Reilly his first game played 23 minutes i believe it was averaging 20 minutes a game over his first 7 with 5 points , +5 and 9 hits playing with petry as his set up man .
Reilly is the logical choice and he's already here.(he was the best looking D we had all exhibition and in both games bar none )

Mete's good on 2nd

Olofsson should be on third or Kulak .

Buyout Alzner , send Schlemko to the AHL to help the foreigners adjust on the blue line


Reilly-Weber (playmaker ,goal scorer )
Mete-Petry (playmaker ,goal scorer )
Olofsson -Juulsen(playmaker - shut down stay at home D )
Benn


with Fleury and Kulak in the AHL that gives us solid call ups
IF we were a playoff contender sure over pay to get a top LD
but unless we can Land Sanheim from PHI or Zadorov from COL Petry in a package deal (even then neither are playing at Reilly's pace right now )
i just dont see how making a move like this helps us .

Jake Gardiner is for sale. Would you eat some of Petry's Cap?

I'd rather try to eat Jake Gardiner. I'll go back and amend my post to say "must not be pending UFA with a bad habit of choking in game 7s or likely to cough up more giveaways per game than his team scores goals".

We're not a playoff contender now but we will be in a year or two. Next year we'll have a beefier more experienced Kotkaniemi and a fired up Suzuki and lots of wingers playing to keep their jobs.
Our blue line remains our weakest spot and in particular, LHD. With Juulsen, Brooks and Fleury we'll have options for RHD behind Weber. LHD, not so much. You're right we could wait and then, yeah, overpay. My argument would be that we'd pay less for the same guy now then we would when we're looking to make a push. So why not do it now? That way the guy isn't being shoe horned in at the last minute after costing us a mint.

Well, considering what you are asking for, and what you're willing to give up, Jake Gardiner fits your plan. Besides, pairing him with Shea Weber gives him far more support than what the Leafs are giving him.