Go for it

Richards and Boyle for Gerber, Vermette, Meszaros, and a 1st

I'm just throwing this out there to kick off the trade deadline discussions.

We'd fit them in this year no problem. Ottawa can add a full year equivalent of 12 million at this time of the year.

Next year would be tough.

You're looking at Alfie, Spezza, Heatley, Richards, Fisher, Neil, McAmmond, Foligno, Bass, Phillips, Volchenkov, Schubert, Emery, and Elliot/Glass making 45 million and you need to add at least 4 up front and 3 D. The expected cap next year is about 53.3
Say you bring up Nycholat or Brian Lee and resign Richardson the two would take up about 1.5. Bring up Hennessey and resign McGratton would be another 1.3 say. That gives you 5.5 to sign a few players. Say we can get Commodore to re-sign to play the 3/4 pairing with Schubert and hopefully re-sign Kelly and Donovan assuming they'll all take a bit of a discount to try to repeat as champs.

Lines this year:
Heatley, Spezza, Alfie
Stillman, Richards, Fisher
Robitaille, Kelly, Neil
Schubert, McAmmond, Donovan

Boyle, Redden
Phillips, Volchenkov
Commodore, Richardson

Next year:
Heatley, Spezza, Alfie
Foligno, Richards, Fisher
Donovan, Kelly, Neil
Bass, McAmmond, McGratton

Phillips, Volchenkov
Schubert, Commodore
Nycholat/Lee, Richardson

And don't talk to me about Tampa Bay's supposed cap problem with 'the big three'. They aren't spending near the cap. We're a high revenue town now with the dollar at par and fans filling the barn.


To see the cap numbers for next year with this roster...

1	Richards	7.8
2	Spezza	7
3	Heatley	7.5
4	Alfie	4.414
5	Fisher	4.25
6	Kelly	2
7	Neil	1.1
8	Foligno	0.85
9	McAmmond	0.875
10	Donovan	1
11	McGratton	0.6
12	Bass	0.55
13	Hennessey	0.7
1	Phillips	3.5
2	Volchenkov	2.5
3	Commodore	2.5
4	Schubert	0.883
5	Lee	0.9
6	Richardson	0.7
1	Emery	3.167
2	Glass	0.95
	Total	53.739