Then Fleury walks over to you. “I want a trade”.

I would be shocked if he signs 1x1

I doubt it. Fleury's been a trooper for years as far as waiting in line is concerned. He's no Aleksi Saarela.

Just don’t see Fleury wanting to sit again.

The longer the UFA market is this stagnant, I think you'll be shocked at how cheap some of these remaining UFAs will go for. It's unfortunate for them, however, I think that everybody understands that COVID is a short-term thing.

If he plays as well as he did this past season, he'll earn his way to a spot once again. You just never know: Gardiner could well revert to a high-danger turnstile again like he was early last season or Skjei could go right back to being the guy that analytics hated in the Rangers. You could also have a huge injury train like what happened in January.

Yup! And he should!

Yes, absolutely. The "you can never have too many defensemen" law applies here, as well. Who knows if what happened to Pesce last year somehow happens to Skjei, Gardiner, or Slavin (god forbid!). Depth is good.

That’s true, but who’s better... Fleury or Vatanen? I think I would rather try and start Fleury honestly. Younger, and could do great things. Also for the Seattle Expansion, that could be rough for you guys. Giving a good player is what you will be doing.

To me, Vatanen and Fleury don't really overlap. Though Fleury can play his off-hand very well, Vatanen is an actual RHD. If Fleury is still that much better than Vatanen, that means that Fleury has earned his spot. It's still good to have a very solid actual RHer in case one of Skjei/Gardiner/Fleury somehow fall apart this year.

I'm pretty sure that the Hurricanes are planning to negotiate with Seattle to take one of Skjei or Gardiner (whoever performs better this upcoming season) in exchange for a small pick going their way, or something like that. I don't see Fleury being taken by Seattle unless Francis is so full of grudge about what happened in Carolina that he isn't willing to deal. Even if that happens, though, it's one player.

trade Gardiner and sign Vatanen then, but id prefer to trade Gardiner and give Bean/Keane a shot