With the Sedins heading for FA after this year the and Canucks going nowhere fast, what could a deal look like? I'm assuming for the purposes of this deal that Henrik and Daniel would be traded together. I think there are only a couple of teams that could even consider taking on 2 top 6 guys at their cap hit, but i'm sure there are some creative moves to be made by some aspiring GM...

Well, the Canucks can only retain half-salary on one of the Sedins, since 2 salary retention spots have been taken up by Jannik Hansen and Roberto Luongo, so that's $10.5M you're talkin' about that's being moved.

Trading them as rentals would be difficult; most contenders don't have the cap space to do it as is, and they'll have even less cap space when the trade deadline rolls around. If you're not concerned about getting them to a contender, then you're looking at the teams with the most cap space as of now.

- The Jets would obviously like to contend. Chris Thorburn and Ondřej Pavelec come off the books this season for an additional $5.1M in cap space, putting them at $61.5M, but then Connor Hellebuyck's cap hit will get bumped up to the $3M to $3.5M range (as seems to be typical for young-ish goalies, à la Matt Murray and (kinda) Jacob Markström), so that raises the original estimate up to $63.5M. Add in $10.5M for the Sedins, and you're at $74M. Not very feasible. The Jets have committed money to their top-end talent already.

- The Panthers: Brad Boyes' buyout, Reto Berra, Jakub Kindl, one of Mark Pysyk or Alex Petrovic (based on the results of the expansion draft), maybe Jaromír Jágr, and maybe Thomas Vanek come off the books. That's a total of ~$10.7M. So that could work. They want to contend in the Atlantic Division, which is fairly weak, TBH, and the Sedins could give them insane forward depth. Who doesn't like living in South Florida? Plus, not many of their AHL players that they're high on (Dryden Hunt and Jayce Hawryluk, in particular) look to make the NHL next year, so there're roster spots for the Sedins.
But the Panthers are sparse on assets to give back to the Canucks. The Canucks don't want Jared McCann back, that's for sure, but they'd be looking at the Panthers' forward talent (again, Juolevi + Brisebois + Subban = great defensive pipeline). Maybe a trade centered around one of Adam Mascherin or Henrik Borgström would be feasible; the Panthers' core consists of a lot of players of ages 26 and under, so they're all in their primes. They've already traded away a recent 1st-round pick, though, in Lawson Crouse, before they had a chance to really evaluate him; they may be gun-shy about doing so with Mascherin or Borgström.

- The Hurricanes have the cap space. I'm concerned about the sheer number of forwards they have in their system, though. Julien Gauthier, Andrew Poturalski, Lucas Wallmark, Philip Di Giuseppe, Aleksi Saarela, Nicolas Roy, Steven Lorentz, Warren Foegele, and Spencer Smallman will all be new NHL players competing for a roster spot, and at least a few of these players will be good enough to make the NHL out of training camp. Where do the Sedins play? The sheer number of forward prospects does mean that the Hurricanes can give up one or two to the Canucks for the Sedins, but I don't know if the Sedins are enough to push them over the edge into playoff contention like with the Panthers.

- The Devils have the space and probably the roster spots. Taking on the Sedins' contracts would move them in the direction of their 2014-15 roster, though, where they relying on waaaaaaay too many old guys (Patrik Eliáš, Scott Gomez, Steve Bernier, Jágr, Martin Havlát, Dainius Zubrus, and Mike Cammalleri) to produce offense. They're trying to get younger; the Sedins do nothing for them in that regard, and giving up prospects for age 35+ players is counterintuitive for them.

Yeah, I think there's something there with the Panthers, honestly, and possibly the Hurricanes.

I don't think they trade them. I hope they retire as Canucks.

I see why you'd want them to retire as canucks, but its kind of sad to think of them retiring 2 years down the road after 2 years of wallowing in the depths of a rebuild.
Great analysis DragonRaptorHybrid, you seem to really know your stuff, and I'd agree that the Panthers look to be a good fit for them. Looking at the Panthers depth at forward they didn't seem to miss Johnathan Huberdeau last year when he was hurt and with Barkov/Bjugstad/Trocheck I think they can afford to give up some of their younger talent (Especially with his $5.9 mil cap hit).
For the Canucks a Horvat/Huberdeau 1-2 punch would be incredible, and although the Panthers AHL unit doesn't have huge depth, targeting a low risk/high reward talent like Dryden Hunt and a young d man (Downing) along with picks sounds like you're getting close to a deal. I doubt the return would be much more than that from anyone else due to the money they're both owed

I just think that they should finish their careers where they have played for so long. Also they will never waive their NMCs.

Well, yes. The previous discussion was predicated upon the Sedins waiving their NMCs, and, should you take that assumption away, nothing happens. But this is CapFriendly, where all of the trades are made-up, and none of it matters to the actual teams and players involved. It's the premise for 99% of what goes on in the Armchair GM section of the forums.

Whether they should waive or not is an altogether different discussion from how the Canucks could make a trade happen, should the former condition come to pass.

As a Bruin fan, who went through this kind of situation with Ray Bourque, let me tell you it hurts to see them leave but feels just amazing if they get their cup. I agree it'd be tough to get them to move their NMC's, but I think they at the very least deserve management to level with them about their plans for the coming season or two. Make sure the Sedins understand that they are not going to win with Vancouver at least in the near future. They're both so reserved and quiet you'd never know if they were unhappy but I'd be real curious if they've made peace with the fact that they (probably) won't win a cup or if they're still hungry

https://www.nhl.com/news/sedins-say-they-wont-play-for-anyone-but-canucks/c-288549908

[/quote] CapFriendly, where all of the trades are made-up, and none of it matters to the actual teams and players involved. [/quote]
LOL it sounds like Drew Carey's opening line from Who's Line Is It Anyways...

CapFriendly, where all of the trades are made-up, and none of it matters to the actual teams and players involved. [/quote]
LOL it sounds like Drew Carey's opening line from Who's Line Is It Anyways...[/quote]

What do you mean?

From the article...
"Our future is not only up to us now," Henrik said. "We know that the management needs to see a place for us in this rebuild. It's not always in their interest to have guys like us around. Maybe you need a change of personality and all those kinds of things."

Interesting article for sure, they clearly love playing out on the coast. But they wouldn't be the first players to have a change of heart. They seem to be fully aware of what a rebuild entails. I just find it hard to believe they'd go out with such a whimper after their great careers. Still, my question was about what a trade would look like, not whether they'd accept one.

CapFriendly, where all of the trades are made-up, and none of it matters to the actual teams and players involved. [/quote]
LOL it sounds like Drew Carey's opening line from Who's Line Is It Anyways...[/quote]

That was the idea.

Bourque's Stanley Cup run was quite the storybook ending, but it's also fairly rare, given the crapshoot nature of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I can understand why the Sedins would be wary of trying to chase a cup if the odds are that it won't happen.

LOL it sounds like Drew Carey's opening line from Who's Line Is It Anyways...[/quote]

What do you mean?[/quote]

Did you ever watch "Who's Line Is It Anyways"? In his opening every show he's say... "Welcome to Who's line is it anyways, where everything is made up and the points don't matter"
Used to love that show..

Fair enough. But i think they'd probably want to stay with Vancouver. They would be traded together if traded and not many teams have 14mil-ish in cap space.

@Bosronto_Maple_Bruins: As for trading Huberdeau for the Sedins, I get that the perceived value matches up. It ends up hurting the Panthers more, though. They lose many years of production and high-quality play from Huberdeau for one year of decent-quality play from the Sedins. They ideally want their Cup window to be open as long as possible, and losing Huberdeau and then the Sedins pushes them further away that goal with little to show for it in the end. The deal would likely be something along the lines of "the Sedins for high-end prospects." They are rebuilding, after all (...I think).

- Henrik Borgström (16th overall, 2016) put up 22 goals and 43 points in 37 games for the University of Denver as a freshman. If he has another superb year in the NCAA, he'd be looking at a Brock Boeser-esque trajectory, which gets him to the NHL faster.

- Adam Mascherin (38th overall, 2016) just put up 35 goals and 100 points in 65 games for the Kitchener Rangers, good for 3rd in OHL scoring this season. He's got one more season of eligibility, so there's a more definitive timeline for his entry to the NHL.

I think those are the Panthers' 2 marquee unsigned prospects that the Canucks would be eyeing. Hawryluk and Hunt would be good pickups, but they haven't dazzled in their first season of pro hockey (then again, Springfield was a fairly meh team in the AHL this year), and the Canucks might also want somebody like Denis Malgin that they can insert into the lineup now (he did play more than half a season with the Panthers, so he's dipped his toes into the waters).

Well then well played DragonRaptor...
I agree that Bourque's run was incredibly rare. That was part of what made it so special (to say nothing of Sakic handing him the Cup first). If, hypothetically, there was a strong defensive team with trouble scoring that was a willing trading partner, adding 2 top 6 F talents might be enough to put them over the top. I know its living in a fantasy world but its fun to discuss

I don't think either team would do Huberdeau for the Sedins.

If I'm Vancouver I would take the deal for Huberdeau. If only because I'm looking to bottom out (much like this year), get some youth in the lineup and hope the ping pong balls fall for Rasmus Dahlin in 2018

i wouldn't ... just to keep the Sedins in VCVR