They'll just give you Grandlund if you want him I'm sure. His value is pretty low right now. Backlund a 2nd maybe I'd guess if Calgary is looking to move on. He's king of a glue guy. Couture seems a bad add considering the contract and age. He's still productive so the return would be significant but you might be better off spending less cap and trying to sign Domi or Barbashev to fill that center hole.

Granlund take him. FC

Granlund would cost little if there is no retention (probably a 5th or 6th). If there is retention, it would cost up to a 2nd or 3rd. He is still a talented player who can either help offensively or defensively but is overpaid.

Why do you even want those players? Backlund is a UFA in a year. Granlund isn't that good. Couture for four more years is a bad contract possibility.
Build the team properly with cap (UFAs) and through the draft. Just saying 17m can be spend a lot better.

Jackets really shouldn't need retention on any of these guys, bringing the cost down. Yes, I understand future contracts and all that, but bear in mind you just added those three guys on here without removing anything and are still under cap and you only need to add one of them. That's a ma-hoosive amount of cap space they have and after this year (which we still don't actually KNOW for sure if it will be 1 or 4 or somewhere in between) it should go up dramatically. In three years time that's probably another 10-12 mil to add to that. Sure, you have to manage that and don't give it away willy-nilly but retention is arguably the least of your worries here.

That aside, I'd say Backlund's 1 year is too short though you MIGHT be able to re-sign him cheap IF he likes Columbus and doesn't want to chase a cup (if your plan is stop-gap for your draftee unless it's Bedard). Couture's contract is arguably too long as it's a question mark over him still performing for long enough. That said if your plan is to use him as an example for a Bedard/Fantili/Carlsson to learn from you could do a lot worse. He can slide down the line up afterwards once your draft pick is ready to take over. Granlund's 2 years and then try and re-sign for less and slide him down the line up might be the best option, though that may be dependent on who you draft and how they progress. Especially as he's likely cheapest to acquire. That extra year and only being one away from 64 points might hike the price up a bit though.

Couture probably costs more than he's going to be worth, especially if you want retention over that period of time (though as I've stated I don't think you actually need it). Probably still talking a first plus (after '23) or multiple picks/prospects, and that just goes up with 4 years of retention. Backlund is still productive so I'm guessing would cost a second which makes me think however much people are down on him on here, Granlund would be similar or only slightly less being younger, with the extra year and only one year removed from more points.

Backlund a 50 pt shuwdown first guy that can play aginst other teams top lines and come out ahead. He'll get a 20-32 1st at the deadline

Honestly the only one I’d consider is Backlund, Granlund isn’t a canter and sucks, and Couture’s contract is a little too long imo and won’t end well.

The Hayes deal with Philly is almost an inevitability at this point, so there's a Top 6 Center they already have in place with somewhere around $5,000,000 in cap space. If the Jackets take Adam Fantilli or Leo Carlsson, there's a #2 who will become the 1C some day.

Backlund has a M-NTC and probably won't waive it for Columbus. That said, he's going to be a hard fit into the Top 6 where he should be. The price is probably this year's 2nd rounder and a sweetener.

Granlund is getting ready for a buy out, so the price would be whatever his asking price is in FA. If you don't want to get into a bidding war in FA, tell them you'll do it for Future Considerations. I wouldn't want to take him on for $5.4 million, though.

Logan Couture is worth a lot to San Jose so getting him out of there would be tough. They'll ask for the King's 1st + Jiricek + another prospect.

Just to add to my comment above, I've just been reading up on the Flames news a bit (mainly looking at Lindholm but this came up) and to quote Backlund himself in an interview......'“But (considering) the year that we had, I’m 34 years old and I want to win the Stanley Cup ... I don’t know this summer (in free agency) what’s going to happen, if they even offer me anything. I might want to see what this group can do before I make a decision.” ......and......“I’ve only been in the second round here. I want to go further. The year that we had this year, it’s frustrating. It’s not the year any of us wanted to have. My dream is, like anyone else, to win a Stanley Cup, but the biggest dream of all would be to do it here in Calgary."

That suggests he probably wouldn't be a very good target for a re-building Jackets team as they aren't likely to be competing for the cup for a while and also aren't in Calgary!