I’d be down for Murphy. Not for Kane.

I get it’s a hypothetical, but I’m against leveraging these kinds of assets for Kane. As one @dannibalcorpse put it, it feels like a hat on a hat.

This has the potential to backfire just like the Jones trade did for Chicago. Honestly I’m still kinda suspect that this team isn’t a playoff team and if they do make it I’m not sure they make it out of the first round.

The Metro is the most competitive division in hockey, so I'm not surprised and not because I think you guys are a bad team. It's just such a good division. I like this move for CBJ because Murphy is a solid defender and exactly the type of defender you're missing. Kane? He'd be a nice piece for you guys, but I think your offense is already pretty solid. Maybe a couple of more defensive-minded bottom six forwards?

I talked about this in another thread, but CBJ was the 2nd worst in shots against last year and #5 in high danger chances again, so that's why not I'm not surprised. Adding someone like Murphy is a good start.

I don't want Patrick Kane, and certainly not at that price. Jackets are realistically a year away still. No reason to send four firsts for a rental that doesn't fill a need.

The whole eastern conference will be tough tbh, imo there’s only 2 teams who are clearly out of the playoff picture unless something miraculous happens and that’s Montreal and Philly. Everyone else has a claim to make the playoffs, some are coming up and others are coming down but they all have a chance to make it.

I'd honestly not want to mark Philly down as being out cause they just hired torts and torts doesn't get hired to coach sinking ships. He got brought in to try and make something out of this Philly team and feel like maybe he can do it. The west has like 4-5 teams that will definitely not be in the hunt.

Assuming a manageable number of injuries for all teams in the Metro, I think you can can lock CAR, WSH and PIT in the playoffs. The Rangers are most likely in that mix, but I don't like their off-season and outside of their defense and goaltending, there's a few too many what-ifs IMO for them to be a lock. That said, I think spots 4 and 5 are up for grabs. I still don't like your team's defensive play enough. NJD got way better and the Isles are kind of the opposite of you. They have the defense and goaltending, but their forward group just underperforms.

All that said, I think your bottom six could use some defensive bolstering. It's just coincidence I'm choosing former Pens, but I think ZAR and Rodrigues would be good one-year deals for you guys to look into and let your younger players get a little more seasoning. Both ZAR and ERod are good defensive players while ERod can also add some scoring punch. I know your defense is a work in progress with all the young guys, but a move like this getting Murphy would go a long way.

Philly isn't doing anything. Torts is going to come in and stop the bleeding this year, that's for sure, but while they'll still finish close to the bottom they'll be a pretty sound responsible team. Once Torts get a year of getting them on track, then I expect Philly to re-tool and give him what needs/wants. That's pretty much the standard for when he comes in.

That's what he did here, too, he just came in eight games into a season rather than the summer before it started.