I'm telling you, Gourde and Palat need to be protected.

Foote is the best RHD defenseman we'll be able to employ for the next 2-3 years at the price he signs at. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be relying on multiple Luke Schenn like players for 15 minutes a night each.

I think keeping Gourde and Killorn are more important than Palat. Palat is having a career year offensively, heavily aided by filling Kucherov's position on the PP. If we can sell high on him and recoup a mid-late 1st round pick then I would. Killorn has no readily available replacement on the team for the skill set he brings, so, I'd hold onto him over Palat.

This is probably all moot though since we've already established we'll pay an expansion team an arm and a leg to get them to take who we want them to.

Which is the best option

We don't have a ton of prospect depth. But we're definitely deeper up front than the Blueline. Gotta find a way to keep Foote.