Must admit, I don't see Tarasenko and Giroux on the same line. I'd like to try a balanced top 9 approach
Tkachuk - Stutzle - Tarasenko
Kubalik - Norris - Giroux
Greig/Sokolov - Pinto - Batherson

I would love to be surprised and have Sokolov crush camp, start in the top 9. Send Greig down to start the year in the A and get called up later. Greig could also bust out at camp too and make the decision easy.

I don't think the Hawks are doing that. Mathieu is a contract dump for sure. Hawks single deepest prospect position is LD. Don't think they want Bran.

Hawks decline. Take out all 3 picks going back to Sens and the Hawks probably still decline. Joseph is a pure cap dump from the Hawks perspective. And Branny doesn't cover the cost to dump him because despite his upside, the Hawks aren't looking for another young LD.

Ottawa fans are starting to sound a lot like Leafs fans.

General rule of thumb to consider, if there is a player a teams whole fan base is anxious to move, there is probably a good reason for that:

The player sucks.
The player is overpaid.
The team is in a cap crunch and the player be offered is considered disposable/replaceable.
All of the above.

In any of these scenarios fans should understand that chances of getting any type of meaningful return is very slim. Now while you added Brannstrom, he is not enough of an inducement to make the Hawks want to eat three season of Joseph’s $3m per contract PLUS give the Senators three mid round draft picks.

Remove the three draft picks going to Ottawa and add a 1st going to Chicago and you may have a deal.

This would exemplify why Dorion has been a terrible terrible manager and his non-existant asset management has hurt the rebuild A LOT

Nick Paul for Joseph and a 4th

Mark Stone for Brannstrom and a 2nd

Brannstrom is becoming quite good and they end up dumping him for middle picks

All of this to sign Tarasenko for 1 year when he's not even a REAL need for the team. Stutzle, Tkachuk, Norris, Batherson, Giroux, Greig, Kubalik and Pinto can provide well enough offense, even more if the team plays better 2-way hockey (offense comes from quick efficient defense)

It's like Dorion doesn't even understand hockey


You forgot a reason : Pierre Dorion total mismanagement that has been going on for 3 years now (well since 2016 in reality)

Joseph doesn't suck. He had a down season (injuries and maybe personal problems?) but he still paced for 24 pts while being good defensively (particularly on the PK where he always had elite metrics)

His contract is not ideal so he's slightly overpaid but he isn't close to the cap dump CF has (stupidly) created. Zaitsev (much much bigger cap dump) costed a 2nd + 4th. Murray (much much bigger cap dump) costed a 3rd + 7th

The year before Joseph scored 30 pts in 69 pts and NONE were on the PP, that is pretty valuable for 2.95 AAV particularly with his defensive and PK Contribution

So it comes down to Dorion mismanagement and might not have a choice but to pay (again) to clear some cap space. SO ridiculous to spend all these assets all over the place when your team still haven't made the playoffs. You'd think he was managing the Tampa Bay Lightning lol