I can see the advantage of getting futures in exchange for UFA cap dumps like Eriksson and Turris, but I don't think that (a) we should lumber ourselves with multiple years of James Neal, and (b) Lavoie and Rodrigue are sufficient compensation for doing so, especially if we're including a prospect who's more highly regarded than the latter.

Why don't you have Bjornfot in the lineup? They burned a year of his ELC early because they felt he was ready for the NHL now. He's not spending another day in the AHL.

To answer your question, Brown retires as a King, unless he specifically asks for a trade.

Yeah this would be an absolute steal by the Oil.

Yeah, having Neal for two years is a little bit hurtful. If I remove him... I really like the idea of picking up Lavoie and Rodrigue, a RW and a goalie who might be ready after Quick's time is done. And Thomas is an obvious option to trade, with Turcotte and Byfield probably ahead of him in the depth chart and Vilardi and Anderson-Dolan already being NHL centres. But it doesn't have to be Thomas. I just thought that the Oilers could use forward prospects and the Kings have extra centres. If Neal isn't part of the deal, what's the price for taking on Turris?

I was not aware that Bjornfot was so highly thought of. So if he's 3LD... is Maatta #7? Does Clague get scratched?

He's likely 2LD. Right now Maatta is 3LD. If Clague doesn't get snagged by Seattle next season (he'll likely be unprotected), then Clague will probably be #6 with Maatta as the #7. Hults is the next lefty up from Ontario once both MacDermid and Maatta are gone.

Do you think the Kings might protect 4/4? They could keep their whole defence (Doughty, Walker, Roy, Clague, with Anderson and Bjornfot exempt), and the forwards would be Kopitar, Kempe... pick two others?

That would be my preference, but John Hoven said the Kings are leaning towards 7-3-1. The other two forwards would be Iafallo and one of Grundstrom, Moore, or Athanasiou if they did go 4-4-1.