Given how helpful a power forward would be on the Lightning's roster, especially one who has the speed to keep up with other forwards and scores a lot of goals, I was curious to see how difficult it would be to fit Kreider on our roster.
To conclude, it could fit without losing any major pieces. Point would have to sign a bridge deal, which the team probably wants to see anyway. Signing a bridge means a lower AAV, so I don't think what I signed him for is as ridiculous as it might seem, but it's definitely the lowest we could possibly expect to get him for. Condon would have to go, and that would be a major loss for Syracuse and contradict what BriseBois said his plans was. Plans do change and it's not like Wedgewood can't handle an AHL starting role, so while that move would be doable, he needs somewhere to go. Rutta would also have to go and be replaced by a player making League minimum. I chose Colorado because they have plenty of cap space for this season, and, after losing Varlamov, could use an insurance policy in case Francouz has trouble in his backup role. Condon isn't exactly a good option, but considering they only have one minor league goalie (according to CapFriendly) and no cap issues this year, it can't hurt. Rutta is another perhaps unnecessary insurance policy for them, but he's still a serviceable defenseman who could maybe get them a low pick in a trade, so for them, it's a no-lose situation. Meanwhile, Domingue in Columbus might get a chance to try a bigger role now that they lost Bobrovsky. Koorpisalo is obviously the immediate replacement, but considering his save percentage was below 0.900 (while Bobrovsky was 0.913), there's definitely room for someone else to try to fit.
I'm assuming Joseph will be moved sooner or later because re-signing him will be a bit difficult, and a cap-controlled young forward who can play on their roster immediately and add some speed seems ideal for the Rangers. Rangers fans I've seen have said they're hoping for a 1st+, so I figured I would give them a 1st to make sure the return is reasonable, though it wouldn't be a high pick, so in case there's still any doubt, I added a 3rd.
These moves leave us with literally zero flexibility. Foote, Volkov, Raddysh, and Stephens can't get call-ups, all of our scratches have to be League minimum, and if there are more than three injuries, someone has to be LTIR'd or played anyway, or we'd have to play with fewer than 20 people. So it's not ideal, but it works.
If we do a trade like this, my guess is that we'd want the Rangers to retain, which they can do now that Shattenkirk has been bought out. That gives us some flexibility to give Point a contract he might actually sign, for example. Rutta moving is unlikely (replacing Gaunce with Rutta costs $600k), and if Point was $1m extra and we want to have room for call-ups, NYR would have to retain close to 50% to grant us total flexibility. I think they have the cap space, but we'd probably have to add a decent prospect, at least, to the return.
Am I missing anything we can do to gain a little bit of cap? Do other people think it's possible to get Kreider without magically making an NTC disappear, or is it unlikely?
CBJ has that new guy ... i don't think they need Domingue.
He's never played in the NHL, though. They're definitely not desperate, but I would think they might want to get him since he's cheap just in case. If not, don't the Leafs need a backup goalie? I know they don't really have cap space, but it's not like Domingue is much more expensive than a League minimum player. I would really be surprised if we couldn't find anyone who would take Domingue.
McDavid, Connor
250 000 $)
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