with his NTC, even though he had a NTC he did give Yzerman 8 teams who he would be traded to with the Flyers being one so Yzerman made a deal and moved him there. He gave an interview to the local media and said that its a business and he understood the team no longer had him in there plans but he did not want to go to Canada so he said no but was okay going to the 8 team list he gave where he knew he had a chance to play good minutes. I personally don't think its hard to move a NTC player if they know they are not wanted. The next option if they don't waive for a team of their liking is for the current team to put them on waivers and any team can claim them (no way they want that to happen), but lets say it does then if they are not claimed would they report to the AHL? So say they don't report to the AHL their contract can be terminated like what happened to Bogosian and its wiped off the current teams cap which is what they wanted and the player is free to sign elsewhere at that point. But why get your contract terminated if a team is willing to take it on and play you as you probably won't get the same amount of the current contract. This is why the NMC is more powerful it takes away the threat of waiver so those players have even more say in where they play.

After this year Johnson has 4yrs at 5M. He is still a top 6 center on quite a few teams and would be a 50 point player in that role. His ice time with the Lightning has dropped to 14 and a half minutes this year as the3C due to Cirelli's ascension so I would think he would waive for a team to get top 6 minutes and a team in need of a top 6 50 point center on a fair contract would take him on. Not saying he is the one to go for the Lightning but he is a candidate for sure.

issue is Tampa has to sign both Cirelli and Sergachev. Cirelli could get as high as 6 million because of how much he is an elite defensive centre and Sergachev could get 7-8. Tampa doesn't have that kind of money.

To be honest there is so many variables at play to know how it will play out but the player has to want to leave to sign an offer, the team will exhaust all its resources to try and move other players so they can re-sign their young core, and based on what I have read lately and an interview Chris Johnston gave a lot of players and agents are looking at possible doing 1-2 year deals right now so they can maximize their next contract once we are past the virus, the bump from seattle starting and the new american television contract starts.

Except neither is getting close to those figures and they already know that. Rfa's in Tampa have taken less on a bridge for many years to keep a top team going year after year. Cirelli and Serg know how things work in Tampa so when both sign for a combined 9 to 9.5 million(4.5 to 4.75 for Serg, 4.25 to 4.5 for Cirelli), no one in Tampa will be surprised while fans of teams that severely overpay players will once again be whining about how unfair it is for Tampa.