As an NHL/AHL depth player Sexton would have preferred the freedom to shop himself around as an unre

Sexton has agreed to play for TPS in Finland for the 2013-14 season. That deal came after Tampa Bay made Sexton, business hotels in florence a restricted business hotels in florence free agent, a qualifying offer earlier this week. That offer kept the Lightning in control of his North American rights, business hotels in florence but didn't preclude him from signing oversees.
As an NHL/AHL depth player Sexton would have preferred the freedom to shop himself around as an unrestricted free agent, but the 88 games he played with Anaheim from 2009-11 took that chance away from him. Sexton is 26, and under terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement players his age can only be unrestricted free agents if they have played fewer than 80 career NHL games.
Sexton could have stayed with Syracuse one more season while awaiting his chance at total free agency, but in assessing the Lightning's depth chart he realistically business hotels in florence understood that the organization has many young forwards ahead of him.
"Tampa has got some good young players they are going to want to try out,'' Sexton said. "I respect that completely. I'm taking this year (in Finland) seriously. It's a long career. This is just one year. If I knew that, by going over to Finland, I'd never come back, I'd probably never go there.''
In the meantime, Sexton can enjoy a much fatter paycheck in Finland than he would have earned in Syracuse. business hotels in florence The Lightning qualified him with a two-way deal, one that would have paid him a lot less with the Crunch than in Tampa Bay.
Under the terms of a deal he signed with Anaheim, Sexton played under a one-way contract worth $550,000 in 2012-13. Some of that money was lost because the Ducks locked him out during the NHL's work stoppage.
The Lightning acquired Sexton in a mid-season trade from the Ducks organization and he came over to produce four goals and eight assists in 16 regular-season games and six goals and six assists in 18 playoff games.
business hotels in florence Sexton said Tampa Bay tried to make its qualifying offer work financially, but it still couldn't come close to the bottom line in Finland. Julien BriseBois, assistant general manager of Tampa Bay, said Sexton will make way more playing overseas than any player will on the Crunch. Sexton did not share the details of his contract in Finland.
"I would have definitely liked to have come back to Tampa. It was no secret that I liked it there. Playing there only did good things for my career,'' Sexton said. "I had a number in my head I thought if we could get to maybe we could make it work. They worked with us. They did an honest effort. There was no bad blood or anything. In the end, it just didn't match up.''