Latest / Backchecking the Bolts / NHL Trade Frenzy Before the Draft! Raddysh to Leafs, Tuch to Capitals & Byram Blockbuster Trade

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NHL Trade Frenzy Before the Draft! Raddysh to Leafs, Tuch to Capitals & Byram Blockbuster Trade · Backchecking the Bolts

• Jason Linkes: Coming up, I'm back checking the bolts. I think we've got to get out of this mindset of what $10 million means in the current salary cap. It sounds so big, right? $10 million I got a defenseman who's 30 some years old is gonna be paid $10 million. It's less than 10% of your salary cap. If you can get with Carlson, it was the same thing that we were talking about with Radish. Term was always gonna be the big deal. If you can get, I don't have absolutely zero problem with. John Carlson, two years, ten million. I think he still has a lot left in his game. Welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. Back Checking the Bolts is your cup of coffee to get you the latest on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Join hosts Jason Lincas and the managing editor of Raw Charge, Justin Godfrey, as they break down the Lightning's most recent games and go beyond the highlights, telling you what the box scores didn't. It's time to drop the puck. Hi, everybody. Welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. It's one of those episodes where two days ago we thought we were going to talk about the NHL draft, and then all these trades started happening. We're talking from Darren Radish to Bowen Byron. You name it. Guys are moving all over the place. Justin and I are going to break that down for you coming up. We're also going to talk a little bit about the NHL draft. The Lightning have a few draft picks, not a ton coming up. They start with a second round pick, they have a third. Three fifths, a sixth, and a seventh. We're gonna talk about that. We also posed a question to so in social media about the Darren Radish contract, especially when you started hearing the Bowen Byram news. We're gonna get to the mailbag and get some news from viewers. Finally, the NHL is talking expansion. Once again, they look to become the first major league to have 33 franchises, and it's t looking like it's gonna be either Houston or Austin. Dan Friedkin, who is the billionaire down in the Houston area, he can choose pretty much whatever city he wants. Now he still has to get approved, but we're going to talk about what city we think would be the best for the NHL to go to. And now I'm going to bring in Justin Godfrey from Rodcharge. You can read him each and every day at www.roadcharge.com. Justin, again, we thought we were going to be talking about the draft, but this is nothing but trades, trade and signings. Guys moving for huge price tags. What was your initial thought on Darren Radish? kind of honestly, kind of it's what I expected. You know, I didn't yeah, I think the last time we had talked about it, I was 60 40 that he would go elsewhere. You know, I did think he was gonna make it to July first and you know, test the free agent market. But the the deal he ends up signing for, you know, eight and a half by eight years. I the only team that could offer him eight years was the Lightning, and they did in in a sense where they did the sign in trade. ⁓ Toronto apparently came in pretty hot as far as wanting him. The Lightning and Darren Radish were pretty far apart. They said it was pretty much by Thursday last week that they realized that there just was a gap too big. So that's when they started reaching out as far as teams that had interest in him, worked out the deal with Toronto. You know, they get a fifth round pickback, which is, you know, you you get something for a player that wasn't gonna sign with you. It's a big risk for Toronto, honestly. You know, the the eight and a half by eight that that eight years just kind of stares you right in the face. And, you know, we talked about it, and that's kind of what's the lightning we're looking at. You know, how long do you sign this guy for? Some of the rumored deals was around the five to six year mark, which you know, would have put him at 35, 36 years old. ⁓ Toronto's now on the hook till he's 38. Is it a breakout season? Is it a one-off? What's he gonna do now that he's got the money? You know, there's gonna be lot more pressure on him because he's now the number one guy in Toronto, right? ⁓ I think it's the third richest deal in Maple Leaf's history. ⁓ so putting him behind guys like Le Lander and Austin Matthews. So there's gonna be a lot more pressure on him. Can he perform? I think he can. He's a really nice guy. I think he's got a good head on his shoulders, but it's gonna be a different world for him now. One, he's gonna be in the spotlight. You're going to Toronto. In the NHL, it doesn't get any better. brighter spotlight than in Toronto. But I want to say this if he's gonna go one place, I think he ended up in a place where at least on the power play, he can still be as effective. You could see him playing catch with Austin Matthews that one timer that he was able to get from Kucharoff. Now it's just going to come from another left handed passer, whether it be Tavares, whether it be Matthews, there's a lot to like with his landing situation. That being said, now he's not just gonna play top line minutes. He's going to be the guy. He's gonna be under the microscope. We all talked about the fact that when Victor Hedman left, was injured earlier in the season, that's when Radish really got his chance. And I'm gonna equate this to baseball. They say the first time a rookie goes through the process, they don't really have a book on you. Now Radish had played a number of years, but this was the first time he saw extended minutes and had extended success. Do you think teams, opposing teams, approach him a little differently when they play him now? Yeah, I think you got a lot more video on him. You know what he likes to do. ⁓ so it's gonna be one of those things. Can he make that next adjustment? I mean, we've talked about this here with some of the younger players like, you know, Charles Edward Destou. You come up, there's not a lot of tape on you, you can get away with things that maybe you ⁓ you can't a little bit later in the season, can you make that next adjustment? ⁓ so he showed that yes, he can play first line minutes in a lit, you know, in a limited time role. You know, it was always gonna be when headman was healthy, his his minutes were probably gonna back off. ⁓ now it's gonna be, hey, you're the guy and this is you know, this is part of the game. This is part of the deal. The good players are able to accelerate and ramp up and and match the intensity that you need ⁓ when given the chance at the next level. ⁓ Like you said, I think he's going to a really good spot. ⁓ I think there were limited places he could go and still succeed and Toronto's one of ⁓ he's also going back to his hometown as well. So you got that added pressure of the the home kid you know, there was a picture, I think the lightning actually put it out. ⁓ a picture of him as a kid in, you know, a Toronto Maple Leafs like ⁓ I don't know if it was a uniform or like a onesie or something like that as a kid. You know, kind of like the Tavera Spreadsheets thing. So, you know, all these kids that grew up in Ontario have these Toronto memories. ⁓ so good for him. I'm glad. You know, I'm really happy for him. He is a guy that ⁓ put the time in and he deserves to get paid. So I'm glad he's going there. I hope he succeeds, except for the four times that they play the lightning and maybe like the first round of the playoffs or something like that. But it's gonna be fun to watch. It's gonna be see how he adjusts his game and you know, can he continue under the pressure of you know, that first time he whiffs a few shots or they he fires you like five shots over the over the net and the Bleafs lose three to one. Does it Ottawa or something like that? You know the critics are gonna come out and they're gonna be like, why did we sign this guy for this much money? You know, how does he bounce back from that? And that's gonna be a fun story to watch, you know, now that we have no skin in the game. The one thing I I think with this deal, he's gonna be 38 at the end of this deal. NHL defensemen typically don't age well after about the age of 34, 35. There's very few that have really succeeded and done well. You're gonna see a drop off. That's the one thing that I would wonder with Radish. But Justin, there was another defenseman on the move, and the Chicago Blackhawks paid dearly. It was Bowen Byram from the Buffalo Sabres. The young twenty five year old was dealt to Chicago along with Jordan Greenway. Greenway's making four million himself. They got that bad contract off the books. The Blackhawks gave up the fourth overall, a twenty six second, and Lewis Crevier. What did you think of this deal? You you look at it on the initial and I and I know the social media kind of aspect was it that ⁓ Yarmo kind of fleeced Chicago here. ⁓ it's a big price to pay ⁓ for a guy who's never been the number one defenseman. Byram has played well so far in his career, what's he's like 25? He's always been this guy who seems to be his potential seems to outweigh his actual production. In Buffalo, he had a really good offensive year. ⁓ but again, he wasn't the number one guy. He wasn't the number one guy in Colorado. You know, he plays behind Cal McCarry plays behind Devin Taves. I goes to Buffalo in that that deal for Casey Middlestadt. Has a good season, but he again, he's playing behind Rasmus Dalin, or he's playing. I guess he kind of played with Rasmus Dalin. He played with Owen Power a little bit. He kind of bounced between the top two pairings. But again, he's not the guy that that was the number one defenseman in that organization. Put up some good offensive numbers. His defensive stats are a little underwhelming. ⁓ but now he's going to Chicago. He's got one year left on his deal. He's gonna be playing for a contract, which could be a bonus in some people's eyes, but he's gonna be that number one guy on a young Chicago team. And there's gonna be a lot of pressure on him. He's gonna play some tough minutes, you know, over the next year. And can he succeed? ⁓ can he make it worth that number four overall? I think it's something I think the last time the top one of a top five picks was traded where both teams knew it was gonna be a top five, was something like two thousand nine. It's been a long time since this That you know, this high of a draft pick has been moved. And if you're looking at it from Chicago's angle, it's time you got to take that next step. You can't keep relying on these top draft picks. You've got enough talent in your system. ⁓ it's kind of the same thing with San Jose and the moves that they made. It's a you've got to start getting better. ⁓ you got you can't be drafting in the top five next year. I think that's kind of the ⁓ meshes from ownership is you guys have got to be better. You gotta go for a playoff spot. I think ⁓ Byrum kind of does make them better. It doesn't solve their number one need, which is getting a winger for Connor Bedard, ⁓ or signing Connor Bedard to an extension. I think that's their number number one and two things they got to do this this summer. But it does make their defense a little bit better. ⁓ before we went and started recording you, I kind of compared it. He could be kind of like JJ Moser. ⁓ a guy who's kind of been a good defenseman, never really given the shot. But once he gets that shot as a number one defenseman, he shines. If that happens for Chicago, Then it's worth the number four pick. You know, if he kind of struggles with the added minutes, then it's gonna look really bad. And this could be one of those career-ending kind of deals for a GM. You know, if this doesn't work out, how much longer is he gonna be in Chicago? So Yeah, I almost think that you're almost playing on tilt making this deal a little bit. And let's talk a little bit about Bowen Byron. Byram, former number one pick, has bounced around a little bit, started with Colorado, as you had mentioned, went to Buffalo, now heading to Chicago. There are rumors out there that he could be asking upwards of ten million dollars in his next contract. If you're Chicago right now, you have to pay it. You have no other option. You can't let this guy go to free agency. Now, is there talk behind the scenes? I'm sure there's a little bit. But if you're Chicago, you have to sign him. You have no other option. If you're the general manager and you don't, you're done. I don't care what happens. You you are getting your walking papers. But Justin, one of the things I did was I asked Jonah Ahrens from the Saber Report podcast. We've had him on before, and I asked him about the Bowen Byram deal. Here's what he had to say. He said Byram is a good player. He can be great at times, but the reality is he slotted perfectly for the Sabres as their third or fourth guy. He's the ideal complimentary player. The Blackhawks trading the fourth overall in the second round pick. And a decent right shot defenseman in Louis Crevier is quite the overpayment. And it goes to show how desperate they are to surround Bedard with ready now talent. The Sabres are a worse hockey team today, but this deal is such an unbelievable value in return that they may lose for a guy they may lose in free agency next year that no one's questioning it. They now have two first round picks this year, a second round pick, future first round picks, plenty of cap space and young prospects. To chase that replacement for Byron, he's basically saying we're gonna have to see if Tekalinen can capitalize properly on this move. I think if I'm Buffalo, I make this deal. But the other thing I wanted to say is I wanted to open up the mailbag because I asked people, I said, if Byron gets ten million a year, you saw Radish get eight years at eight point five. Is the Radish deal for Toronto a bargain? Market value or did the Leafs overpay? So I'm gonna read a couple responses. Bruce Melanson said Radish was a reach for the money in the term, period. Had he done it in back to back seasons? Maybe, maybe not. But still with that being said, we always liked Darren's effort and glad to see him with the personal gain. He also had mentioned with the young defensemen like Mosier Lilliberg and DeStu, we have a a pretty solid blue line, we now need to find that power forward. Do you agree with Bruce that we need to find a power forward? I I I do think for for Tampa, the bigger hole is that kind of second line forward. They're gonna be okay with defense. They do lose a little depth. I mean the the nice thing about the way Radish play it is it takes minutes off of other players. Yeah, you're gonna have to figure out how you replace that. Do you flip Moser back to the right hand side and have him play with headman? Do you move Crozier up? Do you move Cernak or do you break up the Cernak McDonough pairing that's been so good for the years? You know, there are gonna be some questions that have to be answered in training camp, not to mention free agency. You know, there's been a lot of smoke about the John Carlson move to ⁓ Tampa, but I think at this point, the bigger concern is w you need one more scoring forward. I think that kind of hurt them a little bit in the playoffs. The depth wasn't quite there that they needed. They didn't have that guy that could kind of match up with that Hegel ⁓ Sorelli line unless you move Kutra off which then weakens your top line. So I think if they can get a scoring winger and that's gonna be and that is now developing into a precious commodity. I mean with Alex to you know if we circle back to Buffalo, you know Alex Took signs the big deal and then is traded to Washington. I think that's somebody the Lightning were targeting this in free agency. You know, he would have been a good compliment. He's an upgrade on Oliver Bruckstrand. ⁓ he's a better Oliver Bruchstrand basically so ⁓ if you can fill that hole, it it eliminates the the Darren Raddish. I think the Lightning are also expecting big bounce back years from Hedman and Braden Point, which would go a long way to replacing some of that offense that Radish had ⁓ produced last year. The next comment was from Greg Georges. He says the contract depends on how well he does this year. He said I'd rather have John Carlson, who is gonna be a free agent. Played for the Anaheim Ducks last year, I should say finished the season with Anaheim, started with Washington. He'd rather have him for more money, but on a two year deal. And I think that's where we're at right now with the Lightning when it comes to a right shot defenseman. It sounds like there's mutual interest between the Lightning and John Carlson. Carlson's making eight million right now. If you had to pay him two years twenty million, ten million a year, do you do that deal? I got no problem with that deal. I think we've got to get out of this mindset of what $10 million means in the current salary cap. It sounds so big, right? $10 million. ⁓ my God. A defenseman who's 30 some years old is going to be paid $10 million. It's less than 10% of your salary cap. If you can get with Carlson, it was the same thing that we were talking about with Radish. Term was always going to be the big deal. If you can get, I don't have absolutely zero problem with. John Carlson, two years, 10 million. I think he still has a lot left in his game. One of the interesting things is I see a lot of comments about we don't need another older, slower player on defense. John Carlson is not a slow player. He can still skate. If he comes to the lightning, he's probably your fastest defenseman, other than Max Groshiff, if Max Groshiff makes the team. ⁓ so you gotta look at what he brings to the team. He's gonna be he's gonna have a lot of similar qualities as Radish had. Not the big shot, but he's gonna be an offensive first defenseman. He's going to be able to skate the the the puck out of out of your zone, which really helps in this today's ⁓ today's NHL, right? If you have somebody who can carry the puck from one zone to the next, that eliminates a lot of these cross-sects passes that they get blocked a lot of times. So if they if they can add that to the roster, you know, he's g he can eat up minutes. He's a 20 minute guy, even as he ages. He's still gonna get you 20 to 22 minutes. He's gonna be a power play guy. He fills a lot of gaps that the the lightning lose with radish moving on. So Yes, it's the shock value of seeing the sticker price of ten million dollars. But again, with the way the cap has gone up this year, the way it's going to go up next year as well, you know, with the projections, it's not that bad a deal. I mean, it's it's basically signing somebody for eight million dollars two years ago. And there's also the chance, you know, we always talk about it, people criticize Florida for it. You know, if John Carlson signs in Tampa for two years eight and a half million dollars. That's basically equivalent for him signing $10 million somewhere else, you know, in i in a heavily taxed state. So I I could see him, you know, signing for under 10, like a nine or nine and a half million dollar deal with the Lightning, and I wouldn't be surprised. And I'm perfectly fine with it. It doesn't really affect anything else the Lightning want to do. They do have that, you know, a little bit extra space now, that Radish, the Radish situation is closed. So they could still do that. They can still work in a Kucharov extension, along with, you know, helping out on that forward line. I'm fine with. As long as it's under three years, three years or yet less. What if you had to go to the fourth year? Yes or no real quick. again, I it'd be tough. ⁓ four years would be tough. I I would have to question. ⁓ is it is that a no? Four years a no? I think four years is a no. I think three years is my max with Carlson. ⁓ one thing with with speedy guys and older guys, you you start breaking down a lot easier. So ⁓ I think you got two good years of Carlson left. You know three a third year wouldn't be horrible. Four years, I think, is a bit too much. Brian Paynos, our final question from the mailbag, said, I'm not exactly sure why Bowen Byron, with forty three points last year, should be getting more than Darren Radish, who had his best season at seventy. He said, Right now, you look at these two guys, Byron has never been a number one. Now Radish has been limited, but has been. But Justin, you had talked a little bit about Byron's age. He's twenty five years old. I don't care how you're looking at this, there's a big difference when you're investing that many years, eight years, into a twenty five year old defenseman versus a thirty, thirty one year old defenseman. Yeah, I mean, my my immediate answer to that question would be how many point how many NHL points did Darren Radish have at twenty five? ⁓ and the answer is is not gonna be forty three. ⁓ So I think what you're you're the reason he's gonna get more money is the fact he's younger. Flat out, that's it. End of story. He's twenty five, Darren Radish is thirty. ⁓ and I honestly I think a ten million dollar deal signed today probably ages pretty well for a Bo Byron. ⁓ because his his floor is he's gonna be a good second pairing. ⁓ kind of like ⁓ the gentleman from Buffalo said, he's a great complimentary defenseman. He's he's a solid three, four defenseman. His ceiling, however, if if he goes to Chicago and he shows that he can be a number one or number two defenseman, if you got that guy locked up at $10 million, you know, in four years, you know, what's Cal McCart gonna sign for? Like Cal McCart is probably gonna make fourteen million, fifteen million. what's Matthew Schneider gonna make or sorry, Matthew Schaefer gonna make when his rookie deal is over? He's probably gonna be making seventeen or eighteen million dollars. And you're gonna look back and be like, ⁓ we got Bo Byron for ten million. That's you know, eight million dollars less. You know, it's it's just the nature of the game. It's the nature of the salary cap, it's the nature of the way the ⁓ economics in the NHL works. You know, it's gonna be people are gonna make more money as time goes on. It's what the players union want, ⁓ it's what the players want. So that's that's just the way it's gonna go. And and the honest answer is just the fact that he's five years younger than than ⁓ Darren Radish. So there you go. Well, when you said Matthew Schneider, I'm thinking, wow, he's he's about sixty. Okay, so he makes five million a year if he comes back, you know. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. The Matthew ⁓ A T H I E U. Exactly. Yeah. Former Montreal Canadian. But Justin, ⁓ we're gonna talk about some of the trade signs and trades, the trades that have been made and how it's going to affect the lightning. First of all, I want to talk about Alex Tuck going to Washington. Buffalo gets a third round pick. It's a sign and trade. Washington immediately signs Alex Tuck to an eight-year deal. His contract is ten and a half million. It's a big dollar amount for a guy who is a good player, but is not one of the top 15 players in the in the league. I want to ask you this. With Kucharov. Coming up to free agency in the very near future, if Alex Tuck is making ten and a half, what's Kucharoff making? In an honest world, ⁓ 14 million probably. Like I like I think if he goes to open market, you have absolutely no problem ⁓ doing 14 million. ⁓ it was kind of funny. One of the things we did today, ⁓ over at Raw Charge earlier this week is just for fun, I traded everybody on the roster. Just came up with an article, traded every single player. And I traded, I think it was Kutraov and Dominic James to the Rangers for I believe it was two first round picks. and one of their defensive product prospects who's still playing in in college and then Will Coyle. And like something I forgot about is that if you do this stuff on Puckpedia, ⁓ if you do the GM mode, people can comment on it, right? I kind of forgot about that. Which never read the comments. Never read the comments. And it's like one of the comments was New York says no. Now I had published this before the Brady Kachuk deal. Now Brady Kachuk gets traded for three first round picks. And and Justin, I want to say it's two twenty-six first round picks, a twenty-nine first, and a two thousand thirty second. That was the trade. Okay, go ahead. For Brady Kachuk. If you could get Nikita Kuchrov for two first round picks, a college prospect and, you know, a third line forward, you would do that trade in a heartbeat. Like I don't care what team you are, what kind of GM you are, you would do that in a heartbeat. So now I feel like I'm like shit. Or sorry, excuse me, shoot. I undersold I undersold Kutrov a little bit there, you know? ⁓ but yeah, on the free agent market, I think he's easily fourteen million dollars. ⁓ probably a six year deal. So it is gonna be interesting to see what he signs for to stay in Tampa. I think he really likes playing in Tampa. I don't think he's a guy that seeks glory. I don't think he wants to play on the big stage. I think he's very happy that he can go to, you know, he can go to he could walk to the rink if he wanted to and five people would notice him, right? You know, that's it's interesting. That's something Stampco said when he re signed with the Lightning ⁓ a few years ago when ⁓ that big deal came up. He likes being able to go walk his dog in the park and not be hassled, right? That's something that Tampa offers. Even though we've become a really big hockey town down here, you see a lot more lightning flags, a lot more people know this game down here. A lot of these players can still walk around in anonymity, out of uniform. So he can walk around and the pressure isn't quite there like it would be in New York or Toronto, Montreal. So I do think he's take he ends up taking a discount to stay in in Tampa. I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign for something like five years, twelve million dollars would be my ballpark right now to stay in Tampa. And I think he's worth it. ⁓ I think his game is gonna age gracefully. I think he's still gonna be a hundred point guy five years from now. Maybe not a hundred and thirty point guy, but you know, he's still gonna be putting up points. So I think he's gonna be fine. ⁓ but yeah, I think on the true free agent, ⁓ opening up fourteen or fifteen. Like I don't think he catches Caprazov, which is just such a weird deal, you know, even looking back a year later. ⁓ but yeah, I think you're looking at fifteen, sixteen. ⁓ I think he does something like McDavid did up in Edmonton, where he takes a little bit less just to try and keep this core together a little bit longer and shoot for the cup. Well, let's talk about Brady Kachuk. Goes from Ottawa to Florida. Florida feels that they have another three or four years left in this run. General manager Bill Zito has basically said, you know what, we don't care about first round draft picks. We're gonna just get talent and we are gonna go for it. We thought Florida was pesty and tough before, but This just adds to that. They are going to be a team that if they make the playoffs, they have a lot of those guys that just do the little things to one drive another team nuts, but they have a lot of guys that do little things that help you win. I think this puts Florida back in the top three in the division. What about you? Yes or no? I mean, I think they were gonna be a top three of the division just with Barkoff coming back. ⁓ I think that was the biggest blow that they had last year is not having, you know. The perennial Selkie guy as your number one center. I think Brady Kachuk is fine. ⁓ I think he's gonna have a role to play in in Florida. I don't think he's gonna be you know a top line winger. I think he's gonna play in the second or third line. He's probably gonna play with his brother a little bit just for the fun. My initial thoughts on this deal was is Florida making the same mistake that teams before them have made, the Pittsburgh's, the Chicago's, Tampa, where You're trading these assets that you have, these younger assets. So you had the number nine pick overall and Mackie Samascotia scamascotia. ⁓ you know, a young forward on the uprise. You trade them for established talent to keep this window open. ⁓ something we've talked about probably since college, you know, probably 30 years now, is there's two things you want to be in the NHL. You want to be very, very good or you want to be very, very bad. You know, you get stuck in the middle, kind of where the lightning are right now. where you're kind of not getting these high draft picks. ⁓ I think you gotta take advantage when you have some of these picks. And you know, Florida trading the ninth overall pick this year, you know, for Brady Kachuk, who's, you know, aging, he plays a physical game, he's probably not destined for a long, much longer career. ⁓ Are you making the same mistake other teams have made? And are you actually closing your window by going older as opposed to developing some of these younger ass you know assets that you have? It's gonna be interesting to see how it plays out. ⁓ second thought is we're basically in the player empowerment era for the NHL. ⁓ we've seen this in the NBA where the players can start dictating where they want to go. I think that's kind of trickled over into the NHL now. ⁓ you've seen it with Quinn Hughes, you're seeing it with Dylan Larkin. ⁓ you saw it with Brady Kachuk. He basically told him, I'm not re signing in two years in Ottawa. So you can trade me now, you can trade me later, but I am not re signing. So figure it out. Here's where I want to go. Even Morgan Riley in Toronto, he's given him, I think it was what, four West Western conference teams. This is where I want to go. And hats off to the players. I think they've deserved this. They earn this. I'm not a big fan of the way the Lightning or the way the NHL does free agency. ⁓ restricted free agency, the draft, any of that stuff. I th I believe, you know, players should have the right to go where they want. So, you know, you figure if somebody drafted at eighteen, they can't decide where they want to go until they're roughly twenty six. That's your best years, right? ⁓ you know, metrics have always shown that players are usually at their best between twenty three, you know, twenty two and twenty five years old or so. So you're giving your best years to a team that controls how much they pay you. ⁓ so, you know, hats off to these these players who have figured out a way to go where they want to go and You know, I don't like the Kachuks. You know, I don't like Brady. I'm not a big fan of the way he plays. ⁓ but I think he goes to the perfect team and hats off to him for using the power that he has to go where he wants to go. Well, I'll say this the players signed the deal. And so th that that's the deal that they have when you compare it to the other leagues, they have a very favorable s situation when it comes to restricted free agency and free agency of the chance to really maximize beyond that rookie level deal. And that was one of the things that you see in baseball where you have to go to arbitration to really get your deal changed at all. And then it's not even a negotiation. It's basically a settlement coming from an arbiter. But but let's talk a little bit about some of the other deals. The devil's trade Simon Nemitch to Calgary, former second overall pick. Now, Calgary had made a number of deals. They got rid of Rasmus Anderson. They got rid of Nasm Kadry. So they had a boatload of picks. They sort of threw caution to the wind to get Nemich, and Nemich is a player who didn't really live up to expectations in New Jersey. Now, if you ask Nemich, and he's been in the media, said, I never felt like I got a fair shake in New Jersey. He's going to in Calgary. He's going to be the guy. I'm not gonna blame Calgary for doing this because it was gonna be hard for them to attract any top level free agents considering where they've been in the standings. I'm just not sure Nemich is that guy that you can say, you know what, he's worth all those picks. Yeah, I think it's kind of the the biome deal on steroids a little bit, you know? It's are you're betting on a change of scenery, you know, allowing this guy to develop into the player he was projected to be when he was drafted. And like said. The nice thing is in Calgary, he's gonna get that opportunity. You know, they're probably not fighting for the Stanley Cup in, you know, in the next two or three years. So he's gonna have a chance to go ahead and make mistakes, play twenty-five minutes a game and ⁓ you know, develop as a player. Hopefully it pays off for him. You know, if if it does, then you look back and you'd be like a couple first round picks. Who cares? I think both sides played it pretty well. I think New Jersey got what they needed out of the deal. Calgary gets that guy that they can Hopefully start building around. You know, they're starting to put together some young players out there. So we'll we'll see how it goes from there. The final trade I want to talk about is Jordan Cairo going from St. Louis to Washington. This is probably the closest thing we had to a true hockey trade. Connor McMichael goes from Washington to St. Louis, Milton Gastron, who is their Swedish prospect, 19-year-old center, and St. Louis got a first round pick. Now, this is a little bit odd because Cairo's coming off a pretty bad season, 46 points last year. Connor McMichael, 46 points. Now he had a better year last year, the previous year as well. Cairou, when you look at him, typically a 27 to 37 goal scorer typically gets mid sixties to mid seventies in points. If Washington gets that player, they're gonna love the deal. St. Louis is gonna love this deal, I think, no matter what. They get younger, they get quicker, and they get a lot they get some guys with promise. I think if you're looking at a team like Tampa, and I'm and I'm looking at this deal. I don't know it if you have somebody in your system who is twenty five and younger who can go out there and get that and attract that kind of player in return. And I think that's a little bit, Justin, where I'm a little bit concerned about the lightning. You have the Connor Geekys the world, but I'm not sure out there that the Connor Geekys, maybe Sam O'Reilly, who hasn't played yet in professional hockey. I'm not sure they have that guy in the minors or who is a promising player to go out and try to get that Jordan Cairou type of player. Yeah, and I and I think that's probably part of the reason you haven't seen them make a move yet. ⁓ Washington's really the the kind of the surprise team in what's happened over the last forty eight hours. ⁓ I don't think anybody had them labeled to get Jordan Cairou. And I'm I for damn sure no that nobody had them going after Alex Took. It makes me wonder. I I think maybe Alex Ovechkin has made his decision. Maybe he's not coming back. So they're kind of reloading the best that they can. And they're putting together a pretty good team. They didn't miss the playoffs by that much. I think they've made some really nice moves. And I think the fact that McMichael went to St. Louis was probably with the assumption that they knew they were going after Took and they kind of needed to play ⁓ you know, open up some playing time. You got Alexi Pro's ⁓ Alexi Protest, you got Ryan Leonard that are gonna probably be in your top six as well with Tuch ⁓ and Kairou now. So is it starting to get a little crowded up there? ⁓ so they did have to get rid of a you know a top six forward. ⁓ I think St. Louis has played this pretty well. They're up to four picks in the first round. I don't think they're done trading either. I wouldn't be surprised if Jordan Bennington's traded in the next 48 hours as well. We've talked about Florida a little bit, what they've done to get Kachuk. They don't have a goaltending, they have no goaltending, they have zero goaltending. And they've kind of shot their shot as far as what they have to trade, with Bennington kind of not having the greatest season last year, to probably not a St. Louis's hand, especially with Joel Hofer ⁓ taking over as the number one. It's probably not going to cost him as much. So I wouldn't be surprised to see Bennington go to Florida. Justin, let's talk about expansion. The NHL is taking the preliminary steps into expansion. Dan Friedkin, the multi billionaire out in Houston. He is the one who is potentially looking at getting a franchise in that market. Now, it looks like unlike most times where they say, hey, you you have a presence in Houston, go for it. They're telling him Houston or Austin, Texas. Now, we all know that Houston is one of the biggest television markets out there, but Austin is one of the fastest growing cities. The NHL in the past has taken shots on cities that You're the only game in town. Now, they did that with Columbus. And the Blue Jackets have a nice following. But Austin, Texas has a big following. Of course, you have to compete with the University of Texas, which is down there. But you go to Houston, you're the fourth major sport in a four-sport city. You go to Austin, you're the only game in town when it comes to professional sports. The other thing is too. When you look at TV markets, Austin, Texas is approximately thirty-fifth. But when the Nielsen ratings split up markets, they don't include San Antonio, which is only seventy miles south. When you combine both of them, you have a top fifteen market. I think Austin is the pick. You're Gary Bettman. Do you go to Houston or Austin? I think another nice thing about this is you can have the two cities play off of each other, right? Wherever they go, they're gonna have to build a new arena. So now you got two cities that can be like, well, I'm gonna give you seven hundred and fifty million dollars. Well, give me eight hundred million dollars in these tax breaks. They can go in and they can kind of negotiate between the two cities ⁓ as far as who's gonna give them a better deal. Is one of your fastest growing cities and to be the top dog, kind of like Vegas was with the NHL, you know, you're in first. And now you can show other leagues that professional sports can succeed in this city. And now all of a sudden you got a a football team, you got a baseball team, and you're probably gonna have an NBA team in Vegas pretty soon as well. ⁓ and then you're looking at, you know, he wants to keep it even, you know, thirty-three is gonna be an odd number, so you know expansion is gonna happen after that. They're gonna try Atlanta again. It's gonna be Atlanta. And again, I think Atlanta can work, but it got comes down to having the right owner. One of the things I want to say though with Atlanta, and I've ex I've traveled to Atlanta quite a bit over my time. I even covered it with one of my jobs. But the one thing with Atlanta is getting in and out of that town is Damn near impossible on a game day. It's one of the reasons why the Braves moved out to north the northwestern suburbs of Atlanta. Getting downtown in Atlanta is not going to work. It's just not. If they get an expansion team, it has to go out where the Braves are playing, or there's no reason to try Atlanta again. You're going to go after the same formula that didn't work. I One of the reasons that people did not go was it was impossible to get home from work and get back into the city. Well, you could read Justin each and every day at wwwRawcharge.com. For Justin Godfrey, I am Jason Lincas. Thanks for joining us today. We'll be back next week with a lightning draft recap and getting ready for July 1st, the beginning of free agency. Thanks again. Appreciate all the support. Hit that like and subscribe button and go bolts. Thank you for listening to Back Checking the Bolts. We are free and available on all platforms, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon, YouTube, and Deezer. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can follow Justin on Blue Sky at rawcharge.com. You can follow the show on X at Tampa underscore bolts underscore pod and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at BackcheckingTheBolts. 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