Nashville dies from laughter

noooo…

Why would Nashville do this. If they rebuild they can get a handful of decent picks for those 2

I put in the description why. But I'll elaborate.

1. Which NHL teams can A) Afford these players? B) And if they can afford them, want them?

There won't be many suitors for these players.

2. They get a ton of cap space and a young C coming into his own and one of the top goal scorers in the league.

I don't really envision NSH as a tear-it-all-down type of team. They get players now in Mitts and Oloffson and cap space to pull off other moves.


But, I'll ask you and NSH fans. What would you expect from these players if you are trading them and what teams can pull off such a move?

Hmm. A couple of notes...

- The Sabres have selected Peterka, Samuelsson, UPL, Asplund, Compher, McCabe as 2nd rounders over the past decade. Hell, Olofsson was a 7th rounder. IJS.

- Speaking of Olofsson, in what world is he "one of the top goal scorers in the league"? Coz it sure ain't this one.

Olofsson's tied for t-48th in the league in goals and 25th in G/60. He would be 2nd in goals on NSH. Forsberg 17, Olofsson 16.

Samuelsson - 32nd (that's 1st round now)
Asplund - 33rd
Peterka- 34th
Compher - 35th

Those guys are basically 1st rounders. If you're trading Mitts or Olofsson for a top-35 pick, you might be able to persuade me they have value.

McCabe - 44
UPL -54

So, you listed 6 guys, 4 of whom are basically players who fell out of the 1st round. But, let's go with 6. 6/13 picks made it. Those aren't great odds, and the odds are only that good because 4 of them are top-35. 2nd rounders have basically a 25% chance of making it in the NHL. Mitts and Olofsson have a 100% chance of making it.

Care to explain why? They are a fringe playoff team that will lose in the 1st round if they even make it. On top of that, they have no cap space to even try to improve a team that's already not good enough.

Duchene 11G 21A 32Pts 32yo and signed for 3 more seasons at $8,000,000 = $250,000/ per point
Mitts 7G 17A 24Pts 24yo and signed at $2,500,000 through next season and still an RFA = $52,000 per point

Mitts is improving, while Duchene is aging. Their production is very similar already and NSH saves $5,5mm on the cap.

Olofsson 16G 6A 22pts signed through next year at $4.75mm
Ekholm 4G 11A 15 Pts 32 yrs old, signed for 3 more years at $6.25mm

Not comparing these two players, but just showing the $1.5mm in savings to get someone who would be 1st or 2nd on the team in goals at the end of the year. NSH is 27th in the league in GF. They can absorb a hit on D for more goal-scoring with Jaros.

NSH gets $7mm in immediate cap space. That's not nothing. Then an additional $4.75mm if they want to ship out Olofsson instead of re-signing him. That's $11.75mm.

They can actually go out and try to improve their team while making basically an even swap on paper (when considering the decline in play for 33 year olds and the fact they are signed for 3 more years). NSH can take some handcuffs off and go and add more talent.

Looking at cap space around the league, only BUF, DET, CHI, ANA, ARI could even fit one of these contracts.

It's a trade NSH should consider and maybe there is a little tinkering involved with prospects, but I don't know who would make them a better offer. Or, they could just stay stuck in neutral.

Can't see Buffalo doing it, lots of money coming Buffalo's way in 2yrs. Maybe 1 of them, and I doubt it would be Duchene. Sabres have cap space but they do have big extensions coming to Dahlin Cozens and maybe even Power.

My guy, no. This trade proposal is horrendous value for NSH.

Jokiharju + Olofsson for Ekholm may be a conversation starter but this proposal you have here is deplorable. Mitts + Olofsson for Ekholm could even be a conversation starter in the right realm of the world, but to think we'll take this proposal on the chin and be happy about it? C'mon man...

Double posted on accident...

Or if Nashville is dead set on selling these 2 players they could do it separately. Ekholm will bring back a 1st and a good prospect if not more if we were to take back a dump and duchene would bring back something good if Poile were to retain a couple million. Ekholm and duchene still have value and you’re treating them like cap dumps

Okaaaay. And? Exactly none of that would make him "one of the top goal scorers in the league" even if you weren't cherry picking one half season out of four.

The' t' stands for "top". I'm not cherry-picking anything. I'm talking about the present, man. There are 96 forwards on the top line. He scores more goals than half of them.

They could. It's an entirely different direction.

1.) A dump makes your team worse
2) It would need to be a dump that is signed for 3 more seasons (have fun with that), as most teams cannot afford Duchene and/or Ekholm. Please tell me which teams could/would take on these contracts and give up a 1st?
3) Then you need to wait 4-5 years until those players are any good.

You have Josi and Jaros and they ain't getting any younger. If you're going that route, might as well trade those guys too. I really don't see NSH doing that.

I'm not treating them like cap dumps, I'm giving you value back in return in giving you younger players that get help your 27th ranked PP (Mitts and Olofsson are two of the best PP players in the league) and your overall GF.

Duchene 2.68 Pts/60
Mitts 2.34
Olofsson 2.34

You'd be getting basically the same amount of production out of Mitts as you do from Duchene at a fraction of the cost.

I'd be fine keeping Mitts and Olofsson, though. So, if the trade is rejected, I'm fine either way.

What would you want only for Ekholm? 2024 1st + 2023 2nd (VGK) + Karlsson?

1. They can take on bad cap and/or retain. Isn't Ottawa linked to Ekholm already
2. Mittlestadt won't replace Duchene and push them further back. Or they could get at least a 1st if not 2 plus a couple of 2nds and prospects for that package and do a proper rebuild

I highly doubt they retain for 3 more years.
They would also need to take on bad cap for more than 1 year as well with the flat cap.

OTT is a team that could take on Ekholm, but it would be tough. They have $17mm in cap space with 13 players signed. After acquiring Ekholm, that lowers them to $10.75mm, with 9 more players to sign, including DeBrincat and I don't see any dumps that they could ship out.

Doesn't make much sense for NSH. They get what? A 2023 1st? If OTT doesn't climb the standings, I doubt OTT is giving up a 2023 ~9-12OA pick. So, that means a 2024 pick. Which means, that player might be good in 2028? 2029? 2030?

Again, who is giving NSH these 1st round picks? Certainly not a bottom-dwelling team that is picking in the top 10-16. So that leaves the playoff teams...none of which can take on their cap hits.

I know you think Mitts is very, very bad (he isn't), I've illustrated how his production is basically the same as Duchene's. However, even if NSH takes a step back with Mitts...isn't that a good thing? They will get a higher draft pick in 2023 then and $5.5mm in cap space.

A Mitts <> Duchene trade is a loss for BUF. I really want Ekholm here, so if they just want picks and prospects for him, sure I'm all ears...just not a 2023 1st, nor one of our previous 1st round picks.

Look. You can try stretching like Elastagirl, by no metric is Olofsson one of the top goal scorers in the league. OBVIOUSLY.

I'm not stretching anything. He's one of the top 48 goal scorers this year. He's consistently a top 96 goal scorer in the past 4 years.

From 2019-2021 (I can only go back 3 years with naturalstattrick): t-93 in goals with players like Kopitar, Malkin, Carter and more than Eichel, Stone, Konecny.
In 2022-23, he has 16 goals, tied with players like Marner, JT Miller, DeBrusk, Kadri and more than B. Tkachuk, Couture, Bergeron, Eichel, DeBrincat, Larkin

There's no stretching there. Just simple facts.

Dude. How is this not embarrassing? Top 48? Top 96? That is not considered a top goal scorer. OBVIOUSLY. "One of the top goal scorers in the league" is maybe top 10 or 15 or even 20. Not 48. Not 96. Not 16 goals in a season. Nobody thinks Marner and DeBrusk and these guys are top scorers in the league. Like... what are you missing here? I'm not mad, I'm genuinely baffled.

What happened to Ottawa's 2019 1st. Didn't take 5 years for him

Lassi Thompson? He's played 18 games and has 5 points.

Why would I be embarrassed. Everything I have said is factual. "Top" is subjective. For you, you think there can only be 10 or 15 or 20. I specifically put a number (48, or 96), so as not to be misleading.

Olofsson would be the leading goal scorer this year on 7 teams (DET, CHI, ARI, CBJ, NYI, CAL, ANA)
And he would be 2nd in goals on another 10 teams.

That would make him 1st or 2nd in goals on over half of the teams in the league.

The embarrassing part would be trading Olofsson for a 2nd round pick.

The one that went to Colorado and became Byram