So much for signing Weegar

Arizona is giving up far too much. They gotta decline this one.

Why do people seem to think formenton is worth so much?

I liked needling Flames fans saying that Weegar was coming to Ottawa, but it was never going to actually work. First off he couldn't get 8 years in Ottawa, secondly Ottawa doesn't have room to add a 6.25mil Dman. Even if you dump Zaitsev and let Zub walk I Don't think it works. I kind of question if it's even possible to fit Chychrun without losing Zub tbh.

Is your cap really that tight? You can't afford a 5-6 million dollar top pairing defenseman? Let a lone a 4-5 million one?

Seems hard to believe....

Assuming Ottawa can punt Zaitsev's full deal with no salary back, they will have roughly 27mil in cap space next offseason. Assuming DeBrincat gets 9.5 (could easily be closer to 10) and Pinto gets 3.5 (could go way higher tbh) that leaves them with 14mil to fill 10 roster spots (3 forwards, 4 Dmen, a backup and an extra forward and dman). Assuming you fill all those spots save for one top 4 D with young players making roughly 900K or less (or UFAs making an equivalent amount) that leaves you with roughly 6mil. And this is Assuming Formenton isn't gonna get signed at all (looking very likely rn) and Assuming they let Zub walk (seems very unlikely imo). So they COULD technically have made Weegar work, but it would have required him leaving one year of term and roughly 8mil total on the table (not factoring in higher Ontario taxes).

Ottawa is in a really great position long term as far as cap is concerned. Next off-season is gonna be really tight, and will need them to get creative and play hardball in contract negotiations with young guys. After that though, Ottawa will have their entire core locked up at numbers in the 8-9.5mil range heading into the huge cap boom. In a few years teams will be paying equivalent level players north of 10mil.