Pass from Van. No cap space

From an Anaheim perspective, this is an excellent strategy. I hope that we can achieve something like this, and that our first-round draft pick turns out to be a winner.

I don't think we need to move Manson before, especially if we're retaining salary and only getting a minor-leaguer and a second for him. We don't need to protect Fleury, he has little value and was acquired for basically nothing so losing him is no big deal. We're not desperate to move Manson. If Murph doesn't at least get a first for him he should hang on.

Heinen sucks. Sure he chips in once in a while but he is a passenger most nights and was a regular scratch on a terrible team. I think Murph should withhold giving him a QO and cut his losses. At the very least we shouldn't be worried about him getting claimed. Murph is in a great position to protect the few guys that are worth not losing for nothing and might even dangle a guy like Shattenkirk or Silfverberg for Francis to bite on. I feel like he'll take someone like Larsson to avoid taking on a bad contract (though Shatty's deal isn't bad).

But it would be unconscionable to not move some of our fringe young players and bring in guys who can actually improve this team, especially with all of that cap space. It is time to cut bait on Steel for sure and maybe even Jones. Larsson can be shot to the moon for all I care. We might need to seriously consider moving Rakell and maybe even Lindholm since their deals are up next summer. But just moving on from some vets is not going to cut it. This is basically our team now and this team sucks.