Lancer wrote:The bigger thing is if Florida was/is a shopper for Luongo, does this turn of events make them more or less of a buyer? At this point, you may as well mail in the season if you're Dale Tallon. Why trade for Luongo now? Even if Luongo's available at the draft, would Tallon be willing to part with his beloved prospects for a goalie he can bank on?
If they believe in Markstrom, there's probably not much use for them parting with assets to get Luongo (unless they think he's worth it on his own - face of the franchise and all that).. I'm sure there will be another Theodore-calibre goaltender in free agency they can scoop up who may or may not give them a good season next year, there's always one or two guys like that.
Or maybe Anaheim panics and dumps Hiller now that they're paying this Fasth kid, etc, etc.
That being said, if they do believe in Luongo's value maybe a dead last finish (and another chance at a couple of top shelf assets in the draft, maybe another pick or two out of the trade deadline) gives them a surplus of young players that gives them reason to believe they can part with a good young prospect they previously saw as untouchable..
If they're able to select MacKinnon or Nichushkin maybe one of Bjugstad or Shore seems a lot more expendable, or if they luck out and get Seth Jones maybe they look at moving Kulikov in the right trade. For that matter, if they finish up at the bottom of the standings their second round pick becomes similar in value to a first from say, Chicago who look like they will be drafting in the late 20s.
I guess my point is that if the Panthers want Luongo (and the Canucks don't want to take cap back) this gives them another couple of valuable assets, if they didn't really want Luongo outside of the chance he might fall into their lap then this probably removes any temptation they might have had to meet the Canucks halfway on a deal.