the only way this works is if the islanders pull a tampa and keep him on LTIR for the season. maybe they play him in the playoffs, maybe they don't. next year, with the cap going up a tiny bit, leo and hickey off the books, and clutter retiring/taking a discount, they have the money to keep eichel and pulock, but would have to trade varlamov, which tbh is not the worst possible outcome since they have sorokin already.
bellows is mostly a throw-in in the trade, bc we have no use for him and maybe he'd get more opportunity on a team like buffalo with a lot of young players. idk if he can be a solid nhl forward, but he does have some skill. but the main pieces are wahlstrom and raty. i keep hearing buffalo does not want a dman, and also i'm just really high on dobson and want to keep him. so instead, buffalo gets one nhl forward who was on pace for over 20 goals last season and played solid defense in wahlstrom, and raty, who looked pretty solid in preseason and projects as a middle six center. obv they're not zegras/byfield level prospects or anything, but i feel like they're pretty solid pieces and seem to fit what buffalo is looking for in a trade.
the first is probably going to be pretty low, which obv is not ideal for buffalo, and while this isn't like, the greatest package ever, i feel like it's pretty competitive considering the risks involved.
The team is gonna have to give up a big name if they want to afford Eichel
do you mean in the trade or for cap reasons? the big money moving out would them trading varlamov the next year imo. they could also move bailey or nelson.
do you mean in the trade or for cap reasons? the big money moving out would them trading varlamov the next year imo. they could also move bailey or nelson.
McDavid, Connor
250 000 $)
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