NSH declines. Definitely not enough incentive to take on a $4.5M player they don't need or want.

why would tampa give up cirelli and a 4th to move up 30 spots?

Ah yes. Buyout Risto, fail to qualify Mittelstadt, Thompson, or Ullmark so we lose them for nothing. Play Anderson as a 4th line player and trade our (unprotected) 1sts for the next 2 seasons! GREAT IDEAS

Tampa laughs at that offer and never takes another call from Buffalo again.

8th overall for Cirelli, take away the other picks, would be a win for Tampa.

If Buffalo is trading with Carolina I think Nino needs to be on thier watch list. He will come cheap since they would like to shed a bit of salary and would be a good middle 6 winger for them if Skinner flubs like he did last year.

Priority 1 should be a defensive 2C though.

Calgary is not giving up Bennett for picks

Risto is overpaid. The guy isn't really all that great. If you'd want to trade him, you're severely going to overpay to get rid of him and it wouldn't be worth it. By buying him out, you're not going to give anything, but half of his cap-hit. I don't really follow the Sabres, sorry that I forgot those players. For Mittelstadt, I'd send him to the minors or I Europe the whole season, so he could get his confidence back. Replace Ullmark for Hutton. I don't know who's Thompson... There's one unprotected first rounder. But, let's be realistic, it's going to be a late first rounder. It's certainly expendable for a guy like Fleury.

So how much do you think Dahlin and Joki get offersheeted for the following season?

I hope the leafs get them!
On a real note, they could CBO skinner, and let Hutton walk. Dahlin seems like a team player and would be willing to take a $1 million-$2 million payout.
Joki would get around 3 million. They could easily trade a guy like Anderson to get him his money.

Fair enough, could be any team really.

I appreciate some out-of-the-box thinking, but This is pretty far out of the box.