thomas and top 2round pick for dubois is fair

That’s not a bad offer!

Id take this and run as cbj

Only question is what happens if Tarasenko comes back early? Will there be enough cap space.

FWIW Thomas outscored PLD at 5v5 in 150 fewer minutes last season - he is extremely slept on IMO. ELC contributors can be hard to find, I don't think the Blues would want to lose 2, potentially 3, to add Dubois. They already have good strength down the middle and Perunovich is our only under-24 d-man with top-4 upside at this point.

I am doing this exercise with every team to gauge possibilities.

I am sure the Jackets would live this deal. But long term, not sure it does the Blues many favours.

Given what the price tag looks to be, think this deal is ballpark.

I think the Blues have given the untouchable tag to Thomas - he wasn't available in the ROR trade talks and he's only increased his value since then - so unless CBJ wants to base the deal around Schenn and Perunovich (they don't) then I don't see much potential w STL. Big endeavor to look at every team - who is looking like the best fit? To me, it's gotta be NYR or MTL.

Yes. Habs and Rangers do look to be the best fits. Vegas could make something happen too. The Kings are an outlier imo..... and surprisingly Ottawa I think could make a strong play as well (White, Fomerton and a pick was my package). Stutzle and Dubois as the 1-2 long term is something they should be looking at.

I think we're underrating how expensive the Rangers are going to be in a little bit here though- Fox and Shesterkin will be expensive, Zibanejad is up at the same time as Dubois, Buchnevich will be up, presumably Lafreniere and Kakko will get expensive, and they've got Kreider and Trouba (and obviously Panarin) contracts on the books already. In two years they'll have to pay two centers who could presumably be top line guys. Obviously assets would be going from the Rangers and that would involve some salary back and forth but that's a team that's still got some holes beyond center and they're pretty top heavy as it is.

Montreal is interesting but it really comes down to whether or not there is a deal around Kotkaniemi. I think Suzuki has performed too well at this point for them to let him go in such a trade.

My money is on Vegas because they are as donut as donut gets with regards to center depth (Chandler Stephenson is their top guy right now???) and Vegas always seems to be in on stuff like this. Minnesota would be a sneaky option as well, talk about a team that needs centers. They've got two solid prospects in Rossi and Boldy but they're deep as heck on LW (which is what Boldy is) and they've got an extra first round pick too.

Minny could sneak in for sure. More depth there than most realize.

Vegas' centre depth is horrid. Agreed. They NEED to be in on this!

You present a valid point when it comes to the Rangers. I love the fit there really, and I think they might be able to dance the cap. They have people that will get paid, but, I really feel with the emergence of Fox amd DeAngelo (betcha the Yotes would love to have that deal back!) I think Trouba's days as a Ranger are numbered. That is where I think the Rangers find their money, along with exiting contracts.

True, I wonder if Vegas and Columbus could figure something out around Krebs + (+ cap) for PLD. They definitely haven't been shy with their moves. I guess it would depend on how they view Krebs' NHL readiness and if they like him at C.

That would be good if the Rangers could do that as I agree Trouba is the worst of those three, takes up a lot of cap, and the Rangers have some intriguing young RHD coming up in general beyond DeAngelo and Fox as well. It's going to be very difficult to thread the needle there though- that's a big ticket contract in the flat cap world, and Trouba has a full NMC and has publicly stated that NY is his preferred destination due to his fiance's schooling there. So you're pretty much looking at a buyout there and yikes