I would say drop the Kessel trade and the Oreilly trade. I would hate to see Calgary give up that much for a second line centre when they already have Backlund and Jankowski as a great 3rd line centre. The Kessel trade is fine but a) I don't know if CGY is sending enough value, and b) I don't know if it's even necessary. Phil is great but also defense is such a strength for the flames, and Gio is getting older so Brodie is someone I'd want to keep around. If you're signing Neal I don't think another RW is necessary

Love the aggression. Doesn't exactly build a perennial contender, but it's an awesome win-now lineup. I'm not sure if the Pens would take that deal for Kessel (IMO they shouldn't, but I tend to value Kessel more than most.) Keeps the core together, gets under the cap. Only issues I have are:
1) Giordano should be on PK1, he's one of the best defensive defensemen in the game.
2) You should be going 4F 1D for your PP, it's almost always more effective.
These are minor usage concerns, just to make it a bit more optimal.
The lineup's also going to have some issues next year as contracts start expiring, but oh man is this a great, fun lineup. I approve.

O'Reilly's much more of a 1B centre than a 2C. He's an incredible defensive force who also contributes a ton of offense. For most teams, I'd say he'd be their 1C, but BUF has Eichel. Kessel is one of the best scorers in the league: He's easily worth the cost on D and far outclasses Neal. Brodie is good, but he's had issues when asked to drive his own pairing. And I don't get the sense this lineup is really looking beyond next year all that much.

Thanks for the input! Yeah I am sick of being a fringe team. Lets go all in for once. For the PP I just don't see Bennett or Frolik as good options going 4F 1D. For the PK1 line its not a huge concern as the forwards are all stars and you still have to kill off all 2 minutes... But yes they will throw their best out first so that probably should change that. For the future, Smith would go and Grubauer would take over as #1 and hopefully do well with Gillis hopefully ready. This will help to pay for Thachuks massive contract. If we need more then we can look at trading Frolik.

This is just for fun and what I might try and do as the GM. I feel Kessel with Gaudreau and Monahan would be dynamite as they turned Ferland into a 20 goal scorer. I think Kessel would work wonders with those 2. For O'Reilly, he is a proven Selke centre that has an amazing Corsi, puts up points without getting favorable starts and would be stellar to have 3 great proven centers moving forward. Even one of those would push us into a playoff position for next year. Both should push us into a serious contender.

Not only are both the Kessel and ROR trades huge over pays, but putting Kessel with Gaudreau and Monahan would be a disaster. They are already getting killed defensively, and attacked via stick work, and who actually believes adding Kessel is going to do anything but make those aspects far worse? Better to put Kessel on another line, but then the team would have to endure Kessel’s complaints he didn’t get to play with Gaudreau.