No because the Canes wouldn’t give Cat that contract

I think this a bad trade for Ottawa. Individually speaking, DeBrincat > Pesce, and Brännström and Thomson are also both better than the rest of the pieces OTT gets here.

My counter suggestion if DeBrincat+Thomson for Pesce+Teräväinen (partly retained).

Canes owner is notoriously cheap, but imo it's a market value offer for Cat. It ain't an overpayment.

This is a tired narrative. How is he cheap when he spends over the cap consistently? There’s a difference in being cheap and sticking to a valuation process strictly.

Now idk if they would give Cat that deal but I don’t see a reason they wouldn’t if they can come to terms on an extension and a trade.

Was thinking Cat may take a little under his potential value at 8m given the situation in Carolina but I could see why Carolina would still be apprehensive.

Why do you think that?

Cuz they offer cheap contracts to their star players. 8 x 6,25 for Aho for instance, not willing to go over 4 mil for TDA last year, Svech is also fairly underpaid, good on him on getting that contract signed. They are pretty cheap, but it's not inherently a bad thing.

They tried to get Aho on an 8 year deal out of RFA and his camp wanted a shorter deal so he could cash in again, so the OS happened. TDA was a bad decision? Svech they signed early and the deal is paying off. They’re a shrewd front office who sticks to their guns. Not overpaying players does not equal being cheap.

Shrewd or cheap...plenty of ways to interpret how they act - especially if the end result ends up being the same in either case. And as I said, it's not inherently a bad thing to be cheap.

Sometimes I as a Stars fan hope Nill was one, but nah, he's willing to offer riches for vets that do not deserve them...looking at Suter here, and potentially Blake Wheeler if the rumors are to be believed.

For the record, I love the player…but I think the Canes are scared off my committing long term money to two small RWers.