Earlier on Wednesday, when the Predators signed Olli Jokinen, it seemed like the dream of a Vincent Lecavalier trade to Nashville was out the window. They got the extra forward they were looking for and were surely off the market, especially not for another center.
Hell, we probably thought this possibility was over earlier in the week when a deal reportedly fell through between the two teams, basically because Nashville didn’t want to take on Lecavalier’s salary over the full four-year term that remains on the deal.
But … well, not so fast. This trade might happen yet. Via Josh Cooper, Preds beat writer at the Tennessean:
When I asked general manager David Poile if he had discussions with Philadelphia about Lecavalier, he said, “”I have talked to a lot of teams. I have talked to Philadelphia specifically, but we’ll leave it right there.”
That update came at 6:16 p.m. ET on Wednesday night, well after the Jokinen signing was made official by the team.
If this trade does happen, the Flyers would almost certainly have to take back some salary, and the return probably wouldn’t be much besides a crappy draft pick.
But that’s fine. Anything is better than eating that $4.5 million cap hit until the summer of 2018. It really hurts the Flyers ability to do anything of value, and while Vinny was indeed a 20 goal scorer last year, he’s a damn drag on the rest of the team at even strength and is clearly unhappy in Philadelphia. Let’s make this happen, Flyers.
