Flames are rebuilding but you are on drugs if you think any owner would ever agree to pay someone 15 million to play for another team. Even with San Jose's Hertl trade they are paying him ~8M total spread across 6 years.

Also Flames would decline that anyways, Maybe Byram + Savoie for Weegar but certainly not Kadri retained too

This needs to stop. Sabres are not trading young quality players and prospects for 30+ year olds.

I liked Joker when he was here and was beyond upset when he was traded for Alex freaking Nylander but I think his value has slowly dropped over the last couple of years. You might get a 2nd for him from another team but I'm 99.9% sure Chicago wouldn't be interested.

Teams pays amounts like that all the time. Like Nashville are currently paying Johansen, Duchene and Turris $33M not to play for them. Philly and Minnesota are paying about $15M each for Hayes, DeAngelo, Suter and Parise not to play for them. That's what happens with bad contracts.

But sure, even if they decide to rebuild the owners might rather just give Kadri away, or even keep him for a year or two then pay a 1st to get rid of his contract, rather than retaining on him and get an up and coming star from Alberta in Savoie. I think that's stupid though so that's why I don't suggest that.

He's been very good this year. Defends well and does smart decisions with the puck. I think he would make sense for Chicago as they'll have to start getting better, they could use a 25 year old RD, they already have plenty of size so his 6' flat shouldn't be an issue, and there are surely plenty of people in the organization that likes his game since they drafted him.

I do think Buffalo needs some veteran stewardship but trading Byram and Savoie to get it is a mistake. Sign a UFA, he'll id be throwing money at Stamkos if I were Buffalo instead of giving up any assets

You are comparing multiple buyouts and to a single trade with retention, those are 2 completely different thing. When you buy a player out you are not paying them to work for someone else. If they sign a new contract after a buyout with another team that is completely unrelated to you. There is a reason Karlsson was not traded with more retention people hate paying people to work for other people. It's also why most coach contracts have clauses where if they are fired before their contract ends, any money they make from a new job is deducted from the money owed to them.

I don't think you understand Calgary's rebuild at all. This is not a 5-7 year bottom feed plan, this is a 2-3 year max (this one included) "competitive" rebuild.

All 3 people involved in the decision to draft Joki are gone. Hawks won't pay a 2nd for Joki. He isn't the type of player the Hawks want on their blue line going forward.

Lol this whole post is based on the premise of them rebuilding as opposed to just retooling... If they aren't rebuilding and want to keep all their ageing players that still have trade value then this is all a non-starter.

Not going to bother with the rest of your comment. If you think there's a meaningful distinction for an owner to pay someone not to work for them and this player then being signed by a competing team, and them doing the exactly same thing but it's called retention instead of buy-out then I'm not going to try to stop you.

Chicago had 3 people involved in the 2017 draft? And I thought Buffalo was a poverty franchise...

Why is he not the type of player they want on their blue line going forward?

Yeah Bowman, but really Mark Kelley is/are gone. I agree with @JK74 though. I was PISSED when they traded him for Alex Nylander. I liked his game and he was getting good minutes as a rookie. Of course he made rookie mistakes like all rookies do. Coach Q didn't put up with that which was a weakness of his toward player development. BUT, to your question, The Hawks need a physical veteran on the right. I'd prefer over paying for demelo or Roy or etc... we have 3 rookies on the left side right now (Tinordi plays, but I consider him the #7 as other rookies rotate in). No reason to lose a 2nd.

Aight.

He isn't the type of player I want on the Sabres going forward either. But since our gm seems to want puck movers exclusively, guess I don't get what I want. It's OK, one of these years the Sabres will make the playoffs and prove me wrong.

That's the direction Bowman took the Hawks in with puck moving d-men. Joker, Boqvist, Mitchell, Beaudin, etc. The problem is they don't all pan out and if they can't play defense they're not very valuable. Joker is the best of that list but not the type Richardson wants on the blueline. It's frustrating when you see what works but your GM still continues to try to out think the rest of the league with the same poor results.

So you completely glossed over where 81 said there were 3 people involved in the DECISION to draft Joker. Not the 2017 draft all together. Reading comprehension is a dying craft I see.

GM - gone. Director of Amateur Scouting - gone. Head European Scout - gone. I'm sure others had input but those were the guys calling the shots when it came to selecting a European prospect.

Hawks want to build their blue line to mimic Vegas, LA, Nashville. Big body, mobile guys who like to play a physical style and who block a ton of shots. That doesn't exactly sound like Joki to me.

No way Calgary does that. Byram is too injury prone and Savoie is too small.

Lol what? I just teased him a bit because he phrased himself poorly. Obviously there was far more people than that involved in the decision to draft Jokiharju. You seriously can't believe anything else. Like he played in both Finland and the WHL. European scout, NA scout and head scout is the minimum amount of scouts being involved in the decision, and then there's obviously a ton of management people involved.

The head European scout and head scout, Niklas Blomgren, is not gone. Neither is their director of European scouting nor head western scout. So all the guys that would've done most of his scouting are still there. As are a ton of people on the development and management side. There is definitely a ton of people left in the Blackhawks organization that like this player a lot in the past.

What makes you think they want to build their blueline with the type of player you're describing?

Aww shucks!

Very well put. I'm a fan of a team that hasn't made the playoffs in 13 years, but apparently they think they are the smartest guys in the room.