Bruins would likely say yes, not sure the Sharks would say yes - that being said the return they got for Karlsson was terrible, so you never know I guess.

My guess is Ullmark would exercise his NMC on San Jose.

The NMC is no longer in effect. It's now a 16-team no-trade list, so that's 15 teams that he could be traded to without waiving.

It’s a partial NMC. I’m just suggesting that there is a reasonable chance that San Jose is in that 16 teams

Actually, the trade sounds better to me for San Jose than it does for Boston, which doesn't mean I think it's bad for Boston, just that I can see it more clearly for San Jose. Hertl is signed for 7 more years and he'll be 30 shortly after this season starts, so by the time the Sharks are good again, that contract is probably going to look pretty bad. If I was them I'd probably jump at the chance to move it for positive assets. It's not a huge return, because Debrusk has only one year left on his contract and Ullmark has two, but if they won't sign extensions, they can probably flip them for some decent futures.

For Boston, it seems that Hertl would make them a better team now, which would help keep their win window open if they're willing to take on the risk of his contract turning bad down the road. The other risk is whether Swayman can handle being a clear #1, since I see Lankinen as only a backup there, not a 1A, though I thought he was pretty good in Minnesota so maybe he just needs a better team in front of him. I could see the Swayman-Lankinen combination working for them.

This is one of the more interesting and realistic trade proposals I've seen on this forum.

Yeah fair and valid points for sure. I mean his contract is long, but the price isn't terrible if you expect the Cap to go up a little bit each season. Could have teeth to the deal if there are folks saying "yes" for both sides. you are right the contract is bad in about 4 years, but as I mentioned earlier you hope the cap goes up each year so the impact is minimal (we are also assuming his production and play fall off a cliff and some players can perform a little longer than others).

That being said, the Bruins have their core signed beyond this year for the most part (Swayman being the only one not signed) and they will have $28 million to go shopping after this year. So my bet would be that they likely see what they have this year and try to "wild card" it this year.

This is pretty close to a good trade. Sharks might take it.

The Sharks would rather have Swayman than Ullmark due to age.

The Sharks don't need Debrusk at this stage of their rebuild. but he's flippable.

I suggest

Swayman for Hertl

Or

Ullmark for Couture

As the core pieces of a trade

Either one of those changes would make the deal more attractive for San Jose, especially Swayman because he could be their goalie of the future, whereas they would probably keep Ullmark only until the 2025 deadline when they'd flip him for futures. In fact, with Swayman instead of Ullmark, San Jose wouldn't need Debrusk to make it work for them, but Boston might have to include him anyway to afford Hertl's cap hit, so maybe San Jose throws in their 2024 2nd-round draft pick to offset the late 1st they can probably get for Debrusk at the deadline if they don't sign him to an extension first. Boston should like that because they have no picks in the first three rounds of the 2024 draft.

Including Couture instead of Hertl would probably not add as much value for San Jose as including Swayman instead of Ullmark, because although Couture is much older than Hertl, he has only 4 years left on his contract compared with 7 for Hertl. I don't know what San Jose thinks their rebuild horizon is, but it might be more than 4 years before they come under cap pressure again. On the other hand, they need to give fans a reason to come to the rink in the meantime, and Hertl is still in his prime.

i don’t see the bruins giving up the vezina winner and debrusk for a 2c on an awful contract, I could see them going after schiefele or lindholm who are pending ufas and can likely sign them for less

I agree that Scheifele or Lindholm would be better than Hertl, but I don't think they'll sign for less than Hertl's AAV, especially if Boston wants to get them for a shorter term.

I don’t view Hertl’s contract as terrible. He’d be a good add, though I will readily admit I’d rather give up Ullmark than Swayman long term.

I also assume that Quinn would be very interested in Grzelcyk to lock in considering their extensive history with each other. He’d be an upgrade on their defense and wonder aloud what would be the alternative to DeBrusk/Mitchell in this deal? Grzelcyk and Beecher?

While I am a fan of Couture, I’m not a fan of his tenure left on his contract at his age. I prefer having the open cap space next year vs acquiring him at any cost. I wouldn’t take that as an insult. I believe there is going to be a good center available in FA next year

The difference between Grzelcyk and Debrusk, other than their positions and a few hundred thousand dollars, is their age. I thought Debrusk might be young enough for San Jose to want to re-sign, but if Grzelcyk fills a bigger need and has a good history with the coach, he would probably make the deal work too. The main thing is that Boston needs to include a rental worth a few million dollars to clear cap space for Hertl or Couture, and to give San Jose an additional asset they could flip for futures at the deadline.