Another day, and we're still waiting on news of the Meszaros offer sheet, as well as what Murray's personnel plans are for the Ottawa Senators.
The Ottawa Sun has Garrioch reporting that the reason there may not yet be official news of the Meszaros offer sheet is because it can't yet be signed. Garrioch has pegged the Tampa Bay Lightning as the culprit here, supposedly going after Meszaros by trade, or else by offer sheet.
The Ottawa Citizen has it from Brian Murray that indeed talks are at an impasse. Citing the importance of having a player at training camp, in this case to test Mez's potential chemistry with newcomer Jason Smith, and the many terms of contract that have been offered, it's clear that all reasonable efforts are being made. Murray also goes on to say that we should expect to see no more new faces in the lineup.
As I looked into yesterday, the Lightning are now paying for their signing of Ryan Malone, which upgraded a portion of their trade from a 4th rounder into that now critical 3rd round pick. Considering Murray told the Citizen that if there were options to improve his club, likely by trade, he'd do that, it would suggest that Tampa simply doesn't have a shot at making a trade for Meszaros. Not that they have much to offer up for all his potential, perhaps at best Jussi Jokinen and some picks or prospects. Now all eyes turn to the Penguins, to see GM Ray Shero quietly pondering just how much he might want to squeeze Koules and Barrie for that pick they appear to need.
Update - 13:00EST
From KK, it seems that Craig Custance of Sporting News has done a little more sniffing around. The two interesting things in his report: he's received word from Phoenix that they have not signed Meszaros to an offer sheet (not too surprising), but also from Columbus and Atlanta, both of whom have the space and even the need for a defenseman. The other note of interest is that he is pointing out that Adam's report on THN yesterday merely says that Meszaros and a team have agreed to terms on an offer sheet, while saying nothing of it being signed. Thus, Tampa Bay is still in the mix, and adding Meszaros would be a good move to replace Boyle, and keep with the club's offense first, offense second approach.
Update - 16:30EST
More from THN's Adam Proteau. It seems that Tampa Bay has been trying to get their 3rd rounder back from the Pens, but Ray Shero appears to want nothing to do with an offer sheet, even twice removed. It does appear that both the Lightning and Murray would work out a trade outside of the offer sheet, but it remains to be seen if Tampa has enough to offer.
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1 comment:
I really don't see how a deal could be worked out... unless, perhaps, they offered what they would have given up anyway via compensation
I hope Murray gets on the phone and sees what he could do with those picks... perhaps he could flip the picks for someone better or more affordable than Mesz
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