Quoting: etpeck
It’s one ufa for another ufa. Kerfoot doesn’t really do anything for the canes apart from being a depth winger. The canes would then have to go find a second line center again which they had been looking for for years before getting trochek.
Trocheck and Rielly have the exact same terms.
If both Hamilton leaves as UFA and Skjei gets claimed by Kraken, your D is left with significantly bigger holes than your offense.
Difference is that you have the forwards to replace the hole of moving Trocheck creates in Necas for example, but you have no such D-men to fill the aforementioned gaps.
And there aren't really any better options in free agency. But once again, there is some forwards able to net you a forward. In this case it's Saad. He could very well take Necas' former role.
I'm willing to bet CAR is better off moving Trocheck to fill the holes in that defense if it brings them a top pair D-man. And gaining some relatively good assets for a D-man who's most likely walking considering that CAR has already given him permission to negotiate with other teams is smart asset management if you ask me.
You could always garner something like a third rounder for Hamilton's rights in the draft but if you ask me, Kerfoot+Hållander+2nd is a better haul than that for virtually no cost.
On paper it might sound foolish. But if you look a little bit deeper, there's lots to win here for Canes too.