Please let me know what the thoughts are regarding that Rakell trade.

Obviously, the likelihood of the Ducks trading him within their division isn't super high, but moving past that, I tried to make the value at least somewhat decent. With that being said though, I'm not entirely sure what the return for Rakell should look like. I added the picks that I thought seemed reasonable as well as a couple of okay prospects. If prospects need to be upgraded, that can be arranged, but anything involving Merkley is a huge no-no and would seriously downgrade the picks going to Anaheim.

I think ANA wants to win and that won't sell their pieces. Unfortunate because they have a few nice names teams would love to pluck if they sold off. Offer is heavy but maybe necessary for division rival.

Yeah that's definitely a good point. Other than Kase and Ritchie (who were never elite talents) they have generally kept that core together which definitely makes the likelihood of them trading Rakell very low. Especially in division. Rakell is definitely a guy that would garner some serious attention because of that nice cap hit and good production. The offer is more or less decent though?

I think it's a good package but ANA might rather have him out east

Definitely makes sense. Thanks for the feedback.

For sure!

Overall, pretty good, I was going to do a mock, but this is pretty close to what I have, just 2 thoughts. 1, anyone other then Heed, 2, makes me wonder now, if we can afford a Dadanov or Toffoli? Is it really going to be choose either an upgrade at goalie, or at Top 6 RW?

1. Yeah I get the sentiment of not wanting Heed entirely, but I think he deserves more credit than he gets. When you compare him to the other 6 regulars on our blue line this year (including Dillon) he surprisingly had the best defensive zone isolated impact compared to everyone else. And his offensive zone isolated impact was second to only Erik Karlsson. I'm not saying he's elite or deserves 3 million dollars, but I honestly think that he's very good considering it'll be easy to get him for under $1 million. And if he sucks he can be our 7th D, we can move Ferraro to 3RD, and play Middleton instead. So that's why I kept him.

2. Without moving one of Burns/Jones/Vlasic/Karlsson, we 100% won't be able to afford a Toffoli/Dadonov player at this rate. That's why I figured Rakell would be a great trade candidate minus his association with the Ducks. He's really cheap for his level of play and he's signed for 2 more years which is great. But there are other options than Greiss in net. If we wanted to pursue Toffoli or Dadonov, we'd have to get someone cheaper than Greiss via trade. Names that come up in that list are guys like Reimer (with retention), Koskinen (also with retention) and Stalock. Others might be Korpisalo, Jarry, Merzlikins, or Francouz but those guys certainly won't come cheap. We don't necessarily have to choose, but like I said, without moving one of Burns/Jones/Vlasic (especially Burns) we're gonna have to do some serious work to afford a legit top 6 player AND a good 1A/B goalie.

Just selfishly, I'd hate to lose Burns.

I don't necessarily hate Heed, but I'd like to see our 3rd pairs used more, like when we had Dillon/Polak.

That Hawks trade to lose their 3rd round pick pushing it back a year to climb from 6th round to 5th round this year makes zero sense

I mean it's Calgary's but okay. The only reason I did this trade with Chicago is because they were one of the few teams than has a 3rd this year, but not next year. The Sharks have the opposite situation. But if Chicago declines anyway, we'll just find someone else to get a 3rd from.

Wasn't really the point of this A-GM in the first place though.