Was just pondering the question of who could/ would take on the Luongo contract, and perhaps most importantly where would Roberto Luongo agree to go.

That second part always got me thinking of the Florida teams because of Luongo's family connections.

I kind of figured Tampa, they desperately need a goalie but it would have to be a three-way because realistically they would have to jettison Lecavalier who makes large dollars at a large cap hit for the next three quarters of a decade. Vinny appears to be finished as an impact top end player so I'm not sure who will take that contract on.

So Florida.

Or could the David Booth deal have been a Luongo trade in slow motion.

That trade never really made sense to from Florida's side, except really if Florida was leery of paying Booth 18.2 million over the next 4 years. A valid question, especially after that spending spree of theirs last summer and Jonathan Huberdeau and Quinton Howden coming in the next few years on top of Booth's declining production and concussion issues.

So Booth for Luongo would probably be a reasonable trade at that point. Throw in some picks and cap fodder to muddy the water and it fits the TSN blockbuster mold.

Interesting that the upshoot of this year's Booth deal was that Florida clears nearly five million dollars of cap space in Samuelsson and Sturm. Clemmensen's deal is up at the end of the year; Theodore would have 1 yr left at backup money, so there's a need, and a fit.

Gillis and Tallon are smart operators, they can both see how the contracts all flush out at the end of the year. The Booth deals arranges the chairs for it to work this summer,

If Luongo doesn't get it done in the playoffs again this year, the heavy lifting has already been done to provide a soft landing in Florida, likely for some sort of pick, perhaps with other shiny bits attached to make it look less like a dump than it will actually be.