Hockey wise only this is a yes and you figure out the protection plan as this season plays out. Moneywise it’s tough.

How highly rated is Foote? Is Jones and a 3rd for Foote a solid trade for ANA? Could always just take the deal and then flip the 1st for SEA to take Johnson since they won’t have the cap restraints of the rest of the league. That would give the ducks 2 RD for the future and keep all of the cap space for 21-22 at the expense of Jones and a 3rd.

I don't think Tampa can afford to lose Foote. Even with expansion, Coleman is going to be a UFA so Seattle won't take him. If they want him it'll be signed as a UFA not exp draft. So Tampa can go 4 and 4.

As for the trade. If I'm Tampa and it's anyone other than Foote then it's a deal. But since it's Foote. They just have so little depth of the Blueline I just don't see it happening.

Henrique
Rakell
Silf
Terry
Lundestrom
Steel
Jones/Heinen/Milano......? Is there a way to weaponize this protection spot? Trade and trade back for a pick or something?

Fowler
Lindholm
Manson

Gibson

Shattenkirk is probably old for Seattle to take. Especially since they're going to have a plethora of Blueline options available to them.

Anaheim's roster is in a good enough place that whoever they lose outside of the above is probably fine enough. You'd only make a deal with Seattle if you absolutely have to.

Just wanted to point out that Tampa wouldn't do this anyway. Jones has shown he isn't going to do much offensively. Tampa already has Goodrow, Gourde, Coleman line to shut down the opponents plus Maroon and Paquette on the 4th line. Foote will probably end up being the Lightning's 4th or 5th defender this season and he's on a ELC. Lightning can protect (assuming Killorn and Johnson get traded) Kucherov, Point, Stamkos, Palat, Cirelli, Coleman, and ABB (or someone else) on offense and on defense Hedman, Sergachev, Cernak/Foote. Then they expose...
Cernak/Foote
Gourde
Paquette
Maroon
McDonagh
Katchouk
Raddysh
Joseph
Goodrow
McElhinney
etc.
Then to be sure I keep Cernak and Foote I'd let Seattle have 2 of the young forwards or give them ABB/1st this year to take McDonagh.

if TB is willing, then ANA should.

I don't think TB is in position to trade Foote, but if he's on the block, that means TB is in real trouble.
Their defense will be wrecked, but on the plus side, maybe after they trade Foote the penguins can trade them Ceci.

If I'm Seattle and Coleman is available I'm taking him. They can try to resign and if not some team would probably give them a late pick to have early rights to try to sign him. Then again if Foote or Cernak is available idk. Good forwards are still more valuable in the expansion draft.

Either way I don't think Tampa protects him. I think Tampa is upfront about what they are willing to offer him and then they just see what he does. Kinda like they did with Stamkos a few years ago.

I don't think Tampa will be able to afford him. He's gonna have a bunch of suitors and one of them I probably gonna overpay.

Just as a side note, if I’m Tampa right now I probably protect 8 guys: Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, Cirelli, Hedman, Sergachev, Cernak, Foote. I saw someone mention protecting Coleman but he’s a UFA. All of Tampa’s other middle six forwards would likely just be exposed (and a guy like Palat probably ends up taken) and they don’t really have any notable fringe guys coming up (no prospects with definitive top line upside atm). Given they already won a cup, losing a skill guy like Palat is a bullet they can afford to eat to keep the core intact, and it would ease their cap room too. Foote’s ability to likely step into the top 4 fairly soon on an ELC and eventually a bridge contract that is likely affordable (best case scenario Carlo deal?) provides too much value over the coming years for Tampa to lose imo. Better to protect 8, including Foote, and lose a guy like Palat, than to lose Foote to protect Palat, Gourde, and like Stephens or something (Tampa does have a wealth of guys that are in their early 20s and will be able to fill depth roles over the coming years, as long as the main slots are filled by forwards as dominant as the 4 they’d protect).

With that being said, if Tampa was willing to part with Foote to dump Johnson, I would take this deal id I’m most teams in the league (from a Sens POV I’d accept and if I was a Ducks fan I would take it too). TJ is still a solid contributor if you have the cap space, the 1st is a nice asset, and a right shot defensively reliable prospect that projects as a top 4 D within 1-2 seasons is an asset any team would love to have. I won’t comment on skaters because I don’t know Anaheim that well (outside of the obvious ones like RikRak ofc) but if you did trade for Foote I would 100% protect him one way or another, otherwise Seattle is likely to pounce. I think Anaheim is a team where it’s too early to look at protections as they should really be sellers this year. I don’t know how Ducks fans feel, but Manson is a guy you would probably want to protect if he’s on your team, but because the Ducks are not good, he should be trade bait as that is an asset worth a significant amount that you can probably get a lot for at the deadline (he would likely cost a 1st or 2nd plus more, which is the kind of significant package you look to acquire for some of your older roster players when you’re in a rebuild). I’m sure there are a couple other guys that likely won’t be Ducks at the end of the year as well that might have been in the protection conversation. In terms of a side deal, Vegas set the precedent as at least an equal value package. So if you wanted to protect and extra forward and an extra D, it would cost the player you let them take+assets that make the package worth the same as those 2 players. I don’t know what this value would be, but if Foote is the “4th” guy you’re technically leaving available I’d have to think at least a high 3rd, maybe a 2nd, would be involved to entice Seattle to take another player.

If any of this has been mentioned before mb, didn’t read the whole thread lol, Ducks fans I’m sure know more about who they’d protect than I do anyway, the main point of this was the blurb on my opinion from Tampa’s perspective.

[Sixth intelligent response] Foote could play this season, especially for Anaheim in the bottom pairing

[Seventh intelligent response] Perhaps Tampa can't afford to lose Foote, but they also have Hedman, Sergachev and Cernak, plus MccDonagh, so protecting all of them, or even four of them, is going to be difficult.

[Eighth intelligent response] Absolutely spot on re Tampa protecting 4 forwards and 4 defensemen. I think that they're probably safe in exposing McDonagh due to his contract, but you never know.

Ngl, losing McDonagh might be best case scenario. He’s good now, but that contract could be ugly later, and are you really complaining about a top 4 of Hedman, Cernak, Sergachev, and Foote anyway? You have the cap to sign a more than capable 5D from the bargain bin (like next year’s Vatanen or Hamonic) to keep solid depth back there and still be able to keep Coleman and Goodrow for your 3rd line. He might be exposed for the same reason I think Calgary might expose Gio—you want the guy on your team, but the cap room could be more valuable and mitigates the risk of losing him.

I know the point of this thread kinda revolves around it but please, please let’s not relive idea #3. As said earlier up the thread, no expansion deals this time around. Bob Murray awarding Vegas a draft exempt stud in Theodore all because his dumb arse gave Bieksa a NMC should not happen this time around. But something tells me it’s going to. Manson will probably be left unprotected again because of the Shattenkirk signing and Murray will offer up Comtois or Tracey or Dostal or something to protect those 12 skaters.