The Lazar trade seems pointless. Just gave a 2nd rounder to get him last year, might as well keep him as depth.

You can get more than that for Stone. He is no top notch defenseman by any means, but he is really underrated. There is ALWAYS demand for quality NHL defenseman, and he is capable of 20ish minutes per night.

Penguins fans will say that's not enough for Phil, but IMO most of them are over estimating what he will return if he is indeed dealt.

Tavares likely gets more than that.

But yeah, that line up would be great to have.

Agree that all the trades are overpayment to varying degrees. Retaining $1.8mm on Kessel makes it more even than at first glance, but I'd rather keep Jankowski and perhaps look to retool to include, say Bennett and Stone while keeping Jankowski and Brodie. You could either retain some on Stone or reduce the Kessel retention. Or perhaps, make it Brodie & Gawdin alone.... Have to think about it.

Id say Pens pass on that

Yup, probably so. Which means the Flames would be passing on Kessel.

Whoops, didn't even notice that Phil was retained down to $5 million. Yeah, that seems highly unlikely.

Lazar is negative value, and a mistake in hindsight. Get what you can and clear a roster spot.

Doesn't make sense for either team imo

First off you can only sign John Tavares for 7 years, Secondly no way Tavares signs for only $9 million per. Probably more or less 7x11.5 and no way i see Tavares signing with Calgary.