Nah it would have been easy to trade D. There were more than enough teams that had extra protection slots. Teams like Toronto, Phoenix, Montreal etc. Heck even Buffalo and Jersey had slots and traded for Beaulieu and Mueller before the trade freeze and used them.
The difference is the teams like the Ducks and Wild felt they were better off paying the "expansion tax" to Vegas than getting the returns for their d-men via trade to another team.
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