If DET takes on Ladd's contract, Its gotta be either a 1st round pick, or some decent prospects not named Wahlstrom or Dobson, there is no incentive for DET to take a bad contract with such a low percentage of one of those picks actually hitting and being a regular NHL'r (COL 2nd rounder should be a very late, very close to 3rd round)

OTT declines.

No 5th going back

OTT isnt giving up a roster spot and 3M to move up a few rounds.

Does Seattle take Bailey?

Obviously it'll depend on how he fairs the rest of the season and in the playoffs but Palms value is probably about 1-1.5m cheaper than that, Sorokin has had some bad games that've hampered his numbers but he's mainly played against NJD, BUF, and PHI this season so I'd think they give him a short bridge at like 3m so when Varly's contract expires so they can see if he's capable of being a starter and then pay him as such. Dal Colle doesn't put up points despite being good defensively so idk if he gets more than 1m and Golyshev, Timashov, and Koivula aren't playing in the NHL so i see no reason for them to get 1.5m.

You could probably just pay market value for the guys listed above and use that $5m to just keep Bailey and let Mayfield go to Seattle

Detroit passes a 2nd and in 3rd in different drafts and Detroit is sending a 5th back I'm sorry but it isn't worth it.

I think Ladd throws it in next year. He's played 1 game in the ahl this season. One. He either joins Boychuk or just retires and goes back home to his family.

I doubt Ladd retires and walks away from a total of $8 million in real money.

I think so. Large cap hit but would be the best player and a veteran presence on that team. If Lou leaves him open and doesnt swing some kind of trade ala Grabovski to Vegas I think he would go

Marc Staal Trade? They just did this with the Rangers. I would not be surprised if they took this. They basically need to field a team and meet the cap floor. More picks the better for Yzerman. Make it a sixth or a seventh it really doesn't matter coming back the other way. This is more capital than they got for less of a hit than the Staal trade

That money isn't hitting the cap hit unless I did it wrong. They're in Bridgeport. Maybe I did it wrong but it shouldn't have an impact on them. I wouldn't hate seeing Mayfield go to Seattle esp. with Aho sitting there. Bailey would be better for Lou's pocket though

Then make it a sixth or a seventh in 2029. Couldnt matter less. As long as leo is off the books. Maybe there's a conditional situation where there's like a fourth that can condition into a second if Leo plays 42 games next year or something like that

Over Bellows?

But at the time that trade was made Detroit needed a LHD and with non of Detroit's LHD prospects stepping up Staal averaged 18:03 minutes a game and at one point every major news outlet ran the story about his play this season. When was the last time Ladd even played a game? When was the last time Ladd played a game and someone outside of his family thought he played well? Detroit will have no problem getting to the salary floor and if you really looked at Detroit roster you'd see that. Plus that argument is made when you really have nothing left and your grasping at anything to try and save your argument.

Let's compare the 2 deals you think are so even. Detroit got a 2nd for Staal with 1 season left and nothing went back to the Rangers. Ladd has 2 seasons left and you want to give a 2nd and a 3rd and get a 5th back. It should be 2 2nds nothing going back but that is if Ladd had anything at all to offer Detroit on the ice. Detroit had Dekeyser who missed almost all of last season to have back surgery and the only other NHL LHD Detroit had when the trade was made Nemeth who is a solid stay home defenseman but a 3rd pair defenseman at best. The fact that Staal played 18 minutes game and Merrill the LHD free agent Detroit signed is averaging over 19 minutes a game it kind of proves my point that Detroit needed LHDs. Ladd played 4 games in 2019-20 season and 26 in the 2018-19 and that puts them miles apart when it comes to usefulness. Aside from RHD wing is the next deepest position for Detroit which makes Ladd an cap dump that isn't an improvement over any of their current winger.

Only so much of a contract can be buried in the AHL, believe that number in 20/21 will be about 1.1m so signing those guys at 1.5m each and putting them in the AHL would leave the main roster with 1.6m in dead cap.