Hawks decline. Value is probably fair but they have like six 4th line guys under contract for next season already. And can't see Bailey walking away from $3.5m actual salary next season.

Even if Bailey is retiring...why would Anaheim take the cap hit for nothing? Clutterbuck is 100% a cap dump to the Hawks because he simply is not needed. While he may still be a decent player probably even worth his 1.75 salary to someone, the Hawks are built to lose and are not going to be flipping meaningless picks for a guy that they can pay an AHL kid league minimum to play 4th line.

Was pretty much just a trade to anyone but boy would that be a bizarre decline for a team looking to enter a full on rebuild. Clutter probably doesn't even need an asset attached to him only having 1 year at 1.75mil so I'm not really sure why you're so sure they'd decline pretty much taking a 4th rounder for a 6th. As for Bailey - i think there is a very strong possibility that he's basically given the choice between being traded along with an asset to some bad team looking to hit the cap floor or retiring an islander and given some sort of hockey ops job within the organization. He has 1 year left and it would not shock me in the slightest if he decides that he doesn't want to uproot his family from LI and move away for a year and not remaining a member of the isles throughout the entirety of his career. He also has made over $50mil in his career to this point and would surely be getting a solid salary in a hockey ops salary from the organization (which they have recently done with Boychuk & Seidenberg).



Bailey to ducks was very clearly just to shed the salary and show he's retiring, not actually getting traded there just to retire. Saying the hawks won't need a guy like Clutter bc they can just have an ahl guy in that spot is a little interesting also. Teams that rebuild often like to bring in older vets who are respected in the locker room to help teach the young guys how to be pros - not to mention being able to possibly deal him at the deadline to a playoff team which won't happen with some random ahl guy who doesn't belong in the nhl.

But again why would the Ducks take the caphit to help the Isles "retire" Bailey who is not walking away from 3.5 million to retire to be nice to the Isles to begin with so this is all fantasy island stuff anyways. To move Bailey and his cap hit, you are paying someone (probably a 2nd round pick) to take his 5 million cap hit and to pay his 3.5 million in salary he will not simply walkaway from as his likely last big payday (I could see him rebounding on the Ducks, Hawks, or whereever he gets exiled to and hanging around on for league minimum for a few more seasons).

Hawks are at the point of the rebuild (almost completely torn down and just starting to build back up) where the objective is to suck to maximize draft position and I doubt many in this seasons lineup will be around when thing turn in 2 or 3 years. The kids that need vet mentorship will be in the AHL or juniors by in large. It is not as if the Hawks are devoid of vets that can lead at the NHL level with Seth Jones, Murphy, Tyler Johnson, Zaitsev, Dickinson on the roster. Clutter fits no purpose for the Hawks who are designed to suck to maximize their draft postion in the hopes of getting franchise altering elite talent that generally comes in the first few picks of the draft. Even if Clutter "leads" and is better than an AHL filler, the downside is he helps win an extra game or two along the way and instead of potentially drafting 1-3 you are drafting 4-6 and more likely ending up with a very good player and missing on the elite franchise cornerstone.

Once again this was clearly just to show that he is retiring and i had to send him somewhere to get rid of the cap hit..........

As for you saying that bailey retiring is "fantasy island stuff" seems a bit exaggerated. As explained above, bailey has made over $50mil in his career and has his family deeply rooted here. He's been living on Long Island since he was 19 years old and even again today stated he will be living on Long Island for the rest of his life, even after his career is over. He also stated today that he always planned to play for only the Islanders & envisioned his last game in an Islanders jersey - so it doesn't seem too crazy to me if he's given the options of being shipped out to somewhere like Arizona to possibly not even play routinely there either or being waived and sent to Bridgeport for his last year - that he would definitely consider retirement.