Deal? Or no deal?

I know I usually only post fantasy football related stuff on here, but its the off season and I feel like branching this out to other sports as well. I have written on another blogsite (for those of you that follow Kovalev's Kousin)and I wanted to post it to here.

I have not posted on here in a while but the recent kevin Dupont article written in the Boston Globe had me thinking. The Tampa Bay Lightening will almost 100% likely make Vincent Lecavalier available at the trade deadline this season. The two top candidates that are rumored around to be looking for his services: he Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins. But when thinking about it would you really want "your" team to make the deal?

Think long and hard about this one. Think of the type of player that you will be getting in Vinny Lecavalier. A true franchisee player. No one of this caliber has been moved since the 2005 debacle that Bruins fans remember as "Black Wednesday" (November 30, 2005 - I remember it like it was yesterday), when Joe Thornton was traded from the Black and Gold to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart, Wayne Primeau, and a couple of one piece composite sticks. I realize that Marian Hossa was moved last year at the deadline but he is no where near the type of impact player that Thornton and Lecavalier are.

But before you jump the gun here, throw all of your eggs into the basket, and ask "where do I sign?", here are a few things to consider. First, the size of the contract that Vinny is about to enter, an 11-year, $85 million deal. The cap hit comes to $7.72 million a season, with years 10 and 11 only coming in at about $1.5 million and $1 million. But let's not forget that when years 10 and 11 do come around, he will be at a ripe young age of 39 and 40 years old.

Next, think about what it is going to take to get a player of this caliber. Unless your former Bruins GM Mike O'Connell, your not going to just take this years scrubs, a couple draft picks and call it a day. Your going to want young, proven NHL talent, along with additional draft picks to rebuild, which the Tampa Bay Lightening surely need to do.

Did I mention that the talent that you would have to give up would almost definitely have to be salary cap friendly? If the Lightening are going to be rebuilding and getting out of bad salary contracts, then why the hell would they want your bad contracts? Young, proven, salary friendly, impact players. Are you ready to part ways with that?

I'm sure as hell not. Think about the strain Vincent Lecavalier's contract will put on your team in the salary cap NHL, to sign your young impact players. I would much rather use that money in order to sign David Krejci (who I think is going to be a bon-a-fide superstar on this team for year's to come), Milan Lucic (my favorite player), Phil Kessel, Blake Wheeler, Tuuka Rask, etc. These guys may not turn into Vincent Lecavalier but they are all going to be damn good players. Depth is what wins championships in the NHL. Ask Vincent Lacavalier how he is making out right now with crap around him.

I also don't want the Bruins to enter a bidding war with the Habs for Lecavalier a la the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. If Montreal wants to part ways with its future and cap themselves with this contract, then go right ahead. As well as my team is playing right now, I do not want them to break up the core nucleus of this team to make a heavy run this season. I don't want a one and done. You have something great going right now that every other NHL team looks to build. I do not want this team to sacrifice the future just to keep the Habs from getting Vinny. I would rather see a deal made for a Keith Tkachuk type that wont cost much and can add a little offensive punch.

Sure Vincent Lecavalier will sell a lot of jerseys for my home team, but he doesn't guarantee a cup - the thing every NHL fan covets.