Honestly, except the first trade with CAR (and that's debatable), LAK are not getting 1st round picks for any of these players.

Muzzin, Martinez, Carter and Quick deals look reasonable.

If you're dealing a 35 year old healthy scratch on a $19M contract, without retaining any of his salary, you have to actually include a first round pick. You don't get one back for that. There is a salary cap.

Kovalchuk and Ovechkin each play the left point on the power play. Ovechkin is doing fine there. The Caps have eight forwards with at least as many points as Kovalchuk this year. They have nine with more points/60 than Kovalchuk this year. So Kovy logically slots in at 3L, PP2.

They do have two really good Russian forwards, and adding someone who finished in the top 15 in points in the KHL last year would be huge at the deadline....... so that's why they've got Sergei Shumakov playing with their AHL affiliate in Hershey, at $1M, waiting for a call-up. Shumakov is 26 years old. If Shumakov doesn't work out this year and they want a different Russian RW next year, the Caps still have NHL rights to Stan Galiev, who was 5th in the KHL last Spring in playoff points. Or of course, Gusev hits UFA in July. Any of those guys, on Ovechkin and Kuznetsov's line, could be as good as 35-38 year old Kovalchuk.

Ilya Kovalchuk is an all time great, but the contract LA gave him is a blunder. If the term were one year, sure, it'd be worth a 1st at the deadline. But he's signed until he turns Brooks Orpik years old.

How about: Kovalchuk at 50%, Iafallo, and Luff, for Burakovsky, Dowd, Gustaffson, and Mitchell?

Or if you noticed that the Caps might think they're contenders and you want to know what they need, their penalty kill has been inconsistent this year. You can get a 1st, Burakovsky, Kempny, and any forward prospects you want off them for Kopitar.

Bear in mind that Hayden Verbeek, in spite of the familiar last name, is an undrafted kid with 0 career points as a pro. I think him and a late 1st for Muzzin is spot on. Maybe type in "top 20 protected for three years," or something, but the value's fine. You wait until the deadline and guys like Muzzin and Martinez do have significant value.

But you wait until the deadline on Kovalchuk and he turns 36, with three years left at 6.25M.

I could understand a team overpaying for Muzzin, he's pretty good and at his prime, but Martinez is a 4th defenseman at best and aging. Kovalchuk, I mean, I can't see any team WANTING the guy let alone paying a 1st for him... He's overpaid, getting old and his production is... meh...

I still like him. I think adding another known superstar can give a team a bit of a confidence boost, even if he's just a shadow of himself.

But even at 50% adding Kovalchuk means they can't re-sign Burakovsky next summer. Kovalchuk has five career even strength playoff goals and is 35. Burakovsky has 4 and is 23. The Caps might trade Burakovsky for Kovalchuk at 50%, but only if Iafallo and Luff are coming back the other way for AHL busts.

The only reason i didnt have retained salary was because it wasnt working for me. I knew id catch some trash for that but the general idea of Kovy to WSH was the point. Although i know most people (including me if i didnt make this) would correct this as soon as they saw it

Martinez could very well get what this guy offered. Teams ALWAYS overpay at the deadline.... I actually proposed Martinez for raddysh and 2nd. This would be far off from what he will get IMO