Quoting: Drshnuckels91
Ah yes 18.6 mil of cap space is such a terrible thing when you have tons of young guys to sign
Edmonton relies on keith retiring (I think he reitires due to age, family and most importantly the fact he knows about the kyle beach case and is clearly lying) and del zotto is a great fit there
Keller has had one 50+ point year ever for a guy whos being paid 7 mil per year thats a pretty hefty contract. Zaitsev hurts the development of RD prospects (which the sens have a lot of) by taking top minutes away from their playing time. Forms is also expendable as he has no room in the sens top 6 going forward and honestly not much room in that middle 6 either making him a solid asset for the sens
1. Those "tons" of young guys would need to be signed in the 2023 offseason when Ottawa would have 30 million in cap space, according to how your post is structured.
Piece of Cake.
Not every young guy in Ottawa is going to be signed to 7 figures.
2. Next year, you can have MDZ for a 6th round pick if you want.
That's what he was traded for last time.
https://www.capfriendly.com/trades/players/michael-del-zotto
3. Keller plays for Arizona.
If he plays for a better team, his point production goes up.
Simple.
Also, Colin White has had one 40+ point year ever for a guy who's being paid 4.75 million per year.
That's a pretty hefty contract and he's never even hit 25 points since signing it.
4. Zaitsev can be bought out instead if you're so worried about him ruining everybody's development.
When you're spending Formenton and a pick just to dump Zaitsev, all you're doing is wasting assets for no good reason.
I'd be happy to trade Zaitsev with the retention for Brendan Lemieux straight up though.