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Eklund is saying Montreal is the favorite to land Vinny and we give up Markov as part of a package.

Guess if you say it enough.....

Markov is our prize asset, until Carey Price pulls it together.

There are very few guys worth giving Markov up for, and with his 10-year, c.80 million dollar contract and potentially bum shoulder I'm not sure Lecavalier is one of them.

Seriously...why do teams sign guys for huge contracts that run into their 40s?

I agree with you, but to answer your question, if you sign a guy under 35 on a long term contract you can bring down the cap hit even though both parties know that the player will retire. The last three years on Lecavalier's contract are 4 million, 1.5 million, and 1 million, bringing the yearly cap hit to under 7 million, not 10 million as he is paid most years.

It's a loophole in the salary cap world that you can only take advantage of if you sign a guy who is less than 35 for longer than he will likely play (ie around 40 something)

Plus I'm sure some GMs either didn't consider the possibility that the cap might drop or thought that they might be working in another city by the time that it happened.

Right...what Detroit did with Zetterberg then.

Now I get it.

So if Gainey wants to re-sign Koivu or Tanguay and not take a big cap hit, he can get away with it. Aha.

And Franzen.

Tanguay could be signed to a 10 year contract or longer (which would take him to 40) or more and Koivu could sign a 6 year contract (taking him to 41) and have them front loaded so that they retire Habs and we use up less cap. Given that the cap is projected to fall though, it would probably be a more effective strategy with Tanguay, since you could really get a discount 3 or 4 years from now until he retires. I'm not sure how much people on this board would like to see him on the roster for so long, but in theory that's how the overly long contracts work.

Check out the Lightning boards.

An awful lot of people saying Martin St. Louis is the real leader and we can have Vinny, etc...Under "favourite player" threads there's lots about Richards and Boyle, even Stamkos and Mike Smith, not a single thread about Vinny. Surprising! What's the deal? Lecavalier is their best player and got them a cup. He's also been loyal. Why is he not the most popular guy there?

Here's some samples from the Vinny thread:

-Lecavalier leading the way through tough times

-Say what? He's playing his way right off of this team.

-I have to agree.. the only one "leading" anything on the ice seems to be Marty..

-Trade him!! Please!! While we still have a chance!

-Actually, its too late. Im not sure about wiavers, but he cant be purposefully traded. And then when the time comes again that he can, his new contract with the no movement clause kicks in. Without his permission, he isnt going anywhere.

-He can be traded during the draft. His old contract doesn't have a no trade clause. His new contract doesn't kick in until July 1. After that, it's a no movement clause...meaning no trade and no waivers. So there's a short period of time around the draft where they could move him, if they wanted to. According to them, they AREN'T. You never know.

I hope he stays.

-but we've seen many instances across the nhl where a player is asked to waive his no trade clause and the player obliges.

-Pretty much. Buuuuuut. Let's say Vinny really goes down the tubes in a season or two and can't produce anything. What are they going to do? They can't move him...all they can do is lower his minutes or bench him...but that would be a coaching thing, not management (unless you believe the coach is a puppet). And at that point, what team would take Vinny's contract? The ball is in his court, really.

Moot point, though, yes. 'Cause nothing has happened yet. And I doubt anything will happen, especially with Lawton contantly talking about Vinny being part of the core that will definitely stay here. He's said it publicly a bunch of times now, most recently at the fan Q&A a few days ago.

Etc,,....

Eklund now has him coming to Montreal again. Guess that's not going to happen then....

Make that 1001