This is the year to trade for Vincent Lecavalier.
If ever in Oiler history we needed to make the plunge, now is the time. Talent alone can’t win in the NHL, and our youth is in dire need of an elite mentor. An elite mentor doesn’t come without an elite price tag, however.
Unfortunately, that price tag happens to be $10M a year (through 2020), and a $7.727M cap hit (discussed more later).
Tampa Bay is stuck in a cap situation where-by if they don’t shed any cap at the end of the year, they may be forced to buy-out Vinny for $30M, and suffer an average annual cap hit of $2.14M over the next 14 years!
Edmonton has two assets that would help Tampa Bay in the short-term that aren’t central figures to the Oilers’ future. Specifically, those would be Ales Hemsky and Ryan Whitney.
On one hand, Ales Hemsky is having a resurgent year, and hasn’t ever looked better with the puck. He has played like an elite forward this year and is dangerous every time he touches the puck.
Ryan Whitney on the other hand is struggling this year. Prior to the season starting, he told a reporter something to the effect of, “I need to find a new 100%”; I don’t think we’ve seen that “new 100%” this season. A change of scenery for a puck-moving defenseman into a playoff caliber team may be what the doctor ordered to find that old form. And with this being the last year of his contract, he’ll be given the opportunity to play for a roster spot next year.
For Tampa Bay, however, it would be difficult to move an asset like Vincent Lecavalier, the face of the franchise. But the package coming back would provide upgrades at two positions of need while shedding cap space. Additionally, from a pure ownership position, it would also remove the potential of a $30M payout only to lose one of your best players for nothing.
In a perfect world, this would be an ideal circumstance for Edmonton to pressure Tampa Bay into retaining a portion of Vincent Lecavalier’s cap hit (a new provision under the collective bargaining agreement); something between $1.7M and 1.2M for the remainder of his contract. Under such a circumstance, a $6M to $6.5M cap hit would be more equitable for the Oilers going forward.
Through this trade Edmonton would gain a top line center to play with Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle. Ryan Nugget-Hopkins would move to second-line duties until he blossoms into a top-line center. Further, the acquisition of Vincent Lecavalier would rub Sam Gagner out of the faceoff circle and into a winger role, where he can focus on being an offensive weapon (like Martin St. Louis).
Making a change like this doesn’t come without risks as well. First, what’s to say he succeeds in Edmonton? Second, who says he wants to come to Edmonton (he has a no trade clause)?
Oilers Refined 