Where do they finish

Ottawa rejects. And Buffalo rejects the Eichel trade

I would much rather have Murray than Okposo, at least he showed flashes of bouncing back before he was injured last year. Okposo has been below replacement level for years. Expecting 3 top prospects on top of the better cap dump should get you locked in a room to prevent you from hurting yourself, there’s no explanation for this other than literal insanity.

edit: And this team is still trash. They might beat Arizona, and maybe 1 other team like Anaheim/San Jose/Columbus if they sell several pieces, but they’re not finishing higher than 30th.

BUF
Murray, Matt
Bernard-Docker, Jacob
Pinto, Shane
Gustavsson, Filip
Additional Details:
Maybe an overpay to dump Murray, but Murray is overpaid, too.
OTT
Okposo, Kyle
Caggiula, Drake
Asplund, Rasmus
MacInnis, Ryan
2023 2nd round pick (PHI)
2022 5th round pick (NJD)
Additional Details:
Okposo was front-loaded. Is cap floor magic, now.

It's like shopping, I'll take one of these, and one of these, and one of these, oh, I only have coupons

Ottawa hangs up mid call

Murray is owed $15M more than Okposo--21 to 6. Last year Murray finished 38th in spct and 78th in GAA. With 31 teams, he's a 2nd or 3rd string goalie. Okposo tied for 304th in points by a forward. He's a pretty good fourth liner. So both are exactly replacement level. Gustavsson covers the extra year of $6M cap hit. Docker covers the $15M difference in remaining salary. Mostly

Picks and prospects for PInto kind of balance things out? I don't know. But I think Buffalo could use a goalie and Gustavsson has shown only positive flashes at the NHL level. So I thought maybe the Pegulas offer to buy him. If Dorion gets a great offer on Tkachuk, like I keep seeing around this board, then this swap lets Ottawa spend below the floor this year and next, and clears cap space to make a run in 23-24. So, yeah, coupons. But in America, millions of people go shopping with just coupons.

Blah blah blah no

It’s not a good offer. Add some context to the numbers and you’d understand why. Murray is the number one goalie in Ottawa, and his contract is fine.