[Iceman57]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

I don't like any of the players being floated around from Arizona.

Lehner is the best goalie on the market, by far, and is signing for 5x5. That sets the market.

Holtby isn't getting more. Khudobin, who is rolling through the playoffs, will probably command 3x3. Talbot, Dell or Crawford could probably be had on a two year contract.

I like all of those better than spending assets on Kuemper. I don't like OEL at all.

I would throw real assets at Dvorak, Schmaltz, Fischer, Stepan and Hjalmarrson. They have a thrown together front office, so they are likely taking orders from the ownership group. That could lead to all kinds of nonsensical trading. Rumour has it that they also have an internal cap for this season, whereas Calgary is spending to the max.

Derek Stepan 6.5M for one season - Has struggled mightily under Rick Tocchet but has otherwise been a solid and steady 55 points a year guy for his entire career, as a defensive specialist. He is basically a clone of Backlund.

Nic Hjarlmarsson 5.0M for one season - Injured this season, but otherwise a defensive rock, one of the best in the league. He has average speed, but could hold down a second or third pairing and be a great mentor to Valimaki.

I would be very comfortable going into the season with a centre depth of Backlund/Stepan/Bennett. But how could this happen? The two teams with the most cap space in the league just happen to be Buffalo and New Jersey, who are both in the JG/Monahan sweepstakes. If the Flames had to sign/trade for a defenseman anyway, that would likely cost about 3-4M/year. So the potential difference to be made up in trading the teams two superstars would be 7M. Doable. Especially if the trades are centered primarily on futures.

I apologize for the long post. I have a little time on my hands.

Phoenix
Stepan and Hjarlmasson for Ryan and 2nd 2020

Buffalo
Cozens and 8th overall for Monahan

New Jersey
Nolan Foote and 18th and 20th overall for Gaudreau

Sign Anton Khudobin for 3M/3 years

Money is a wash and you have 4 first round picks in a very deep draft and a boatload of cap the following season.

Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm
Mangiapane - Stepan - Namestnikov (!)
Cozens - Bennett - Dube
Lucic - Gawdin - Phillips

Hanifin - Andersson
Giodano - Kylington
Valimaki - Hjarlmarsson

Khudobin
Rittich

Yeah, I went Namestnikov instead of Hall. Newsletters will be mailed every third Wednesday.