Appearing on Calgary’s Sportsnet 960 radio on Monday afternoon, Elliotte Friedman dropped something of note: The Tampa Bay Lightning have apparently checked in with the Columbus Blue Jackets about Pierre-Luc Dubois.
In the wide-ranging interview, which went into depth about Dubois’ situation with the Blue Jackets, Friedman was asked specifically about which teams have expressed interest. His comments, as transcribed by yours truly, were as follows:
…I think there have been some teams in on this that you wouldn’t necessarily suspect. One of the things I’ve learned over the years is, players like this guy don’t become available very often. Even if you don’t think that there is a match, or you look at a roster and say “hey, this team doesn’t really need Dubois,” it doesn’t mean they aren’t in this. I think that some of the teams we hadn’t thought the most about, like a Tampa Bay or a Colorado, I think they’ve sniffed around on this one too.
The idea that any team, including the Lightning, would be interested in Dubois comes as no surprise. We’re talking about a legitimate top-two centre who does just about everything well:
Simply put, Julien BriseBois wouldn’t be doing his job as General Manager of the Lightning if he wasn’t at least somewhat interested in a player like this.
Considering the competition in the Dubois trade market, though, it’s clear that BriseBois’ Lightning are woefully shorthanded. The Bolts have no cap space, and lack the prospect depth to build out an attractive package. Any call to the Blue Jackets from the Bolts likely begins with multiple first-round picks for the player, a salary dump, and a rich sweetener to compensate for that salary dump. It would surely be prohibitively expensive.
But, if Friedman’s report that the Lightning are sniffing around this situation is accurate, BriseBois obviously feels like there’s some remote but possible way to make this happen. Regardless of whether Jarmo Kekalainen agrees, that's a crazy thing. And, while the deck is clearly stacked against the Lightning, it’s fun to think about the kind of deal that would a) outbid the competition, and b) work within the Lightning’s current cap structure.
So, with that in mind, make your pitch. Let me know what you’re offering to the Columbus Blue Jackets to make this happen.
(It’s not going to happen.)
As always, thanks for reading.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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