Wings pass, not giving up a 2nd round pick during a rebuild for a 30 year old center making a ton of money on a decline. If you want wings to take tj, then the lighting add to the deal for us to take that cap hit

It all comes down to which team is willing to take high-ish salaries for (admittedly, great) players and if those players will waive their trade protection to go there.

Depends on if Palat, gourde, and Johnson will waive , which I doubt they will chose to leave Tampa for Detroit, Florida, and LA all teams that are rebuilding

Kings have one of the best center prospect pools in the league (which will only get deeper after selecting Byfield or Stutzle), I don't think they need Gourde or his large cap hit.

You moved 3 guys with full NTCs. Johnson will be easier said than done, and won't be to Detroit. Even if he agrees to 5 teams he'll waive for, Tampa is sending a big asset back with him. All 3 will probably want to go to a contender in a warm location after living in Florida for so long.

If they can move out some cap, Vegas will probably take Gourde or Johnson with a big big sweetener. They could use a C for the power play.

I'm not even a Tampa fan, was more just making an example of the kind of trade they could do.

Side note: you actually only have so much room in your organization to sign prospects and develop them. A 2nd may be to rich (though I intentionally traded a mid 2nd (Edmonton's should be high 40s) for a high 4th ( high 90s) on purpose. At some point you are going to want to bring in some still skilled vets to help your youth develop. Maybe you're not there yet, but acquiring a guy for pennies on teh dollar will make sense. To be clear not necessarily this trade, but getting a guy like Johnson or Killorn for dirt cheap acquisition cost for 2-3 years is likely a good move this year or the next.

Who know's what they want. Two of the three are going to nice weather locales. Players do want to win, but they also want to be involved. Playing more may appeal to some.

But if no waiving, then I guess its buyout city?

I don't see why it should take a sweetener to get him. If he didn't have the NTC, he would be a reasonably valuable asset. A 30 year old top 6 player, who can play all three forward positions signed for a fair deal, not too expensive not too cheap for a few years.

With the NTC, Tampa loses a lot of leverage, but not so much they should have to pay to get rid of them. Unless Johnson makes it so hard on them that its just one team, if there is even two teams interested if the other team is trying to make Tampa Bay pay, I'd happily swing in as the other team and take him for neutral costs.

Tried something similar yesterday, couldn't get to cap compliant with Cernak at 2.25, Serg at 4.25 and Cirelli at 4.25, TB will have to find away to move 2 of their 5 million NTC contracts or look at moving the 3 RFAs or dare I say it move Point or Stammer

I hear ya but we aren't there yet and we are still getting our rebuild underway. For now we have plenty of vets over the next 2 years signed and will be acquiring more via trades (weaponize the cap space). As an example Loui, Steen, bozak, stepan, boychuck, komarov, jj, staal, smith, baertschi, Sutter). Any of these guys could be red wings and we will gain assets by taking their cap hits and use them for their veteran leadership over the next 1-2 seasons

NJD passes
DET passes
LAK probably passes

In order to sign Sergachev, Cirelli, and Cernak, they're likely going to need to move Johnson, Killorn, and Gourde. Tall order considering all three have NTCs.

If things become desperate and none of those guys are willing to waive their NTCs, they could always put them on waivers. I suspect there would be takers for all three of them. It would be rough to lose all three of them without any return compensation, but it's a better option than losing one of Sergachev or Cirelli.

dead cap is not smart if Tampa really wants to contend. The alternative if these guys don't waive is trading Cierreli and Sergachev

Out of curiosity why did you not mention Palat?

I am not sure that would really work either, maybe I'll have a look at that. Now I'm curious.

I think they're okay if they trade Cirelli, Sergachev, and 1 of killorn/johnson/gourde/palat. the odds of getting one of those guys to waive to another contender is a lot higher and more realistic than banking on all 4 or 3 of 4 waiving. For example killorn to MTL or COL makes some sense

I think Palat is the least likely to move. Gourde and Johnson are top priority since their play wasn't great this season. Killorn had a good season, but he's the only guy that doesn't have a full NTC, so he's the most likely to actually get a return. Palat is two years younger than Killorn, has fewer years remaining on his contract, and has a full NTC. He's also had a fantastic playoff so far, arguably the best among the four guys mentioned here. You can add Palat to the list if you want, but I think he's the least likely to be moved.