Lightning vs Detroit 1PM

[Kizman]

Stephen's aint getting his job back. Colton seized the day for sure....may give JBB another option to deal at deadline.

[DrejDay24]

Agreed. Colton has found a productive niche on that line and is far superior in productivity with the limited time that 4th line gets. It's a line skilled above the matchups 4th lines get presented with. Similarly to how we couldn't break up Goodrow/Gourde/Coleman last season, it'd be kinda dumb to break up Joseph/Colton/Maroon at this point.

[Hoek]

Whoops forgot to make the thread. Busy day! Vasi still perfect at home. Is this the best 4th line we've ever had?

[Puckhead]

Joseph is gaining confidence and speed. And, like 37, doesn’t take any guff.

[Kizman]

Here's a thought...What happens if Kuch is ready before the regular season ends...how does that work with the cap? Also, who sits?

[Hoek]

It doesn't work with the cap, so they will find excuses not to play him like conditioning.

Ideally, Johnson sits but who knows if they'll actually carry through with that.

[Kizman]

It doesn't work with the cap, so they will find excuses not to play him like conditioning.

Ideally, Johnson sits but who knows if they'll actually carry through with that.

I agree...conditioning or a set back...TJ should sit. Can he be traded? Can't remember the specifics of his trade clauses.

[Hoek]

I agree...conditioning or a set back...TJ should sit. Can he be traded? Can't remember the specifics of his trade clauses.

Technically he can, and he did give a list of teams he was willing to be traded to before the season, but doubtful he would waive his NTC now or that we find a taker. (Bolthed will fervently attest to the opposite view, however!)

[goldenbolt]

I agree...conditioning or a set back...TJ should sit. Can he be traded? Can't remember the specifics of his trade clauses.

Who would want an albatross of a +5 mil contract? If he was a 1.5 - 2.5 contract we might find some takers but he would have already been gone and Verhague would still be here.
We all love Yzerman but he gave out 5mil contracts with no trades like a vendor at the local Costco giving you free samples on the weekend.
Also, let's remember hindsight is always perfect and although some were concerned with the length/price of contract it seemed ok at that moment in time for most.
But much of this grief is also part of the Covid world we live in today. No cap increases when every team is losing millions of dollars with limited fans in the seats.
I suspect we get out of his contract via buyout come this summer. Maybe we get some help via the Seattle entry only time will tell. Who do we protect and who do we hope to dump.....

GoBolts

[Donnie D]

Bolthed has stated that he hopes that JBB and TJ modified the contract to allow him to be traded. I don't think that's possible as contracts cannot be modified under the CBA.

While it is rumored that TJ gave a list of teams to which he would agree to be traded, I would guess that this list expired sometime around the beginning of the season. This summer, he has to provide a list of 20 teams to which he can be traded without the consent of the player. And, of course, there is the Seattle expansion draft. The real question is whether anyone would take TJ with a $5 million cap hit for another 3 years.

I look for a buy out. According to cap friendly that would result in a cap hit of a little over $1 million next year, $2.8 million in 23 (the year the new Point contract will kick in) and under $2 million each of the next 4 years. It's not ideal, but next year is the real problem year. While I understand that having 3 years of dead cap space at the end isn't ideal, the cap is going to jump from 81.5 to 95 million in 3 or 4 years when the players finish repaying the debt to the owners for this year.

[BurnTHalO]

My guess is tj gets sent with picks to Seattle.

Lost in how bad Gibson was is that our offense does not exist outside our 4th line, and that this team did not try tonight. The top 6 have been quiet for weeks, and yet we will not change them. I would hope this embarrassment would force some changes, but I thought the second period would have as well.

[RSchmitz]

We can’t afford to buy out TJ, we will give Seattle whatever they want to take him

[Donnie D]

We can’t afford to buy out TJ, we will give Seattle whatever they want to take him

Why can’t we afford it? It saves almost $4 million in cap space. And why would Seattle want that contract?

[Derek28]

I would prefer we trade him with a small amount of retention before thinking of buying him out. Realistically if Johnson was a free agent what would he get? Maybe 3 years at $3 to $3.5 million? Craig Smith got 3 x 3.1 million from Boston as a free agent and he is in a similar age/production range.

I'm thinking we trade him at $1.25 million retention per year and attach a decent pick and prospect. Let's say a third or fourth round pick + a prospect that will require waivers next season (Raddysh, Stephens, Katchouk, or Somppi). I think someone (Detroit?) might bite on that, especially when you consider that his contract includes less real dollars remaining than cap dollars.

[Donnie D]

None of us know. We are all guessing. My guess is that no one would sign him for longer than a year at $2 million or less.

He was good because of his speed. That’s gone.