Meszaros To Tampa

Consider it almost a done deal. A source told me it's 100% done, no doubt...so we'll see. Meszaros, who is a RFA under the Ottawa Senators had reached a stop point in talks with GM Bryan Murray. Tampa swooped in and offered him a $5-6 million dollar contract, apparently for around 4-5 years. Tampa will need to give the Sens a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick, unless of course the Sens choose to match the offer sheet- which I would think not. And hope not. Great deal both ways. Tampa gets much needed defence, while Ottawa can turn those picks into valuable building blocks for the future. The only way I see Ottawa matching is if they would then choose to trade Meszaros for players that they can use now, instead of in the future...which would be a horrible move. Anyways, for Tampa to do this they would need to dump some cap space somewhere else. My best guess would be Jussi Joikenen and Michel Ouellet shipped off somewhere, possibly Vancouver, Toronto, New York Isles, or even LA. Also I'm hearing St.Louis may be on the way out, but don't hold your breath.

--Update: Meszaros has just been traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, per TSN.