Can’t see anyone taking on that contract. Especially for a most likely terrible pick

you need a lot more than this to get Eichel

The issue with zero cap space is if any ELC reaches their bonuses, it carries over and hurts your cap next year

Let me just say I don't envy Tampa's GM right now.

who you talking about Gourde?

No 1st rounder is terrible.

I have to say,

At least you started with Point and Cirelli

The issue is they've been giving out full NTC's like candy.

No issue with Stamkos, Kucherov and Hedman having it, they deserve it.

The problem is Johnson, Palat, Coburn, Gourde and McDonagh having full NTC's, these are secondary players and you essentially eliminate any market for them as they control their fate.

Yes

Terrible in terms of value for that horrible contract

gourdes defense is actually pretty good. his offense took a hit this year. his value isn't as low as your talking. i also wouldn't call the pick horrible. if gourde bounces back on offense that contract is a steal

Low 20’s pick in a supposedly weak draft, for a basically 29 on a 5x5 who one upon a time had 60 pts which was a potential career year. Now yes if it’s true that his defence is good and he can put up 20g 40a than sure it’s a very good deal but can’t see anyone taking that swing, especially not MTL

not a horrible deal for Eichel, definitely have seen worse

But is a late 1st worth 5 years of overpaying Gourde? Probably not.

Decent trades great work considering situation in Tampa.

Yeah he's being overpaid by 1-1.5M so over 5 years 5M-7.5M.

Marleau was a 6.25M cap dump and got moved for a 1st.

I also don't think you can automatically say it's gonna be a late 1st. Look what happened to SJS 1st.

Most on here just see Gourde's stats and usage for just this year and just assume his contract is terrible. He averages 49 points a year for his career and is just below .6 ppg overall. The final 16 games he was .69 ppg after he was elevated to the 2nd line due to injuries. His great 2 way play plus his offensive capabilities when given the minutes makes his contract hardly overpaid or terrible. His contract also becomes a 23 team m-ntc after 2 more seasons so he can also be moved rather easily before the full 5 year deal is over. Tampa will not be tossing in a 1st round pick to move his contract. Perhaps they retain a little, but this is no Marleau situation. I think Tampa plans to keep him anyway and give him the increased minutes next year unless moving him is the only option to keep the rfa's. While Gourde is valuable, if it means keeping Cirelli, Serg and Cernak, he a expendable.

Except he's really not overpaid by 1-1.5...49 points a year and ~.6 ppg for the last 3 years plus great defensive play on a 5.167 million aav is not overpaid by 1 to 1.5 million. Tampa's first will be late in 21. This team is not at the end of their window, and unless Tampa suffers several catastrophic injuries, they will be picking in no earlier than the mid to late 20's.

As far as the Eichel trade, while having Eichel would be nice, Buffalo wouldn't do it and neither would Tampa. As great of a player as he is, I doubt Tampa would give up their 1C and 2C plus their 2nd or 3rd best dman, for 1 player. This lineup is also missing a couple guys like Stephens, who is most likely Tampa's 3C moving forward. Buffalo would rightfully want an overpay for him, but Tampa's not the team to throw 3 quality guys for 1. Cap wise this is one of the few ways it could work, but I think Tampa would rather spread the money between multiple guys of quality than putting all their chips on one number.

Make no mistake Gourde and McDonagh both have negative value.

Gourde was only on pace fo 35 points this season. Sure I think he's better than that but the most recent year plays a pretty huge impact on a player's value and Tampa doesn't really have much of a choice if he says he's willing to waive his NTC. They simply don't have the cap space to wait a year and hope be rebounds before moving him out.

Yeah Buffalo would take that

Neither have negative value, and Tampa is very likely not trying to trade either. They are very likely planning on keeping Gourde and increasing his minutes, so when he very likely becomes a ~50 point player again his trade value will be even better next offseason if he is then asked to waive. This scenario also makes him easier to move to Seattle in a deal to protect certain other Tampa players if that's what Tampa is looking to do. They have plenty of options to free up cap aside from tossing a 1st round pick away with a player of Gourde's caliber for nothing. This sort of thing would be a last resort. Johnson is the far more likely player to be leaving this off season anyway, whether through trade or buy out. There is a path for Gourde to leave this off season, but only if he waives and Brisebois can negotiate a satisfactory deal with said team. Tampa could retain a small amount or add a mid to late pick/lesser prospect to even out a trade, but make no mistake, a 1st is not being added to trade Gourde, McD, or Johnson should they waive.

Point+Cirelli+McDonagh isn't getting you Jack Eichel, Plus you're still 2 players short with 0 cap. So more moves still need to be made.

(Point and Cirelli are both at worst similar to Eichel)

Marleau was for 1 year.. Gourde is for 5.