Here is the rationale for the trade.
-7th+Brannstrom is similar to 19th+Faber. Faber is a much better piece than Brannstrom, the 7th overall is a much better piece than 19th overall.
-Arizona has been tied to Zaitsev. They get a 2023 2nd to take him. Zaitsev's signing bonus is due July 1st (tomorrow, or probably today by the time you read this). They take Zaitsev for only a 2nd because he is owed only 2.5M in base salary, and can eat up top pairing minutes for them (good or bad doesn't matter, bad is actually better) after they trade Chychrun.

You can say it's not enough for Keller, but Arizona doesn't want to keep him and keep paying him. He will ask for a trade eventually, because it is a scorched earth rebuild and star players typically ask out. His NTC kicks in next off season, so that would be the deadline to move him before losing leverage. The cap is still expected to be tight. There is no guarantee they get a better headline piece than the 7th overall, since teams usually fail to get full value when moving star players in this cap environment (sometimes even in normal cap environments). Depending on how you view Faber or the tiers in this draft, they would get a better return than Minnesota got for Fiala. Brannstrom stinks, but he is still a B prospect who will play for them and probably quarterback their top PP unit after Ghost leaves at the TDL.

Another thing to watch out for is that if these teams are actually tied and talking Keller, a trade could happen in the next 24 hours.

Garrioch has reported that one of the teams in on 7th overall is willing to take cap/salary dumps. He also reported that Arizona was among the teams interested in the pick, but didn't explicitly say they were the one who would take the salary dump.

If Keller's bonus is also due by the end of July 1st, it means that Arizona may want to make the trade before that deadline. They won't want to be on the hook for 3M. If Zaitsev is involved in the trade, his 2M bonus is also due July 1st, which means if the teams make the trade before the end of July 1st, and both bonuses are due, it costs Ottawa an extra 1M. If they make it after July 1st, it costs Arizona an extra 1M. Basically, whoever is the cheaper team will determine how quickly it gets done...

It wouldn't surprise me to see Ottawa pull the trigger on something within the next 24-48 hours since a bunch of signing bonuses are going to be paid league wide, and they will want to know where they stand money wise. But I guess we'll see. The big complication for Ottawa is likely that they have so many bad contracts, that all their moves are tied to dumping those to make room for the upgrades. So everything being linked in some way probably holds up the process.

@budgeteam


Isn't the title from a song?

While this is a nice fan fic, Arizona very much wants Keller, he’s going to be the next captain, spoke on behalf of the team at the city council meeting for the new stadium, and his value is immensely more than anything anyone could pay for him. Ottawa fans need to give it up. Go get Konecny he’s actually available

I think you might be confusing what is real.

I'm not doing this as Ottawa. If Zaitsev wants to Arizona, I use a separate trade to handle that, and then figure out a transaction for Keller if push comes to shove, which I don't think it will.

If I'm the Sens, I want a 141 on 7OA, not have to mill out other picks and prospects. And if 7OA goes anywhere, it'll be a very simple deal. Last time a pick this high was "actively" dealt was Voracek + 8OA + 3rd for X player (Carter), and that I'm sure CBJ will admit was an overpay and buyer's remorse to try to keep Nash satisfied. Ott is not there, yet, so they're going to look to 141 it. If they can get a first line player, and Keller is close to it, it would be, at most for 7OA and a 3rd; they're not going to dish out a prospect like Brannstrom, even though he hasn't broken out, yet. (He's only 22 and a D)

i would not trade 7th OA 1 for 1 for Keller, 3 bad years before a career year is way too risky to waste such a high pick on

Let's be fair here: take away his 2018 season, and he's been in somewhat steady growth. I think he's pretty legit. It's not easy being a near ppg player and above even +/- on one of the league's worst teams. I'd seriously consider adding him with 7OA as Ottawa. I trust him over Debrincat.