Guys TB has no interest in trading Mikail Sergachev, Eric Cernak

Take out Sergachev and the Lightning still decline

That's funny and true

I agree Tampa isn't really going to be inclined to trade Sergachev, but don't you think Sergachev is getting tired of playing well below his pay grade on the third pairing? I'm sure he loves the Tampa Bay lifestyle, but don't you think he could request a trade at some point if his on ice responsibilities don't increase? If he doesn't start getting to play ahead of Ryan McDonagh at the very least? Look, at least a started the trade with a first round pick

You're making the assumption he's a me first guy. He gets about the same TOI as Cernak with his pp time. He's paid well (not great) TB has several guys who could make substantially more elsewhere, but love playing together and winning Cups

What's he going to do refuse to play as he said 3 days ago he's the youngest guy on the team which means he really doesn't have much of a choice until he is eligible for UFA status which is 4 years away

If Tampa Bay's days as a winning team seem to be waning, I can see guys like Sergachev, Cernak, and Cirelli starting to think more about themselves and their own individual playing future's. I can see all three of those guys not wanting to commit long-term to the organization and instead forcing 1 or 2 year deals from arbitration when they all go back to RFA status in two seasons, which will walk each of them to unrestricted free agency much faster. I say all this because Tampa Bay's Stanley Cup window is on now, and has been for the last three seasons or so. In two years when these three guys are up for new deals, the Lightning's competitive future is going to be a lot less certain, especially with how tight their salary cap situation is. These guys will be just entering the primes of their careers, and I don't see any of them wanting to spend the bulk of their prime years playing for a rebuilding team. If those guys can get more money by signing with other teams, then good for them, that's an added bonus

What makes you think their close to not being a top flight team
They have the best Goalie in the world ( according to Rod Brind A'more) a top 6 forwards group as good as any team in the league a top 5 blue line in the league . This teams isn't going down any time soon

Kucherov is signed 6 more years Point 9 hedman 4 more years Vasileskiy 7 this team is going deep in playoffs for many years to come.
TB is a Factory of drafting and developing forwards so much so they have to let really good ones walk away regularly See Johnathan MARCHESSAULT and Carter Veheghe as 2 examples.

True, but guys like Stamkos, Hedman, McDonagh, even Palat and Killorn are getting older, and the team is not as deep as they were last year after they had to let go of their entire third line of Gourde, Goodrow, and Coleman. With limited salary cap, I just don't see how the Lightning can replace the depth they had to let go of to stay cap compliant. Their third line this season is projected to consist of Ross Colton, Matthieu Joseph, and Corey Perry, which is still good, but it's nothing compared to the Gourde, Goodrow, and Coleman line. This team may still be good for the foreseeable future, but they are definitely no longer on an upward trajectory. This team can only hope to stand their ground with what they've got now

Kucherov, Vasilevskiy, and Point will still be around, but other core guys like Cirelli, Sergachev, and Cernak are only going to become more expensive, and the three of them are going to all need new contracts before the club has moved on from the likes of Hedman and McDonagh

The Lightning have proven all they have needed to prove in my opinion, so if I'm Julien Brisbois, I'm looking towards the distant future and the teams future core, because as the current core of players get older, the days of salvaging such high levels of surplus value are starting to move into the rearview mirror

If the Lightning are as well managed as everyone says they are, then they won't spend/waste any more time preparing for and committing to a rebuild than they have to. Even during your contention window, you can't afford to be short-sighted

You're grotesquely underestimating Tampa Bay's ability at drafting and developing players like Ross Colton, Mathieu Joseph, Taylor Raddysch Alex Barre-Boulet Boris Katchouk, or guys they had to let go like Carter Veheghe or Jonathan MARCHESSAULT
Have you not seen how players take less to stay working for best organization in sports(according to ESPN the last 5 years ) ESPN hasn't been real hockey centric company until maybe this year.

Guys like Ross Colton, Matthieu Joseph, Taylor Raddysch, Alex Barre-Boulet, and Boris Katchouk are all nice players, don't get me wrong, but are any of them all-star or superstar talent? I don't think so. Ross Colton and Matthieu Joseph, the best of that bunch project as middle of the lineup players on a good team like Tampa. If what you say comes to be, then the Lightning won't be drafting high in each of the seven rounds for a while, let alone the first round to pick up the best talent, but I suppose that is a moot point, seeing where they picked guys like Kucherov, Point, and Palat

Anyways, I fully recognize how players are taking less to play for the Lightning do to the more friendly tax system, but I'm not going to let that factor overshadow how up tight against the salary Cap the team is. The team will continue to score great amounts of surplus value from their stars, but I'm just not sure if it will be enough to stay competitive for as long as you are suggesting they will be

There is a reason why teams go through competitive cycles. When a team is competitive, they often trade away draft picks to acquire additional assets that help them immediately (which Tampa Bay has done a LOT of), and what draft picks you do have, you draft later in each of the respected rounds, picking up the lesser talent than the weaker teams. When a team isn't competitive, they can look to trade away players who are either in their prime or the back end of their careers for draft picks and future assets to rebuild the team from ground up and develop rich core of home grown players

I don't think it's realistic to believe that even a team like Tampa Bay in all their favourable financial circumstances that they will be able to move on seamlessly from their older core players like Stamkos, Hedman, and McDonagh, and stay competitive without having to do some deliberate tearing down and building back up. We've all seen how trying to rebuild on the fly just doesn't work

Look at teams like Los Angeles and Chicago, they've all had good management the last decade for the most part, but they didn't shy away from committing to deliberate rebuilding's of each of their respective rosters after they won their cups

I don't blame you for disagreeing, but if you had bothered to read the other comments in this section, you would see that we are trying to have an informative debate about this trade proposal, and you aren't adding anything productive to it. If you would at the very least just say that it's an underpay on Vancouver's end, that would be fine. Think about that for next time please

JM was originally undrafted and then signed with Columbus and Veheghe was drafted by the Leafs, not entirely the best case of draft and developed the player They do have great team and some amazing talents and some of the best moves they made was drafting Vas and Hedman. That being said, drafting guys in the first round and developing them is good, but you would be better to highlight the success with Point and Kucherov who weren't round 1 highly touted players.

CV and JM were both developed by TB kuch and point were too obvious. Cirelli 2 Colton 4 Joseph 4 Palat 7

It’s not an underpay it’s an insult, aswell as the fact that your hatred for tampa is so blinding that you have to force your option down everybody’s throats, every time someone says that Myers has no value and that sergchev would fetch much more you start this delusional argument that tampa is falling off and that cernak,Cirelli and sergachev want out 🤣🤣. Yes because winning back to back cups instantly means your team of superstars all in their primes and signed long term means you are falling off

Fair on Kuch and Point - I just don't entirely buy the JM and Carter one - sure some AHL time and both played less than 55 games for the NHL club. The scouts clearly saw something they liked, but not sure we can attribute their success to Tampa. Ross Colton looks good, it will be nice to see how he develops for sure.

AHL is the development area

Yeah it is, but a stretch, just don't think that it was the key to their success as any farm and junior league is considered development no matter what team it is.

Vermette timmonen, desjardins,TVR, 3 were very important TVR NOT SO MUCH.

Sorry was meant to someone else.

My point is TB leaves guys in there and develope them there better than most if not all