Vincent Lecavalier to be traded?

I thought this was BS made up by Eklund and all the Hab's fans that love this guy so much, but now Dregger, McKenzie and a whole whack of other hockey reporters are saying that it's not an 'if', it's a 'when'. They call the Tampa Bay franchise one of the worst run franchises in the last decade and wonder if they even know what market value for a Lecavalier is.

His no trade doesn't kick in until July 1st, and it appears Vinny is one of several to be sick of the entire organization.

Montreal will absolutely be his landing place apparently, although, what they would have to give up to get him - and what his salary will do to their cap - are two destructive elements to this equation.

Next up: Martin St.Louis. Once the pieces are in place for Vinny's move, expect him to be next.

Then call up Tampa Bay owners and ask them this for me: "How did you Diddle everything up soooooo badly? How."

hahaha, good call Heater.

TB is going down in flames! And quite frankly, this should serve as a lightning rod to ANYONE with too much freakin' $$ on their hands that being rich doesn't mean you know D**K about running a sports franchise, a.k.a. a profitable business...

what a bunch of tools! LOL

Listening to the guys on TSN the other night, Lecavalier is not interersted in moving to MTL. He apparently has a list and MTL is not on it. They also mentioned that due to his contract that it is going to be hard for Tampa to move him. It would be nice to have him here but I doubt Murray would want to spend that much money and be locked in for a long period of time.

Cronenbergfan wrote:hahaha, good call Heater.

TB is going down in flames! And quite frankly, this should serve as a lightning rod to ANYONE with too much freakin' $$ on their hands that being rich doesn't mean you know D**K about running a sports franchise, a.k.a. a profitable business...

what a bunch of tools! LOL

Seriously, I almost feel badly for them (almost).

ElliottRules wrote:Listening to the guys on TSN the other night, Lecavalier is not interersted in moving to MTL. He apparently has a list and MTL is not on it. They also mentioned that due to his contract that it is going to be hard for Tampa to move him. It would be nice to have him here but I doubt Murray would want to spend that much money and be locked in for a long period of time.

McKenzie said he had an intense fetish for the Habs. I have a hard time believing he wouldn't to be honest, but it might be a Western Canadian team. Crazy Dung this. I'm surprised this is all (apparently) going down.

Oops, they both just said on TSN that the only untouchable on Ottawa was Alfredsson.

And yes, they even named Heatley. Interesting.

habs fans are just Diddle. When the Lightning plays the Habs, they boo Lecavalier and cheer for St. louis. Now that there is an opportunity to land Lecavalier, they are sporting wood.

From what some say, Lecavalier is fine in Tampa (why else would he have re-signed all those times?) and does not want to be traded, and some in management have reassured him he would not be. However, the others have said they are considering moving him and his contract.

Tampa has some great players, it's a shame what is happening to them. They were essentially a dynasty a few years ago. The economy and poor management have a lot to do with this downfall. The sad thing is there's a couple of Canadian investors who would be thrilled to own the team and move them to a Canadian city, but we all know how that is going.

Instead, they're going to sell off their stars only to tank yet again and draft another top star (Tavares/Hedman) and keep them there for years while their career sours. You can add Florida to the list of teams too.

504Heater wrote:Oops, they both just said on TSN that the only untouchable on Ottawa was Alfredsson.

And yes, they even named Heatley. Interesting.

Is that speculation or actual inside information?

Probably a little of both. Those guys have cred, but Ottawa, especially, is very tight for info (allegedly). I think it's an assumption that Alfredsson is the only "untouchable" (assuming off the roster). I would be very hesitant to move any prospects (considering they would be crucial in a rebuild).

ElliottRules wrote:Is that speculation or actual inside information?

Speculation.

The rumored offer from Montreal: Tomas Plekanec, Chris Higgins, prospect P.K. Subban, Josh Gorges and a package of draft picks including more than one first-round pick going to Tampa.

That is a hell of a lot to give up.

Won't solve anything though - the team will still suck and find a way to ruin what they got. You need to move the team now. Imagine Quebec City Lightning? The rivalry intensifying now that the other Quebec team has the highly enamored Lecavalier and St. Louis?

Vinny Lecavalier is one of the leagues highly respected players, and the league should listen to him. He is not happy with the team. Losing him would ruin the franchise and not even relocation might save that. Vinny would be a huge player to market a team in a new city. The NHL would find it hard to build a fanbase in a new city without a franchise player.

Jesus!! IF that's the offer, EEEK is an understatement... Not to mention Gainey has what 11 RFA/UFA's on his watch this July...

I say bring the lightning to Canada as Dash is saying... Lecavalier on Canadian soil is a big thing and these jokers at the helm in TB haven't a CLUE what they are doing...

I'm hoping this happens, it'll crush the Habs' cap.

Any reasonable GM would ask for much more than what they offered though. Who cares about Higgins and Plekanec really? If I'm giving up a long-term signed Vinny Lecav to a team that will do anything to get him- I'm asking for AT LEAST Max Pacioretty, PK Subban, and a signed Komisarek, plus a few draft picks.

We're talking about Vinny Lecavalier, people.


He doesn't want to be in that kind of spotlight anyways. I can't see it happening.