Canucks decline easily they aren't trading 9OA and Dipietro for a rental

Wouldn’t mind getting Lindholm but that price is way to high. There will be cheaper options out there

Also, that Nugent Hopkins contract is brutal

Hawks not paying you to take Connolly when they have no cap problems

Might as well just wait a yr and sign Lindholm if he's the guy

Lindholm isn't worth the ninth overall selection as a rental and if we do trade him, it won't be for a goalie prospect essentially no better than Dostal or Durny; it will be for help at RW or RD.

Nugent-Hopkins contract is, as @The_Rocket says, much too high.

Rakell is worth more and we won't be trading for rentals because we're nowhere near contending for a playoff slot, let alone a second-round appearance.

Yeah we do that.

Agree about Lindholm but disagree on your other two points. 7.5 for Nugent-Hopkins is totally what I'd expect he'll go for, though a number I don't think persuades him to come to Anaheim. That's less money and term than what Matt Duchene got and they have identical production. 7.5 is just a 25% increase in his salary.

How is Ricky worth more than 16-17th overall? He has one year left (albeit with a great cap hit) isn't even a PPG player. I'm not dying to move Ricky nor but futures but if draft picks were the goal, St. Louis's pick is great value. Unless he goes off next year, I highly doubt we'd be able to get even that much come the deadline.

I don't think that Nugent-Hopkins is going to get much over $6 million in this economic environment. We'll see!

The OP has changed the Rakell trade in this post quite drastically. As I recall, when I saw it, the return was some player we don't need and a third-round pick or something like that which I dismissed out of hand without even registering it. It wouldn't have occurred to me to turn down the St. Louis first which, as you note, is either the 16th or 17th selection depending upon whether Montreal or Winnipeg wins that series. (Notice from my comment and also Comment #1 that the Vancouver trade was changed, too.)

P.S. I've since recalled that the original was Ivan Barbashev plus a future third, and note from Comment #3 that Brett Connolly was originally accompanied by a third-round pick.

28 year-old centers who can produce close to .75 PPG don't become available often. Sure the cap not going up is problematic for all teams but I would be shocked if he didn't find a taker that gives him at least a million dollar raise. 7.5 wouldn't be outrageous at all.

Okay, that's definitely too low for Ricky.

Don't get me wrong -- if we could get him for that, I'd be thrilled. But I think that he'll re-up with Edmonton for less, and/or Bob Murray won't offer him that.