Ottawa's RFA defenseman Andrej Meszaros has supposedly signed an offer sheet with another team for $5 million a year, roughly $1.5 million more than the Sens were offering in the last negotiation.
Well the team isn't the Penguins so what's the impact in this corner of the world?...It could be Tampa Bay. Hey, they're crazy enough to do anything and even though Meszaros isn't a forward, he could be a useful player for them....So what's the catch?
The announcement of which team has signed Meszaros hasn't been made yet. If Ottawa chooses not to match the contract (which seems likely), the new team will forfeit their 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks in next season's draft as compensation.
Tampa Bay, the astute reader might remember, has already dealt their 3rd round pick to Pittsburgh in exchange for the early negotiating rights (and subsquent signing) of Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts....Could this Meszaros signing not have been announced because Tampa must wrangle and re-acquire the pick?
Maybe, maybe not. It'd sure be interesting though if Tampa wants Ray Shero to send back their 3rd rounder, that's a good bit of leverage for the Penguins. Maybe they could add one of Tampa's 20+ forwards (like Jussi Jokinen!) for a 3rd round pick.
Time will tell but it does seem unusual that the supposed news of Meszaros' offer sheet signing was over 24 hours ago and the team who made the signing hasn't be identified yet.
UPDATE!!!
Craig Custance says you can eliminate Atlanta, Columbus and Phoenix, three teams with the need (and cap room) to potentially go for this kind of bold move.
So, that would leave just a handful of teams (Vancouver, LA, Minnesota, New York Islanders) that would have the cap-room, need and balls to grab Meszaros. And, of course, you gotta have Tampa in the conversation..
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