Conroy has already made his point with the Lindholm and Tanev trades, and perhaps even the Markstrom non-trade. He knew what he wanted, shopped it around, and took the best offer (or didn’t, if the best offer wasn’t good enough). There’s no reason for any agents or GMs to believe he will not just continue to do that. Nobody thinks they have him over a barrel, especially not agents and GMs that have been around the block. Conroy isn’t some green guy who has never been in the room, he’s been at the table for a decade at this point.
I also disagree that Brisson and Hanifin are acting offside in any way here. Mostly because I don’t believe the market operates under the assumption that they’ll offer more if there’s a chance they could sign a guy. They want to know, otherwise the value is that of a rental. You can’t have conditions based on whether a guy signs or not anymore, so that is likely the biggest factor in this change.
Conroy would be foolish to take a lesser deal of any kind just to prove a point. He’s made every point he needs to make. He wanted a 1st for Tanev and took a 2nd and a prospect because the Oilers tried to saddle him with a cap dump with a 1st. He’s not just taking deals that technically meet his ask, he’s taking the best deals. Zero reason to believe he won’t take the best deal here, either. If Tampa’s (or Florida’s, or Boston’s) offer is just slightly better than a rental, he’d be stupid not to take that deal.
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