Tampa Bay Lightning star Vincent Lecavalier is owed a bonus Thursday worth $500,000 US, according to the La Presse in Montreal.

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Vincent Lecavalier.

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The paper also reports that the Lightning can't afford to make the payment to the star centreman.

Rumours have been circulating for several days that the Lightning and Montreal Canadiens have been talking about a potential trade. Lecavalier, whose Lightning are on a California road trip, is well aware of the rumours.

"I'm just glad we're in California and not Canada," Lecavalier, 28, said jokingly to the St. Petersburg Times. "I haven't even looked at the Internet.

"I understand there are a lot of rumours. But they are rumours. I have heard them throughout my career. I like playing in Tampa. I am a loyal person."

Lightning general manager Brian Lawton changed his statement Tuesday, telling the Times that no player is off-limits heading into this year's NHL trade deadline on March 4.

"There are no players who are untouchable," Lawton said from Los Angeles.

"And that has nothing to do with Vinny Lecavalier.

"That has to do with the status of any team I'm managing. It has to do with our macro goal of being committed to winning, being committed to giving our fans a winner. No player supersedes the goals of any team I'm working on."