Wouldn’t even offer you a bag of pucks for these Rags rejects.
- Crushers68

You think JT Miller, a 25 year old signed to great term on his way to his 3rd straight 50+ point season is a reject? And how many players of this mold do you have on your roster? The answer is just 3 and 2 of those players are former 1st overall picks. The other is Palmieri who is likely working himself into the 6-7 million range on his next deal. I’m of the opinion that your outlook is uneducated and flawed

You think JT Miller, a 25 year old signed to great term on his way to his 3rd straight 50+ point season is a reject? And how many players of this mold do you have on your roster? The answer is just 3 and 2 of those players are former 1st overall picks. The other is Palmieri who is likely working himself into the 6-7 million range on his next deal. I’m of the opinion that your outlook is uneducated and flawed
- WSCTeton17

JT Miller certainly has value but with Cally's contract you're looking at $ 11M in payroll. Granted for only 1 more season and Callahan is gone... The problem is I don't think JT at Center is problem the Devils feel like they need to address. Also, while Ray has shown an interest in trading cap space for assets, that's a big number in actual money it would cost them; although Cally is owed only $4.7M next year. As a package, I wouldn't pay much beyond the cap space help.

JT Miller certainly has value but with Cally's contract you're looking at $ 11M in payroll. Granted for only 1 more season and Callahan is gone... The problem is I don't think JT at Center is problem the Devils feel like they need to address. Also, while Ray has shown an interest in trading cap space for assets, that's a big number in actual money it would cost them; although Cally is owed only $4.7M next year. As a package, I wouldn't pay much beyond the cap space help.
- Queenie_5_hole

I think the bigger question is to ask yourself is it worth it to give Tampa all that cap relief and basically guarantee they are a cup contender for years to come. Why help them when you could squeeze them for more. Sure, if they gave us the guys for basically free I wouldn't say no, but having to give real assets back, I'm not really feeling it.

I think the bigger question is to ask yourself is it worth it to give Tampa all that cap relief and basically guarantee they are a cup contender for years to come. Why help them when you could squeeze them for more. Sure, if they gave us the guys for basically free I wouldn't say no, but having to give real assets back, I'm not really feeling it.
- Pomegrant

Back when Chicago was liquidating after cup runs they kept doing it primarily with Atlanta/Winnipeg because they were best suited in doing so at that time. It’s different this time around. Salaries have gone up maybe 25% since then but the cap is up 40%. Chicago was also offering up players who barely had 2nd line production but moreso 3rd line production. Miller is a bonafide 2nd liner and he’s still so young.

Teams that could also entertain taking both include Chicago, Montreal (who has already stated they’re interested in doing it again like they did with Steve Mason), Carolina would be a good fit, Dallas can make it work and would be an unreal fit for Miller as 2C, Detroit possibly, the Islanders could do it if they miss out on Panarin/Karlsson/Stone, the Rangers can do it, Flyers could if they wanted, Blues, Ducks (although I personally don’t think they would, but they could), and the Canucks could also do it.

I also mentioned that whoever gets JT might not even keep him. Obviously he would have a ton of trade value on his own. Much higher than Brassard from last year

Callahan isn’t worth what he gets paid, but he’s still a useful NHL player. At 50% retained he could possibly be flipped for a 3rd round pick for a team looking for an experienced 3rd liner. He’s on pace for 24 points this year as a 4th liner in Tampa. Could probably hit 30 with a bit more ice time while providing a good, defensive, checking/pk presence.

If both are flipped maybe you eat salary but the return is a 3rd for Ryan and maybe a 1st, a 2nd, a prospect, and a young roster player for Miller. That’s pretty significant. Or if Dallas takes him

I just ran it up on Capfriendly. Dallas could send Ritchie and Janmark to Tampa for Callahan and Miller. Dallas desperately needs a 2C and Miller would be unreal. They would still have plenty of cap space to re-sign RFAs, bring in Gardiner for $6-6.5MM, and a guy like Pirri/Panik for $2-3MM and they still have a few million in cap space (with Hanzal on LTIR).

Further thought on my trade idea as a cap dump: look at the Orpik deal. It cost Grubauer and then the Caps got the better pick out of the deal. Obviously that isn’t a soft price, but it’s not exactly a top 6 forward either. Joel Armia wasn’t a top 6 forward in the Steve Mason trade either. So if Miller goes with Callahan in the deal, I still think a meaningful player goes back the other way. Not a top 6 player, but someone young and cost controlled. If it were a RHD that would likely best suit Tampa. We’ll see how it shakes out

Back when Chicago was liquidating after cup runs they kept doing it primarily with Atlanta/Winnipeg because they were best suited in doing so at that time. It’s different this time around. Salaries have gone up maybe 25% since then but the cap is up 40%. Chicago was also offering up players who barely had 2nd line production but moreso 3rd line production. Miller is a bonafide 2nd liner and he’s still so young.

Teams that could also entertain taking both include Chicago, Montreal (who has already stated they’re interested in doing it again like they did with Steve Mason), Carolina would be a good fit, Dallas can make it work and would be an unreal fit for Miller as 2C, Detroit possibly, the Islanders could do it if they miss out on Panarin/Karlsson/Stone, the Rangers can do it, Flyers could if they wanted, Blues, Ducks (although I personally don’t think they would, but they could), and the Canucks could also do it.

I also mentioned that whoever gets JT might not even keep him. Obviously he would have a ton of trade value on his own. Much higher than Brassard from last year

Callahan isn’t worth what he gets paid, but he’s still a useful NHL player. At 50% retained he could possibly be flipped for a 3rd round pick for a team looking for an experienced 3rd liner. He’s on pace for 24 points this year as a 4th liner in Tampa. Could probably hit 30 with a bit more ice time while providing a good, defensive, checking/pk presence.

If both are flipped maybe you eat salary but the return is a 3rd for Ryan and maybe a 1st, a 2nd, a prospect, and a young roster player for Miller. That’s pretty significant. Or if Dallas takes him

I just ran it up on Capfriendly. Dallas could send Ritchie and Janmark to Tampa for Callahan and Miller. Dallas desperately needs a 2C and Miller would be unreal. They would still have plenty of cap space to re-sign RFAs, bring in Gardiner for $6-6.5MM, and a guy like Pirri/Panik for $2-3MM and they still have a few million in cap space (with Hanzal on LTIR).
- WSCTeton17

If your valuation of Miller is correct it essentially means that McDonagh was traded for a single prospect.

If your valuation of Miller is correct it essentially means that McDonagh was traded for a single prospect.
- rmdevil313

I completely disagree with your valuation of the McDonagh trade then because Namestnikov had 44 points at the time he was traded. He was a 24 year old former first rounder at the time. He wasn’t exactly a stud yet, but he was also trending towards possibly becoming a 2nd line mainstay or at the very least a solid middle 6 guy. Miller definitely had the higher pedigree/ceiling, but to that point in the season Vladdy (playing with superstars) was outperforming him. So just looking at those two, you could argue it was Vladdy and a prospect for Miller - hell call it both prospects if you want and then a 1st and conditional 2nd for McDonagh who then re-signed in Tampa

If Miller is traded now, the Lightning aren’t going to get a 1st, 2nd, a prospect, and a player on a similar production pace this season. I’m thinking more along the lines of a guy like Janmark out of Dallas and I know they like him a lot so maybe there’s no prospect at that point. I’d still call that a pretty good return for NJD: Janmark, a 1st, 2nd, and a 3rd

Ideally, the Bolts would be looking for a young RFA defender coming back but I think that changes everything especially given how people value their own players on these sites. The thoughts on a guy like Saad on the Hawks forum are pretty ludicrous

I think the bigger question is to ask yourself is it worth it to give Tampa all that cap relief and basically guarantee they are a cup contender for years to come. Why help them when you could squeeze them for more. Sure, if they gave us the guys for basically free I wouldn't say no, but having to give real assets back, I'm not really feeling it.
- Pomegrant

I don't think how much it might benefit Tampa to have the cap relief is really the Devils concern. Either a trade is worthwhile for NJ or not. But I do think Shero looks at Cap Space as being pretty valuable. He tried being tough with Detroit when they were looking to trade Datsyuk and Arizona bailed them out pretty cheaply. So I'm pessimistic we could squeeze them. Plus Tampa is a well run team. I can't see them doing anything stupid.

I don't think how much it might benefit Tampa to have the cap relief is really the Devils concern. Either a trade is worthwhile for NJ or not. But I do think Shero looks at Cap Space as being pretty valuable. He tried being tough with Detroit when they were looking to trade Datsyuk and Arizona bailed them out pretty cheaply. So I'm pessimistic we could squeeze them. Plus Tampa is a well run team. I can't see them doing anything stupid.
- Queenie_5_hole

Yeah, maybe you're right about that. The prospect of taking 11 mil in cap space on in a salary dump feels bad but I guess at least you get a good player out of it. I don't know.