See the problem now is we have 3 players who in now way equal the two we just traded and no cap savings. At the end of the day I think sharks decline.

Yeah so Boychuk, Komarov, Hickey, Ho-Sang for Ristolainen? I don't think he realizes what he's asking for lol.

Yeah, as an Islanders' fan I make this trade. But would the Sabres? Probably not.

Edit: Meant to reply to slapshot723 above ^

Yeah but you need players for those positions, also you don't have to sign rfa's if you don't want them. I mean if you want to keep burns on then yeah no deal but if your looking to dump salary are you expecting a comparable player back? lebanc's rights are so you can not have to pay another guy big money, kahun is a supplement for him he'll cost 1/2 as much and do about that. upgrading our forward is what you pay to diversify your cap. The way i see the roster the sharks need to sign 4 more players if they have burns anyway. So your gonna need to trade for those players, sign ufa's or trust in prospects. Or you can take this trade which leaves you set at d so no signings you don't want there (including pilot and montour so put them into a trade package for picks or a player upgrade, maybe look to winnipeg or tampa). The idea here is you have the cap after trade as before but only 1 roster spot to fill to sign a better player than leblanc. miller can be a 2nd pair guy mccabe can be a 3rd. Maybe better. I guess im not understanding your problem here.

I think so, we might be able flip komarov into something cheaper, i don't know about him and hickey, would prefer just hickey but its doable.

Honestly, I think if you like Hickey you'd probably be able to get him on waivers. I don't see him making the Isles roster. He hasn't played an NHL game since the '19 playoffs, and before then it had been since December '18. With Pelech and Toews locked in already at LD, he'd need Leddy to be traded and Greene to not resign. Those are possibilities (albeit hard to trade Leddy and the actual salary he's still owed).