The loss of McDonagh is going to hurt the Lightening big time on defence.

Yes i anticipate JBB to aquire a Dman to do damage control it will be a downgrade but it is a salary cap world sadly there has to be sacrifice.

Not sure pool party is the answer mid to long term. I feel pretty good that Palat is getting extended. Friedman hasn't been that reliable as of late and not that much leaks out of Tampa.

Yeah, trade for Kulikov or Hague, or could look to sign Cole, Kulak, etc. Several decent 3LD options for Tampa .

LD is usually cheeper so i'd imagine the price range would probably be 1-2 million for our new LHD which is appropriate market cost for 13-14 mins a night max considering sergachev will be picking up bigger mins next season which is why tampa wants to extend serg before season starts so his agent has less leverage for $$$

I think the lightning may trade 1-2 prospects plus a future pick(s) for a penalty killing specialist if the ufa market isn't appealing to jbb

That's a pretty weak offer for Poolparty

I don't think palat stays sadly however I think underrated Nick Paul will be the replacement for palat with that number is intriguing

If theres a guy on the board CHI are high on, I could see this sort of move to climb the draft board.

I don't think Nick Paul is a top 6 replacement for Palat. If they let him walk, they will need to trade/acquire a real top 6 winger. It's bad enough they lost McD for nothing, but understand the move. They can still pay Palat as much as 5.6ish by running 21 instead of 22, buying out Myers, re-signing Rutta for 2 million and signing/trading for a 3LD around 2 or a little over(Kulikov at 2.25 would be about the max). Losing Palat for nothing in favor of keeping Killorn and hoping Paul is his replacement, all while no longer having a top 3 defense(maybe top 10 now), is a recipe for a 1st, maybe 2nd round exit.

Want Jake McCabe?

As I have said all along if Palat were willing to take a Club friendly deal it would already be done.