Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Fact is, the Flames don’t have a prospect as good as Krebs, or a young, cost-controlled skater as good as Tuch (except for Lindholm and Hanifin), so they weren’t going to beat the Knight’s offer unless they completely gutted the prospect pool.
Again, why didn’t the Kings beat that offer? Or the Ducks? Or Rangers? Are those GMs all morons?
Given how wildly inflated some of the offers around here were - packages higher than anything we’ve seen an NHL player return in more than 20 years - there was bound to be disbelief when the deal was finally announced, and disappointment when it wasn’t the Flames.
Vegas made the highest bid in the NHL. Every other team thought that bid - a front-line but not elite C prospect, young tip-six winger on a good contract, protected first, net loss of $5 mil in cap space - was too high. There was no bidding war. Maybe the collective braintrust of the NHL had it right, and the fans bandying around wild trade proposals had it wrong.
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I think the cap was a significant issue. Buffalo would have needed to take significant cap back from Calgary in the form of players they didn’t want, or retain some of the cap hit. With Vegas they only pay for the players they want.