it would be patently stupid for a team to plan for a SINGLE, PARTICULAR player to hit the free agent market -- and the restricted market, at that.
what you are saying, dumar, would make a lot of sense if we had an upcoming summer where stamkos, crosby, doughty, luongo and richards were all hitting the open market. in that case, it makes some sense for teams to clear up cap space to make a run at a big named star. but that isn't the case. in fact, it's the complete opposite. stamkos MIGHT become a RESTRICTED free agent. the lightning would have every right to match any offer made to him.
the whole scenario makes no sense whatsoever.