6:03 PM: TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the Rangers are a team that could potentially be involved as the cap facilitator. Meanwhile, Joe Smith of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that winger Ryan Callahan is in play for this move. He has a 16-team trade list.
3:28 PM: The rumor mill has been working overtime this morning on a potential Ottawa Senators-Tampa Bay Lightning trade revolving around superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson, and now Travis Yost of TSN tweets that the teams are in the process of trying to find a third party to facilitate the deal, as balancing salaries is a key part of any transaction of this magnitude. Karlsson is expected to only be traded to a team if a contract extension can be worked out, while the Lightning are not expected to be one of the teams willing to eat Bobby Ryan’s contract. That contract could be exactly why the third team needs to be involved, though Tampa Bay themselves would likely need to move out contracts to fit in a Karlsson extension.
Remember that nothing is final at this point, and since the stakes in any potential blockbuster Karlsson trade are so high things can change at any moment. Just two days ago the Dallas Stars were considered the clear front runners, though now everything seems to be pointing towards the Lightning.
Karlsson is reportedly looking for a contract extension similar to the eight-year, $88MM deal that Drew Doughty recently signed, which would put any team in a financial bind. The Lightning, who know their way around superstar contracts, could potentially fit him in since they’ve inked their other top players to reasonable extensions the last few years. Steven Stamkos ($8.5MM AAV), Victor Hedman ($7.875MM) and Ryan McDonagh ($6.75MM) have all signed relatively team-friendly deals instead of going to free agency, and though the team still needs to sign Nikita Kucherov to a mega-deal, they even have some cap space remaining for the upcoming season.
There are obvious candidates for the Lightning to move to clear more room. Ryan Callahan ($5.8MM), Tyler Johnson ($5.0MM), Alex Killorn ($4.45MM) are all expendable long-term contracts given the emergence of several young players, while Anton Stralman ($4.5MM), Braydon Coburn ($3.7MM) and Dan Girardi ($3.0MM) are defensemen on expiring contracts who could be moved out given Karlsson’s impact on the blue line. The superstar defenseman only costs $6.5MM this season, meaning jettisoning just one of the above players would give the team enough cap space to acquire him.
Remember that teams during the offseason can go up to 10%, or $7.95MM, over the salary cap ceiling but must be compliant again by the beginning of the season. Even if Tampa Bay doesn’t find a taker for one of their contracts, they could still potentially acquire Karlsson only to find a way to get under the cap ceiling by the beginning of the year.
The Rangers will gladly get involved for picks and prospects
Detroit will take bobby Ryan to help out if picks prospects come back also.
Horrible move for Detroit. They want to get rid of bad contracts.
Detroit has no cap space to work with
why would a third team get involved for Ryan? any team willing to do that would want the pieces Ottawa is looking for. young prospect or picks.
it’s likely a third team would need tongrt involved to take on a Tbay salary like Tyler Johnson or Ryan Callahan. the assets Ottawa would want is Sergachev and a 1st plus something. likely a 2nd or or prospect from a team taking on one of the TB players.
Alec killorn could be another piece they could try and move.
either way this team is going to have major issues in 2-3 years cap wise without losing one if their stars.
Ottawa will likely get little back if dumping Ryan’s albatross contract is part of the deal. The Sen get would be moving tha albatross and clearing the deck of Karlsson, so they can tank for a few seasons. The third team taking the Ryan contract will be the recipient of the mix of prospects, draft picks and large TB contract or two of useful players. Ottawa will get more of a clean slate, not goodies, if they want to rid themselves of a bad contract.
That is the dumbest philosophy to build a winning team ever…. So the sens probably believe in it
I get that they wanna get out from underneath Ryan’s contract but to give up more assets to do so seems counterproductive. Lightning have several top prospect’s, including Sergachev would be a mistake, IMO
How can 1 team have Stamkos, Hedman, mcdounah, koucherov and karalson each are making if not 8 then close to it and still have a good supporting cast with some high salaries with palat, Killorn, Johnson, brown, Callahan all making a significant amount as well
They can’t thus why a third team is necessary. it’s likely Tampa is looking to move at least one of those supporting pieces if not 2 and the sens don’t want long term high salary contracts back.
Guys like Gourde make 1 mil and score 50pts
T.B. is following the Pittsburgh blueprint it seems. A handful of high end players, fill in the gaps as they go.
wonder if they can get the isles involved. losing Tavares stings but if they can get a Johnson and stralman or both at a discount to facilitate the karlsson trade why not try. isles could use a d man this year to take dehaans spot and with only one year left it gives them a chance to get out after this season or at the deadline. Johnson would be their Tavares mini replacement but as they are a little weak down the middle it actually fits. could probably get both for a couple picks (2 and 5) just to take the salary
Devils could be the third team acquiring colburn and Ryan’s contract since they did close to nothing innfre agency
Him and his woman would be closer to Mike Hoffman and his psycho girlfriend…oh boy…
The reply from the Rangers fan under Dreger’s tweet is great…
“@Jamesfitz022
Are we like Tampa’s AHL affiliate now?”
The answer to that is a resounding YES!
Its the other way around…Tampa is Rangers South. They have (or had) Callahan, Stralman, McDonaugh, Girardi, Miller, and Brian Boyle.
With Hoffman gone, a Karlsson trade in the works, Anderson on the trade block, Ottawa is clearly entering a rebuild. If that’s the case, why on Earth move the Bobby Ryan contract? Not only does it lower your prospect return, you do still need to hit the salary floor, which will become more difficult as you move out your other pieces. If the Ryan contract is the issue, that’s the biggest indication yet that Melnyk’s tight pockets are directly hurting the team. I hope as a Sens fan, the salary balancing is in fact Tampa needing to move out some of those mid-level contracts referenced in the article.
More importantly, why on earth did they not give the Avs the 1st rounder and keep next years 1st which very well could be the 1st overall with a huge prize going #1?