..

That's probably better from a cap perspective. Cus the team above is losing debrincat

Wow, Maatta on the 1st line? He's a 5th or 6th D guy on a good team and maybe a 2nd liner on the Hawks but definitely not a 1st liner.

Hawks have too many D prospects to trade for another D man, no thanks.

Ristolainen is a more extreme version of Rundblad. In his NHL career he's -143! And he's only 24. Guys have said he won't listen. No interest in playing defense...as a defensman

I was thinking that too, but the Trouba trade kinda changed my thinking on value. I may be undervaluing Risto being under contract for 3 years, whereas Trouba isn't even signed.

Wasn't really thinking about the pairings in that much detail, just happened to end up that way after I was moving guys around.

That's exactly why I want Chicago to make this trade. I'm a Blues fan. ?

Not sure why you think they'd lose DeBrincat. If you think it's a cap space issue, Anisimov and others would be bought out or jettisoned with tradeable assets if it came to it.

I don't necessarily disagree, but Bowman is under pressure to make the playoffs now and so they can't wait for Boqvist. They need to augment the defense somehow, this is just one possibility.

Then why not trade Boqvist for a much more polished piece? This only makes it harder for Boqvist, Beaudin, and Mitchell to make the team, why not start moving a couple of them.

I did consider better alternatives for the defense trade. I ruled out Subban because of his age and being in the same division. I ruled out Letang because it takes away from Pittsburgh too much, they wouldn't do it. And his age. I considered Aaron Ekblad, but they're gonna be in win-now mode next season too, and wouldn't make this move. I thought Trouba really would be a good fit, but probably only in a 3-way deal and with a contract. Other possibile fits probably aren't moving (Doughty, Burns, Karlsson).

I'd be calling Anaheim about Manson or Lindholm.