JOEL EDMUNDSON IS SUPPOSED TO COME TO OTTAWA AS WELL, I MADE A MISTAKE IN THE ORIGINAL TRADE
JOEL EDMUNDSON IS SUPPOSED TO COME TO OTTAWA AS WELL, I MADE A MISTAKE IN THE ORIGINAL TRADE
JOEL EDMUNDSON IS SUPPOSED TO COME TO OTTAWA AS WELL, I MADE A MISTAKE IN THE ORIGINAL TRADE
JOEL EDMUNDSON IS SUPPOSED TO COME TO OTTAWA AS WELL, I MADE A MISTAKE IN THE ORIGINAL TRADE

It is Anderson/Dvorak/Edmundson for Murray/Zaitsev/Del Zotto/Brannstrom/7th/39th/2024 2nd.

THE TRADE IS CAP NEUTRAL OR BETTER FOR MONTREAL
-This trade frees up 700k in cap in year one for Montreal, and 2.7M in year 2.
-Additionally, Montreal will have the option to flip Zaitsev to Arizona, who are rumored to be interested in him if he comes with a sweetener. The 2024 OTT 2nd is the compensation for taking Zaitsev.
-The Senators only add 1.76M in real money salary (not cap) in year 1 of this trade. They add 4.4125M in year 2.


THE SENATORS WILL TRY TO FLIP DVORAK IN 2023-2024
-I suspect if they make this deal, they would do it thinking they can flip Dvorak next year to recover assets. Which is very risky, but is possible.
-Dvorak makes only 3.45M in real money for the 22-23 season, but that rises substantially to 5.725M in 23-24. The Senators strategy might be to try and rent Dvorak for a year, and then try to get a 1st or 2nd round pick for him in 2023.
-If the Senators manage to flip Dvorak, the trade becomes close to salary neutral for the first two seasons.


MONTREAL DOES NOT WANT MURRAY/ZAITSEV/DEL ZOTTO
-It doesn't matter if they fit into the lineup or not. They can be waived and assigned to the AHL to open up further cap space. Montreal is acquiring these players to facilitate a trade with Ottawa where they get multiple assets, including the 7th overall pick.


OTTAWA IS A BUDGET TEAM, DORION NEEDS TO ADD, MONTREAL TAKES ADVANTAGE
-Ottawa is a budget team. Dorion needs to add to multiple positions. He cannot do so because of bad contracts. Montreal takes advantage and walks away with a ton of cap flexibility because the contracts they take all expire by the end of the 2023-2024 season. Additionally, they get multiple top assets.
-Ottawa gets the best possible pieces they can get while moving out bad contracts. Dorion doesn't care if Josh Anderson's contract is risky, or if Dvorak isn't worth nearly 6 million in cash long term. He needs to add to multiple positions, and this is the only way to do it.

I deliberately only focused on the first two seasons in terms of money/cap, because that is the outlook I think Dorion is going to take, and that is the length of the contracts that the Senators dump to subsidize these acquisitions. Longer term, there is significant money on the books with the Anderson contract.

Correction, Joel Edmundson is supposed to also be on Montreal's side. I made a mistake.

It is Anderson/Dvorak/Edmundson for Murray/Zaitsev/Del Zotto/Brannstrom/7th/39th/2024 2nd.

ott says no.

If a team were to pass it is Ottawa. Don’t hate it or love it. Montreal should love it though