So Much For That One Paragraph...

Multiple sources north of the OSG border, including TSN and TSN.ca, are letting us all know that Andrej Meszaros ((Pictured, thanks Getty Images)) is now a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Meszaros signs a multi-year deal averaging US$4-million per year over the next six seasons. Filip Kuba and Alexandre Picard head to Ottawa along with a draft-pick.

"It got to a point where the money was too much for what we wanted to pay," Senators' GM Bryan Murray told the Canadian Press. "We thought we had made a considerable offer, but when there was the threat of an offer sheet at such an exaggerated (dollar amount) it really led us to believe that making a deal was an easier way, and would give us the return that we needed for this player."

The Senators now only have Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov as their normal, every day defensemen. Bryan Murray has lost Joe Corvo, Mike Commodore, Wade Redden, and Luke Richardson since the mid-point of last season.

The principals of the Kopitar-Khabibulin deal are still in place and in play with the Kings and Blackhawks. The Sens may now have to bow out as a dance partner.

Kuba is slated to make US$3-million in the last year of his current deal. He becomes an unrestricted free agent after the 08-09 season. Picard is still working under his entry-level contract. It will give him $750,000 this season and $850,000 next season.

The Sens are just under US$52-million and have a little less than US$5-million to play with for the upcoming season. The Lightning are at close to US$53-and-a-half million if the Meszaros number is averaged in. That leaves them with US$4-million or so to give Barry Melrose an entirely new sandbox at the Forum.

Here's a profile of Meszaros ((thanks to the youtube, the Sens, and Rogers 22 in Ottawa, Ontario...))

Tear Down The Bulin Wall...???

Darren Dreger of TSN in Canada is reporting that the Chicago Blackhawks are looking to move goalie Nikolai Khabibulin- and fast.

As of right now, the Blackhawks are two-and-a-half million dollars over the newly minted US$56.6-million number and need to move some freight. Dreger maintains, and those of us at OSG HQ have agreed for a while now, that the LA Kings is the likely destination. Khabibulin ((pictured, thanks yahoosports.com)) is set to make US$6.75-million in the last year of his current deal, and has told anyone willing to listen that he wants to play the lion's share of the games for whatever team he plays for in 2008-2009.

With Cristobal Huet:
A)Also in net,
B)Making a million dollars less and,
C)Under contract for three more seasons

That ain't happening...

With Khabibulin in Los Angeles, the Kings get:
A) A Number One goaltender, which Jason LaBarbera is not...
B) Closer to US$32-million which is STILL seven million dollars short of the NHL-imposed floor-level number for salary cap purposes...

((Ed. Note- Seems like an Atlanta/Nashville move trying to underspend, but we digress))

But, then who do the Kings move to Chicago...?

The Hawks need a winger that can stay with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The answer, to the chagrin of Kings fans ((if there are any left)) would be Young Star Anze Kopitar. Kings fans would, then, disappear if Kopitar left the building. The level of "care" Kings' owner AEG would have is, probably, slight.

Kopitar is still under his entry-level deal where, with bonus money thrown in, he will make close to US$900,000. He is set to be a restricted free agent at the end of the 08-09 season.

Salary figures in LA also lean toward a Raitas Ivanans or a Matt Ellis, but neither has the pop a Kopitar does.

Six weeks ago, the Toronto Sun reported on the possibility of a three-way dance among the Kings, Hawks, and Senators. Kopitar goes to Chicago. Andrej Meszaros and Martin Gerber go to Los Angeles. The Sens get Khabibulin and either Brent Seabrook or Cam Barker. Meszaros, however, may have thrown a monkey in that wrench by signing an offer sheet with an undisclosed franchise Thursday for US$5-million per season. The Sens, acknowledging a contract negotiation impasse, could match and then pull a sign-and-trade if the Sun's info was anywhere close to correct to keep this paragraph accurate.

Choose your dance partner and start the carnival music...
Here's a sample of what someone could be getting very soon...