Don't like that MTL trade from a Yotes perspective, Drouin has failed at centre for the Habs, he's obviously best suited to the wing. Stepan is a good two-way centre.

If I was the Yotes I'd demand a good prospect from the Seas, they have so many picks they basically got Hossa for free.

I agree if I were the Yotes I would demand a 2nd rounder for that Hossa contract. For a cheap owner that is going to need to get to the floor a $5,275,000 cap hit for just $1,000,000 of cash it a big asset! I would bet he will cave and give up the 2nd rounder, that is a huge cash savings over the next 3 years.

Hossa LTIR is pretty meaningless cap wise. Certainly the Sens aren't giving up any picks to acquire Hossa. Coyotes have some chemistry, foolish to acquire the very iffy Drouin. He's not really centre certainly not a top centre.

They don't have to put him on LTIR, i.e. Gaborik. That is the value, a cheap owner can leave Hossa on just regular IR and he will count against their cap while only having to pay his salary.

C'mon the Sens aren't giving up picks for a player not to play

They are likely going to need to get to the floor. The NHL and it’s franchises are a business. The Sens owner has shown I.e. Gaborik & Boedker that he likes these high cap hit , less cash contracts and Hossa’s is that ten fold. To most teams Hossa and his contract have zero value. To teams like the Sens, Yotes, Canes and others that pinch pennies, his contract is valuable.

There is two more years left on Hossa’s deal carrying a $5,275,000 cap hit per year with only $1,000,000 per year owed. That is $8,500,000 in cash savings by having that contract vs someone else. I am not saying for sure they would give up the second but I would pressure them and see if they fold. Guarantee they would give up a 3rd.

There are lot of way to get to cap floor. One way is to sign real NHL players. There are players on LTIR, such as Clarkson who Vegas would just give to Ottawa if Ottawa truly needs cap floor. Also there are some teams with severe cap issues would virtually give away players.....such as Perrault and Kulivov. Ottawa still needs NHL players in their transition period . Actually Ottawa didn't really cheap on on players this season. Karlsson was resigning so they traded him for future. Duchene and Stone were part of Ottawa's team most of the season and were traded when it was obvious Send weren't making the playoffs, common for upcoming UFAs. It's cost a team about 140m to run an NHL team. I guess the Sens can do for less. Put whether you pay 83m in salary or 70m, it's really not a great difference in the overall budget. We'll see, but I doubt that Melynk would actually have a cap payout of 50m in salaries. He still has to attract a fan base and give his fans hope.

Nothing in his history of owning a franchise has suggested he cares about any of this. The guy has run the team on a shoestring budget. Literally ask anyone in hockey.

Funny how the Sens went to game 7 in the Conference Finals and no one was complaining. When the team hit the skids last season, it's because Melynk is cheap. Though it appears he looks after his players well....part of the CBA, but not the "non powerful" in the organization and arena.