BigTuna wrote:
What reason is there to give on on James Reimer this early in his career? His numbers are very solid.
You're talking a different calibre of goalie entirely. Even the leaves tried to pick up Kipper, and he'd rather retire than go there. They wanted a better goalie, they didn't want to pay for it. Oh well. Luongo helps us more than whatever TO was offering. I'm glad Gillis didn't throw him away for nothing.
Why add a guy with so many years left when you don't have too? And it seems every GM agrees.
Because your team gets better. FFS the Islanders took Tim Thomas in a trade. He doesn't even play hockey. When the cap hits $80M, teams will be trying to get to a $60-$65M floor. Luongo waives to go to broke-ass team XXXX instead of "retiring", he is then suspended by broke-ass team XXXX. The cap hit stays, but Luongo doesn't get paid. Broke-ass team XXXX meets the cap floor.
UDL wrote:Bottom line..Toronto missed a golden opportunity to add a Vezina calibre goaltender for nothing more than a few picks and a major corporations money.
Bingo. Anyone with a decent brain could see this (which is why the talking heads don't). Teams seeking to exploit holes in the salary cap, like the Canucks (Luongo), Wings (Zetterberg), Blackhawks (Hossa/Keith), Kings (Richards/Carter pickups) aren't afraid of these deals, they use them to their advantage. Why worry about 2019/2020 when you guarantee 5 or so years of guaranteed results? Especially in goal. Double especially with a reasonable cap hit.