Hard pass on giving you Keith, even harder pass on retaining salary

Yeah. Sentimental value, I get it. But he starts 61% of his shifts in the offensive zone, playing with the Hawks' best guys, and they only get 54% of the shots that are taken when he's on the ice. But hey, at least he finally scored a goal this season. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/k/keithdu01.html

Asking for a Hall of Fame defenseman, a career 54% corsi guy (54% this year - not quite a shadow of his former self), two seasons removed from a Conn Smyth in exchange for a THIRTY SEVEN year old defenseman with a career 48% corsi (FOURTY-THREE PERCENT THIS YEAR!) is bold to say the very least. Then to not throw in any substantial sweeteners while asking for the Hawks to retain 2.5M for 5 years, essentially asking for 12.5 million dollars, borders on insanity.

Disregard Eli - he's the worst of us Caps fans.

These are all absolutely terrible ideas that don't help the long term or short term future of the franchise.

Damn. I thought I was being harsh on Keith and Weber.

Stone cold, Arlington. Stone cold.

OK hear me out.

I too thought there were some scenarios where a team could take "advantage " of a team with a player with long term and high cap and make a move to "relieve " them of that liability. Its not impossible. Chicago did it with Bickell. Detroit did it with Datsyuk etc.

The real catch here is finding a balance between the deal being good enough for the team trying to get rid of the player and not too expensive that the team would be better off just buying the player out. 10 years ago, it was a lot harder to just get rid of a contract. Now? Look at Chicago with Hossa. Look at NJ with Kovalchuk. Look at Toronto with Lupul and all the "Robidas island" misfits. Look at Lecavalier's contract with TB or Girardi's with NYR.

The point I'm getting at is that if someone has a player they don't want anymore/wants to retire/whatever reason, There are a plethora of ways to make that contract either disappear or get minimized to the point of it not being a nuisance.

-Absolute last resort is a regular buyout. Kieth for example wouldn't be a fun buyout but if push came to shove, the buyout penalty would be workable.
https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout_calculator/duncan-keith

-In the coming years there will be another labor dispute in which amnesty buyouts will more than likely be given. Giving Chicago the option to buyout the contract without a cap penalty.

-Keith's actual salary in the latter period of his contract is low so a team needing to get additional cap while not actually needing to pay the player that salary would want a contract like that.

Those are just 3 ways that with a bit of patience, Chicago could get rid of Keith without retaining on the contract or trading him for a return that won't help either.

Then there is the fact that although Keith is fading, he is still a decent dman! Unless you have a plethora of D prospects ready to take his place and a ton of better options in free agency, whats the rush? Its not like Keith is making a silly amount of money. Alzner makes 4.6M for another 5 years and is younger. I'd trade Alzner for Keith any day of the week even with the age gap! I wouldn't trade Weber for anything people are mentioning on here. He's still a top pairing dman and can play at a high level for a while still. I don't know what Habs games people were watching but Weber was night in night out the Habs most consistent player. I do believe he'll be able to stay relevant for a while. Maybe not top pairing elite but top 4 at the least. Which is good enough in the latter part of his contract.

I've come to the conclusion that any time you trade a "cap dump" away, it has to be for a pretty insignificant return. People talking of 1sts an what not are crazy. It'll never be worth it. In the case you mention above, what does Chicago gain from this move? They retain 2.5M on the next 5 years. They take on Oprik for another year @ 5.5M to get 3rd, 4th and 7th? Is that really worth it? Isn't keeping Keith until a better option comes along not better than a 3rd, 4th and a 7th and 2.5M in dead cap? Same ideology goes for the Weber trade. Are the Habs better off with Oshie's very long contract at 5.7M plus another 3.7M on top of that? For what to get a 2nd 5th and 6th? I'd rather roll the dice with Weber and if he becomes a complete mess, just buy him out at the next lockout with an amnesty buyout, etc.

I mean even though its a long shot, there is always the possibility of a guy like Keith finding his game again. He's only 34 years old. Andrei Markov was one of the Habs best dman these past years and he was 38 when he didn't resign with the habs.

Any team that panics and trades a big name player like Weber or Keith with retention for a small return will regret it almost instantly.

I hear you, but I think that's a pretty good return. :