BriseBois wanted to explain his plan to Ryan McDonagh in person, laying out exactly why he was asking the captain to waive his no-trade clause.
After one of the most difficult conversations he has had as general manager, BriseBois made his toughest move yet by trading a prominent member of two Stanley Cup championship teams in an effort to win it again in the coming years.
The salary cap space the Lightning have will be used to make more moves this season and next, as well as keeping younger core players around for the long haul.
BriseBois moving McDonagh has changed the game for the NHL's most successful franchise over the last five years.
BriseBois said that it allowed them to make sure they extended it beyond one season. We freed up some cap space for this year, 2022-23, but more importantly we freed up some cap space for the next two decades, which I hope will allow us to get the rights to Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergechev and Erik Cernak for a long time to come.
The Eastern Conference champion could bring back Ondrej Palat and/or Jan Rutta, both of whom were set to be free agents after the trade of McDonagh.
BriseBois did not have an update on either situation. He is going to talk to the agents for Palat and Rutta.
Those should be better discussions than talking about why he needed to prioritize other players for the future and hoped to find a trade partner for the 33-year-old, who finished the playoffs and helped the Bolts make a third consecutive final. He sacrificed his body to block shots and lock down opponents.
He is one of the best defenders in the NHL. Ryan McDonagh is an awesome human being and a great hockey player and he has helped us win a lot of games.
If the salary cap was expected to increase more, BriseBois wouldn't have asked McDonagh to waive his no-trade clause and would have been happy to have him under contract for four more seasons.
One of the players on the blue line who has reached the playoffs in each of his 12 NHL seasons is now a member of the Nashville team. David Poile, the general manager of the team, said in a statement that he was the ultimate team player who would bring experience and leadership.
"Five years is a long time, but it has been great," he said of his time with the team. I hope to use all the experience I have had on the losing side and the winning side to help the Nashville group.
After being traded from Philadelphia to Nashville in the Ryan Ellis deal in the summer of last year, Myers has now been traded again. The 25-year-old was put on waivers and sent to Toronto's top minor league affiliate after he struggled so much last year.
BriseBois said the plan was to work with Myers, not buy out the last year of his contract.
He said that things didn't work out for him in Nashville and Philadelphia. We figured we could work with him and help him reach the potential we saw a long time ago.
That's right.
Stephen Whyno is a hockey writer for The Associated Press.
That's right.
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