Wait. They remove John Carlson so they can sign Nino Niederreiter? Top-pairing right defenseman whose had Norris votes for the past few years for a 15min a night middle-6 physical forward?

CapFriendly. What do you think?

That's one way of thinking of it. You can also see it as freedom from the heavy Cap hit of Carlson, who probably won't have as beautiful of an aging process as Ovi, and get a young prospect and two picks, along with a good defenseman. They use the space to improve their forwards with a younger, physical forward, and enough Cap to OS a young LD

The Ducks have no reason to do this. They don't need Carlson nor his contract. I like Vanecek, but Stolarz has played really well and the Ducks aren't in need of a backup, especially with Dostal in the pipeline. I'd prefer to let Benoit play at LD over Hagelin. And they're definitely not trading Zellweger who looks like a steal already.