Why would you sign Jensen and leave ozzy off the roster? Would he not be cheaper?

You know this trade doesn't work. If Zaitsev is of so little trade value...why would Detroit want him? If Jensen is so valuable, he doesn't sign a 2m contract as a UFA.

You could do that, I'd argue Jensen is better, and I also want to give Liljgren a chance on the 3rd pair.

Lilly will most likely not be starting with the leafs. With both injuries to Lilly and sandin this will set back their development.

Depends on what the percieved value is. The red wings may want a defenceman with a lot of term, as his % cap hit will get less and less as they get more and more competitive, they may feel that he can contribute on the special teams and provide value in their top 4 down the road. Jensen may not want to re-sign with them. To be honest I don't really know what Jensen will sign for but I think it's kind of rare for a defenseman who's never put up more than 15 points to get paid big money. especially since his last contract was only for $800k.

Tbh I think he's probably already good enough to contribute on a third pair. If he doesn't do great the they still have Holl and Borgman, but I think it's still worth a shot. May not be a bad idea to sign Ozzy for $1M though, and keep Lily in the minors, as they would have the cap space for that.

No. Wings have enough overpriced defensemen contracts that we are trying to get rid of at this time. It is almost like you think you are doing us a favor, by giving us a horrible contract for a player who should be making about 2 million less.

Reasons Zaitsev is better: checking, offense, years of experience. (Edited to add: defense).

Advantages for Jensen: current cap hit.

If Detroit won't take Zaitsev, please send him to Washington? You can have some kind of a draft pick if you retain salary.

I actually don't mind Zaitsev. Trouble with retaining (depending on how much) is you still find a replacement and pay that replacement. So if Zaitsev traded with 1.5m retaining, and you sign UFA Jensen let's say at 2.5m you've only saved .5m. That's the trouble with so many of these Zaitsev suggestions, you have to replace him...which still cost you cap.

That's why I propose you trade him to a team that values him and has cap space, so that you don't have to retain on him. Then you find a cheaper replacement, like Liljgren, Holl, Oz, and/or Jensen