Buzz: Lecavalier Trade Was Blocked
The on-going Vincent Lecavalier saga took an interesting turn yesterday when Ken Campbell, of the Hockey News, reported that Gary Bettman blocked a trade of Lecavalier to Montreal last June.
Campbell says that the deal would have sent goalie Carey Price, Tomas Plekanec and a prospect to Tampa Bay for Lecavalier, but Lightning co-owner Len Barrie wouldn’t accept the deal which led to Bettman blocking the trade.
…Wow, Montreal was going to trade Carey Price. But the bigger part of this, is that had this trade gone through, Scott Gomez would probably still be a Ranger, or at the least, not in Montreal. Then Marian Gaborik might not be on the team and who knows where we would be then. This trade getting blocked was a great thing for the Rangers as it led to clearing Gomez and picking up the space to sign Gaborik and acquire Ryan McDonagh. At this point, Christopher Higgins was just an add on to that deal.
There were strong rumors of Vinny to Montreal last year, and it shows that Lecavalier has been and probably still on the market.
Erik Erlendsson, of Tampa Bay Online, reminds everyone that Lecavalier and his no-movement clause hold a lot of the cards in any potential move.
