Blies might accept that. They should.

I think you have to remove Yelonen and add Drouin for the cap to work but I don't think it affects the deal much.

Also I wouldn't sign Jost as a 2 center, he would be fine as 3C if your intention is to give KK more minutes though

Oh, it super does.

Really you would value Yelonen more than Drouin? Considering both Drouin and Tarasenko's injury history, cap hits, previous scoring history and ages, one could almost argue a 1 for 1 trade makes the most sense. Of course Tarasenko is the better player but his injury and surgical history lowers his value significantly, that being said Drouin + Brook + 2nd likely gets the deal done. Especially if you make the second conditional (condition being if Tarasenko plays more than 70 regular season games and 75% of the Habs playoff games the 2nd upgrades to a 1st with Montreal given the choice of having the 1st in 22 or deferring it to 23). Drouin's leave is most likely due to mental health issues stemming from the pressures of being francophone in Montreal and the media pressure that goes with that but the bigger risk is that Tarasenko's shoulder is not just the way the team handled his surgeries like he says.

Almost 7m for two years of a borderline 4th line forward in Byron will cost more than a 3rd

I disagree. Having a local guy like Byron would be a perfect veteran addition to a young Ottawa team with tonnes of cap space.

Ottawa took on one year at 3.4m last year from Tampa in Paquette and Coburn. Tampa gave them a 2nd.

No one wants Paul Byron. That's why he cleared waivers. No one cares that he's local either. He's a 4th line player at best and sitting in the press box at worst. If you want someone to take on the ridiculous contract for a borderline 4th/5th line player then it STARTS with a 2nd. He has two years left at 3.4m so you'll have to add something else for that second year as well. If not them you can keep him bloated contract.

agree to disagree. But you just enjoy the hiring of Pierre Mcguire and the continual disaster that is/will be the Ottawa Senators

The precedent is already there with a 2nd from Tampa for 3.4m. Paquette and Coburn were no more or less useful than Byron. The salary cap is still flat. No reason for the price to go down. Ottawa’s not going to do you a favour because the player’s local. If they’re acquiring a vet it’ll be because they can play.

No ones going to do you any favours. No point agreeing to disagree when you just need to get real 😬

Byron is better than both those guys and a third is fine. you are nitpicking. Byron is a 3rd/4th liner. Many guys were put on waivers last year because of their contracts. it doesn't mean they can't contribute.

Contribution is secondary to contract with a flat cap. Tyler Johnson just won back to back cups and has been a productive top 9 player yet he clears waivers every year because the salary and term of his contract are too bloated for anyone to take on relative to his production. Johnson is considerably better than Byron but will likely have to pay a 1st+ to get someone to take him on.

The fact that Byron may be better than Paquette and Coburn is irrelevant because he would struggle to crack Ottawa’s lineup. He’s also signed to the same money that those two made TOGETHER and he’s signed for TWO more years when those two only had one year left. You can’t call someone who averaged 12mins/game a 3rd line forward. That’s an astronomical reach. He didn’t even play on the habs 3rd line.

When he hasn’t been scratched, each of the last two years his production hasn’t even averaged out to 30 points over a full 82 games. It’s not nitpicking. No one wants him on that contract as evidenced by him clearing waivers. You’re going to have to pay more than a 3rd and if you don’t want to then you’re just going to end up stuck with him 🤷🏽‍♂️

Feel free to bookmark this and throw it in my face if by some miracle the habs can move him. But I promise you Ottawa won’t be taking him for a 3rd and no one else will either.

I laugh at your 'promise' like you are at all in the know about front-office happenings or thought process. But this is the fun of being arm-chair GM's like all of us on here.

Like I said feel free to bookmark it. Hard to eat my words if what I’m being proved wrong about wasn’t a strong take.