The Tampa Bay Lightning may have fallen just short in their attempt to win a third straight Stanley Cup, but that hasn’t stopped them from doubling down on some of the players that got them there, and they started earlier this week with a seven-year extension for playoff hero Nick Paul. While defenseman Ryan McDonagh could be on the move, it seems as though that move would be motivated by the team’s desire to keep another important playoff performer: Ondrej Palat. Palat is one of the Lightning’s ultimate success stories, a seventh-rounder who developed to the point of being among coach Jon Cooper’s most trusted players. Palat is a pending unrestricted free agent, and GM Julien Brisebois has already made public his desire to sign Palat to an extension.
Earlier this week, The Athletic’s Joe Smith took a look (subscription link) at what a potential Palat extension could look like, and concluded that another team could very well offer Palat a long-term contract worth more than $5MM per year. But, according to Smith, even in the face of those offers “the Lightning are absolutely going to try to keep Palat.” The decision on whether he remains in Tampa “will likely rest in [Palat’s] hands” as he’ll have to decide if he’s willing to take a potentially lower offer in order to remain with the only franchise he’s ever known.
Now, for some other notes regarding teams in the Atlantic Division:
- The Senators want to improve their team for next season, with the goal of potentially competing for a playoff spot in 2022-23. That much is no secret, and Ottawa indicated that would be their team’s direction earlier this year, when they traded a mid-round draft pick in order to acquire a veteran defenseman in Travis Hamonic. But while we know they want to improve their team, what we don’t know is exactly how they’ll go about doing so. According to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia, the Senators are looking to add a “high-end winger” and a “top-four defenseman” as their main priorities for this offseason. Luckily for the Senators, there are high-end wingers and top-four defensemen on the market this summer, although acquiring them through free agency could prove to be a challenge as Ottawa has not traditionally been among the most desirable markets for free agents. The Senators have been dangling the seventh-overall pick in trade talks, though, so perhaps that pick holds the key to the Senators acquiring the players they desire.
- Perhaps the single greatest factor the Senators have going in their favor as they seek to improve their team is their advantageous cap position. In a league where most teams are walking a salary cap tightrope, the Senators have over $20MM in projected cap space. Per Garrioch, they’d like to grow that number, and one avenue they’re considering is a move for goaltender Matt Murray. Murray is making $6.25MM against the cap for the next two seasons and the Senators already have found their number-one goalie for that time frame in Anton Forsberg. Garrioch reports that the Senators have talked about “packaging” Murray’s contract with the seventh-overall pick in order to clear his cap hit off their books. While Garrioch does note that such a scenario would need to bring the Senators a “strong return” in exchange, one does have to wonder if the cap relief trading Murray would provide could be considered part of a satisfactory “strong return.”
Would be kinda funny if a team in need of goaltending trade for Murray and signed MAF to be the 1B. I’m a Leafs fan so how about Muzzin and Nylander for #7 and Murray.
Nah, you got to figure that the Leafs would go all in, and send Tavares, a first rounder, and a couple of top prospects from the Marlies for Murray. And a 7th rounder, of course.
I mean, seriously?? The Sens’ll have to pay someone to take Murray, and trading Tkachuk just is not going to happen. (Why would Ottawa *want* Muzzin, anyway?)
IMHO, the team that ought to take Murray off of Ottawa’s hands is Buffalo. They have the cap space, they’ve got the need for SOMEone in net who’s liable to outplay their incumbents.
I meant the 7th overall pick, not Tkachuk.
it’s still an awful trade regardless
Not with that caveat. Murray and the #7 pick for Nylander and Muzzin? I’d take that in a shot as a pure hockey trade, if I was the Ottawa GM. (Hell, I’d take that in a shot for Nylander alone.) Even in obvious decline, Muzzin would be great as a mentor for a young D-corps, until I flipped him at the trade deadline to a contender.
What TORONTO gets out of it I don’t know. The Murray that saved the Cup for Pittsburgh, they would want. The Murray who’s been playing the last few seasons, hell no. That #7 pick MIGHT be an elite player; Nylander already is one. Never mind that Muzzin has a full no-trade clause.
Toronto gets salary relief to sign the RHD they desperately need, a shot at a rebound season for Murray, and a potential elite prospect to replenish their system a bit. Could even make an offer for Evander Kane as a FA to replace Nylander. Admittedly it’s not likely to happen, but I see benefits and risk on both sides.
so the chance Murray bounces back and the chance a pick becomes something. that’s a lot of chance for a proven player in nylander.
you’d have a better chance of seeing muzzin for Murray S/U if The sens eat 1M
Muzzin for Murray makes some sense, but not a whole lot; the argument for unloading Murray is to save cap space, after all, and if it’s a salary-neutral flip, how does this benefit Ottawa?
this is why the Murray to Toronto talk is dumb as the leafs are in the same boat
Yeah. Toronto’s under immense pressure to win the Cup, never mind merely to go deep in the playoffs. The GTA fan base would crucify them for going for a high-priced crap shoot goalie like Murray.
The taxes are way different in Florida and Texas. For I stance I remember when radulaov left for dal. TSN said his 7 mil per deal is equal to 11 from the habs. So 4 from Tampa for Palat is 5.25+ somewhere else, I say stay there. Stay happy take the 4 per there
I know Buffalo is going to struggle getting to the salary floor, but how close is Ottawa? If they were to dump Murray, would they need to make a corresponding move to get back to the floor?
the sens are looking to spend this off-season and have youngsters needing extension.
trading Murray is just to get out of that contract to put the funds to better use
Yeah, they have five more contracts to fill out at the NHL level — dumping Murray just gives them the option of going after a high stakes free agent such as Gaudreau or Kadri, or being able to pick up a couple midrangers at $5MM AAV or so. They’re at the cap floor as it stands.
But they do have to be careful. A bunch of their key guys are out of contract in 2023: Stuetzle, Brown, Formenton, Zub. They can’t go nutso this offseason.
Murry (retain$.5M) for Mrazek + Holl????
why?
You tell me, that is why the “?????” bad contract for worse contract + a player that Toronto is iffy on, the salaries are near even.
apart from the OHL connection, I don’t get why the leafs would give up a depth defenseman and mrazek if the sens are only eating 500k. I’m not even sure I’d want Murray at the same price point as mrazek one for one