Why leave where you love?

They need to loose another salary of 5+-7 million.

What team would he be the top prospect on? Or are you saying the top goalie prospect because those are two wildly different things. I brought this up pre-WJC and every TB fan said wait till WJC well I did and didn’t see their point on Hugo’s performance on a team that focuses on defense. I’m not even sure he’d beat out Pez for Detroit and we suck at drafting goalies.

If you spent the last 12 years in sunny Tampa, love it why leave for (no offense to Seattle but the weather does suck) Seattle. Why leave a team that is the best run team in North America according to ESPN anyway

In weaker systems like SJS, STL, VGK, BOS he could conceivably be a top prospect. Its all subjective.
I like Bordeleau more, Krebs is obivous, and I'm not counting Studnicka as a prospect as hes got NHL time.
Idk the STL system well but I'd assume hes brighter than Hofer and Im mixed on Kostin - but I could see him being their top guy (I cant remember who they drafted in 2020 if they had a pick; Im blanking).

But just those 4 teams alone he either has a case to be their top prospect (SJS and VGK hes not imo), but close. And STL and BOS I believe he would be (unless I'm forgetting someone which I obviously can be).

The point being; if Seattle wont take it. If Im SJS Id take a first and a prospect. If Tampa is willing to do Colton, Raddysh/BB/Katchouk and a protected first I'd take that offer and I'm assuming TBL would to. No retention on TJ. and wed send back a useable depth player like Nieto (UFA rights obv) plus a prospect with NHL depth caliber like Gregor or Kellman who can play right now in their bottom 6.

But you said “ Alnefelt is Tampas best prospect - but he'd also be near the best if not the best on most teams.” Hugo doesn’t touch a first round pick looking at prior trades like Lehner (Ottawa to Buffalo), Bernier (LA to Toronto), and Andersen (Van to Toronto) those are the big ones from the top of my head with a proven track record. So your essentially saying teams that don’t have a prospect worth a first round draft pick, are there some teams that fit criteria? Maybe but doubtful as goalies don’t carry much weight. So looking at the two teams you said he might (STL & BOS) oddly enough I did a little research on STL as I just moved there and they have Neighbours as their top prospect and he’s worth a bit more than Hugo. Boston if you don’t count Studnicka, might honestly be Swayman or Vladar whom are both superior to Hugo. I don’t mean to belittle Hugo but rather point out he isn’t in some elite tier like Knight, Askarov, Wallstedt and the hype train has been on him for a bit.

You need to lose like 12 million or you won't be able to ice a competitive team. You're 4 million over the cap with no back up goaltender and six other spots to fill. Don't be disingenuous.