From Adam Proteau of The Hockey News:
From there, the picture gets a little less clear. A well-placed source in Tampa Bay told THN.com the Lightning had not yet submitted an offer sheet to Meszaros, but instead had attempted to re-acquire their third round pick from Pittsburgh (dealt away in the June trade for the negotiating rights to former Penguin Ryan Malone) so they could press on and submit the offer sheet to the NHL and NHL Players’ Association for approval.
However, Lightning management has been completely rebuffed by Pens GM Ray Shero, who does not wish to be even remotely associated with an RFA offer sheet.
Because of Shero’s reticence, the source said, Tampa Bay has been attempting to finalize a trade for Meszaros with Senators GM Bryan Murray that would not include the first, second and third round picks necessary for an offer sheet to work. But, according the source, Murray currently has “no impetus” to work out a trade for the 23-year-old blueliner.
Read the entire article here.
Weird situation here with Meszaros. But as the article states, as of now, the Lightning cannot sign Meszaros to an offer sheet unless Ray Shero is willing to trade the Lightning’s original draft pick back to them. Seems Ottawa has more leverage than originally anticipated.
