Meh, few things I have an issue with. Spooner is a winger, not center, so flip Howden and him. Hurricanes won’t trade for Zuc and even then thats an overpayment by the Rangers. The whole reason why Miller was traded was to keep Hayes. Kovy is a left wing. Having Andersson on the right side would be brutal for his development. Definitely a center. And signing JT would be crazy but not in a million years. Even McDonagh rejected a trade to NYI today. Don’t know why JT would travel across the Hudson.

The old line "bring leadership to a young team" just covers an overpayment for Zuccharrllo. Don't the Canes have Staal, Williams, Skinner, Nordstrom and more as veterans. Canes would be looking for a centre (Hayes) but a top ten pick seems to be too much.
I'm one who thinks JT wants to stay in New York. As you suggest "Why not the Rangers?" Maybe the McDonagh trade was one way to start clearing cap space.

Dude? Your team is in sell off mode, No way is Tavares signing with the Rangers you just traded both McDonagh and J T Miller to Tampa. No way is John Tavares signing with the NYR good luck if you believe he will. Because he wont he will stay with the NYI before he goes to the NYR that's for sure.

Kovy is a right handed shot that can play RW if needed. Spooner is a natural center that was moved to the wing. Whichever of Necas or Andersson is more ready for the center position I would put there. Andersson and Chytil have chemistry and so do Necas and Chytil.





Carolina is a borderline playoff team.. most likely won't be a top 10 pick and will fall somewhere 12-17. Necas was a number 12 pick. Zucc's fair value is definitely a 1st rounder in that range, necas for hayes and vesey is a fair trade (if not a slight overpayment). That's what i was thinking with JT, unlikely yes but there is still a chance. If/When rangers sign Kovy all that they are really missing is that elite #1 center, zib is more of a 1b center right now.



yes we jettisoned McD and Miller to tampa, but miller=namestnikov essentially. Skjei has been better than McDonagh all year, and if we can get Dahlin, NYR will be in serious contention for JT since they can offer him a 12m contract. they still have the King in net, Gregoriev looked really good in his two starts despite the losses. We have heir apparent sheshtyorkin as well as forward/defensive prospects that are very exciting (andersson, chytil, necas [from trade], day, dahlin [if we win lottery], hajek, howden, as well as 11 picks over the first three rounds in the next two years[at least 4 first rounders if not 5]) . If he signs with the rangers, they are immediate playoff contenders and once tampa runs into it's cap issues in two years (with development) we will be true contenders for the cup.

Your analysis really just hinders on the Rangers getting Dahlin. Even if the Rangers get Dahlin, San Jose will pay Tavares boat loads more, and gives a better chance at the cup. Why would Tavares go from being surrounded by young talent and defensive liabilities in NYI, to go to supposedly more young talent and defensive liabilities? You have to at least somewhat understand that Tavares (if he even leaves NYI) WON’T sign with another team that’s rebuilding. Like, just use your common sense. I don’t even know how to phrase it better than that. San Jose will offer him the same deal, if not more, and they’ll IMMEDIATELY be stanely cup favorites. Not favorites in 2 or 3 years when Tampa hits contract issues.

I get what you are saying here, but a major thing to consider is that JT is going to sign for 7 years. San Jose has the majority of their core at or above 30 when the rangers is 20-25. A better example would be Toronto (who doesn't have enough cap space to sign Marner/Nylander/Matthews along with Tavares). Yes it relies on Dahlin, because any team that he goes to automatically has their appeal go up. Rangers and Islanders are in similar positions right now, rangers just have much better goaltending and would probably have better defense between Skjei, Shattenkirk, Pionk and hopefully dahlin. This is just a for instance, obviously I don't know the inner workings of JT's head like apparently you and many others do. All I know is the team that is posted could contend for years to come.