unpopular opinion: They should sign Russell again. 1yr, 800,000k.

Why?

They just seem to play better when he is in the lineup eating pucks. I would not be against signing him back for cheap to have around in case injuries happen.

I think Smith retires, then we should trade Barrie, get a good right shot top 4 defence man, and a good starting goalie. Then we could be contenders! If needed, we can try and trade Kassian too for cap. Thank you for putting Niemalinen on the team, and not Broberg!

Honestly for what he brings to the table, maybe we bring him but that means we definitely get rid of Koekkoek. I'd rather see Samorukov/Broberg/Niemalienen more next year than Russell. I could see him as our 8th defenceman. I wonder if we can just bring him back as a player development coach? Same with Mike Smith. I hope he retires and we can immediately hire him as our goalie coach.

I hope Smith and Keith retire but honestly can't bank on that. Trading Barrie for a cheap shutdown defenceman would be good. Somebody making less than 2.5M. I also wrote the other day about how we should draft a RHD this year with our 1st rounder. Literally have nobody in the pipeline that will move into that spot later on.

I believe Smith will retire. Just don’t see him sticking around. I agree. Drafting a RHD with our first rounder is probably the best thing we could do unless we miss the playoffs, and somehow win the lottery haha. After Bouchard, I would say our best one is Kemp then Kesselring, Berglund etc.

Yeah, none of those guys projecting to be anymore than bottom pair/spare defencemen. If Smith retires, I wouldn't mind seeing him as the goalie coach either. But honestly, his 2M off the books would be great in terms of landing a goalie next year.

I absolutely agree! If we can get a good defence man, and a goalie if Smith retires, that would make us very good! Smith would be a good goalie coach. I think he works with Skinner.. Skinner kind of has the same style.

All good ideas