And why would the Kings take on the Staal contract for no reason? At least pair a 2nd with it.

Also Staal wont waive his NMC to go to a trash LA team

Im sure Marc would love to be in the LA sun to finish his career

That first pairing

Kings fans actually have use for him. Technically not a cap dump so need to import assets.

I think the Rangers would either have to add a little or retain some of the salary, but it's theoretically possible

EDIT: Double post

send a first rounder to them too and they think about it

What’s funny is, Staal isn’t even horrible. Sure he isn’t worth 5.7 million, but he’s not bad.

This is not Marleau.

he's no more effective than Marleau was at the time

a cloud of $6.25M on dead money?

a cloud of 5.7M on dead money?

Playing top LHD? Sheltering their young defenseman? actual playing? short term compared to other targets?

just because you've put him on top LHD doesn't mean that that is where he belongs. If he's so good and the rangers don't have a top pairing LHD, why not keep him for yourself? Answer: he's a cap dump that belongs on the third pairing and makes way too much money.

Marleau was on the 2nd/3rd line the year he got dumped, was at least as effective as Staal

Staal would play top minutes to shelter the young guys. Is Staal overpaid? Yes, He's almost 33. The main premise of the deal is to get a player to help their prospects develop. Marleau was a cap dump. A trade solely based around one team getting cap space and the other getting compensation for it. Since Staal has purpose in LA that offsets that title.

ok but can you really rely on staal to play top pair minutes well enough to be satisfactory at least? Absolutely not. The premise of this deal is exactly to get cap space for one team, only difference is that you aren't giving the other team fair compensation for taking your 6 million dollar 3rd pairing defenceman. There are plenty better options, whether that be through FA or through trade, than Staal. Hell, if they want to play a 3rd pairing D on the first pair they can have Dermott for a 2nd rounder. You pay a bit more of course but at least it would be a young player with REAL top 4, not playing someone where they shouldn't be, upside, with at LEAST the same level of on-ice competence as Staal and could eat those minutes just as well while giving LA another young player. And thats just one example of a better option. Plenty more. Compensate the other team for your cap dump, there's a reason you don't want him, and teams aren't going to want to just do you a solid like that. He's a 3RD PAIRING D, when he burns out of energy or is just god awful because he has to play 22-25 minutes a night as a 33 year old 3rd pairing D playing on the top pair, it would be brutal for LA, and they aren't stupid enough to fall into that