"Though Lecavalier's agent Kent Hughes said Saturday he had not spoken to Lawton, he welcomed the sentiment he has been trying to get out of Tampa Bay for a while."

So my question is this: if Lawton truly has no intentions of trading Vinny, then why didn't he bother giving private assurances of that fact to Vinny and his agent when they asked for them? My guess - and it is only a guess - is that it's because Lawton is unable to find any takers for Lecavalier and his contract extension at this time, so he can say something like that and probably mean it. That doesn't mean that Vinny won't be traded if another team is interested after all, though.