The Hockey PDOcast - Trades We’d Like to See This Offseason

Episode Date: June 26, 2023

Thomas Drance joins Dimitri to help cook up hypothetical trades that they'd like to see teams make this offseason involving players that have been rumoured to be available.This podcast is produced by Dominic Sramaty. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey Pediocast with your host, Dmitri Filipo. Welcome to the Hockey Pediocast. My name is Dimitri Philpovich. And joining me is my good buddy Thomas Drands. Tom, it's like Christmas morning. We're going to open some presents here today. We're going to come up with some traits, some fake trades that we want to see.

It's a glorious time for us and for our listeners. How's going, bud? Oh, it's going well. I just arrived in Nashville. And I'm excited. It's hot as anything up in. in here. It's going to be a ton of fun. Nashville is one of my favorite cities to have awards tonight, the draft, and then like right into free agency. The truncated offseason calendar is going

to be a ton of fun. Like between Wednesday and Saturday, it's just like everything that you need to see is going to drop in just what I assume will be a wild 96 hours. I'm really looking forward to it, but also kind of stealing myself, you know, try and make sure I'm rested, you know, mixing in a water. Making sure I'm making sure I'm good to go. Well, this isn't your first radio. You're a good enough of fun. You're a bad already.

So you know what to do. Here's the plan for today. So as I hinted at there, we're going to bring back a concept that we had a lot of fun with. Pretty much for the past couple trade deadlines. It's a good time to do so again, right? Instead of the midseason edition, though, we're going to do the offseason edition of trades we like to see.

I think it provides a perfect template to get people's kind of brains jogging in terms of what would be fun stuff to happen, I implore you not to get too bogged down with specific logistics of like, oh, that guy's actually worth an extra fourth round pick instead of a third. But the concepts are what's important. And the only rules we're going to try to abide by are

the deals have to involve players that we at least have some reason to believe are available. And the deal also has to be like legally possible under the CBA in terms of like the cat math making sense and like trade protections at least reasonably being able to be worked around. But other than that, everyone is fair game. We're going to hopefully have some fun stuff,

some that we might actually see happen, probably a lot that are too exotic for the NHL standard, but nonetheless, still fun to think about. I'll give you the floor here. You said you have 11 cooked up. I think I have like 15 or 16. I'm sure there's some overlap between them. So I'll give you the floor.

Give me your first one and let's just get. Let's start cranking it out. Well, let me start. Like I consider this to be my masterpiece. I ran it today at the athletic. You can go check out part two of my offseason or silly season. mailbag because I sort of went into it here. But I'm going to start there.

You're doing plugs at the top of the show, Tom? Generally, what's the problem with that? It's industry practice to save it until the end, but are. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, look, I'm going to abide by the CPA rules, but not by that one. Okay. Um, so, so look, I love this trade because it, it really is on brand. It features the Vancouver Canucks and it features my guy will Borgon coming to Vancouver. All right.

So the logic of this trade starts with Seattle, not with Vancouver, but I've got a few of these because I think Seattle needs to be in the business of turning good players into great players. I really think that has to be their sole focus, their sole priority over the next two, three years. And I think Vegas showed the way. This cracking team was good, but it wasn't a contender. And if they're going to get to be a contending team, as we've seen,

like you can't hold too tight to your top prospects. You can't hold too tight to Alex Tuck, no matter how cool he is. And he's very cool. You need to be willing to go for it. Ron Francis has some history with Brett Pesci in Carolina. Some buzz, although it's quieting that Brett Pesci could move.

This offseason is a result of the extension dynamics that he's looking at. So here's a three-team trade to get, Seattle, Brett Pesci, and it results in Will Borgon coming to Vancouver. So when we see these top pair guys move of late, it's been a first and a second, has kind of been like general market price. But most of those players have team control beyond one year. On the other hand, Brett Pesci is materially better in my view than Chickren, Hironic and Proverov.

And I think the trade value would reflect that. So now we're looking at like a first to second. prospect a good prospect and that's a really steep price for Seattle to pay so I work in a third team to to defer the costs to Seattle and here's how it's going to work Vancouver pays Niels Hoaglander a battle winning pint sized forward who you know would be like perfect like Ron Francis wants guys who can get in and just win battles neels hoglander designed in a lap to playing Ron Francis's system. They trade Niels Hoaglander to Seattle for Will Borgon.

Okay. RFA defenseman, really good right-handed young right-handed D. Vancouver has now managed to do the seemingly impossible and convert a surplus of wing talent into a right-handed defender who is probably the best right-handed defender they've employed since Chris Tanev lost a step or left town anyway.

To Carolina, they're going to bundle Nils Hoaglander. their first round pick at the 2023 NHL entry draft here in beautiful Nashville and the last of their sorry they're going to get the and they're going to get the

last of their second round pick so it's pick 57 yeah they have three of them so it's pick number 57 and they're going to receive for that Brett Pesci and a third round pick from from Carolina Carolina So they'll end up, you know, Carolina effect, Seattle ends up effectively trading down, you know, 15 spots on the second pick.

So they've paid full freight here. Like I like this trade the least from Seattle's perspective, to be totally honest with you. But realistically, they've traded a first and Will Borgon and a 15 round trade down for Brett Pesci. And I feel like that's the sort of aggressiveness that they kind of have to show here if they're going to, level up a team that's not going to be bad enough to be picking in the top five of the NHL draft anytime soon. Well, I take it a step further. They're kind of just paying a first to upgrade from Will Borgon to Brett Peshy. Right. Which is a material upgrade. Definitely. Yeah. He would certainly be a player that would fit their system, would be an upgrade at that. I guess the

concern about Brett Pesci is what, when you acquire him, part of the reason why I think I still think Carolina probably will wind up signing him long term but for the sake of this exercise it's going to come with a seven year commitment at a suit right at least probably not yet because it'll be 30 by the time it kicks in but a seven year commitment now I think like his his playing style especially for the first probably four years of that five years that will age pretty gracefully I don't think the cap hit is going to be so prohibitive at that over a seven-year term that it's like something you worry about that much. But it is going to be a pretty massive commitment for a player who will be in his 30s by

a time that that kicks in. Right. So I think that would be the only potential thing of like, I don't know, this would give me a bit of pause, but I'm with you on, I think Seattle should be in the business of being one of these teams of like consolidating some of these resources into upgrading. Even if they're like slight upgrades, not necessarily for superstars, just turning some of these good players into really good players. and paying a bit of a premium to do so because as we saw in the postseason, the depth is all well and good.

But it's important to have guys who actually move the needle. And it's going to be tough for them to accomplish that up front. Like there's certainly upgrades they can make, but their barrier to entry on the forward group is so high because they have essentially 12 guys who can all play at the NHL level. But on the blue line, I do think in the top four, bringing in Pesci is that upgrade. So I think that's an interesting one. Well, and in particular, you know, they really tried to use that Borgon-Elexic group and Tufts in the playoffs. and I just think that was sort of where some of the seams showed for them. Upgrading on one of them to me is sort of, I mean, I don't, oh, I don't see the Seattle

Crackens version of the Jack Eichael trade out there necessarily this summer, although I've got some other ones that bring them Elias Lint home, so we'll get back to that. But, you know, whether, whether you're upgrading on your second pair LD and pushing Alexiac back to play with Justin Schultz, although that sort of blocks. Rack-Revans, and I suspect that they'd prefer to upgrade on the right side. And that makes Borgon a really attractive trade piece to use to level up quickly. So anyway, that's my number one. That's my Mona Lisa here.

The three-way trade that gets Vancouver, a right-handed defender upgrade, that gets Carolina a better return than Chickren, Hironic, and Provorov netted for their respective teams, and that lands Seattle, an absolute step. dud, R.D. I had a peshy one going to Buffalo because he's near the top of my wish list for them. I think their priority should be, you know, one of them is finding a goalie to give you at least 40 average to above average starts to split the net with Devin Levi so you're not putting too much on his plate.

And I've already pitched the idea of offer shooting Jeremy Swaben to essentially like announce to the league in the Atlantic Division that you're about to step over the Boston Bruins, steal him from them, essentially give just a second round comp. to do so. And I love that idea. But the other priorities should be finding a defenseman to play regular minutes next to Owen power on the right side, right? Because I think Henry Yoki Haru is a fine player, but he showed the past year in particular

that he just doesn't have the skill set or like the hockey brain to keep up with Owen Power. And that's not necessarily even a fault of his own because there's so few players that can. But like power is just such a brilliant mover. And there's so many plays that just died on Yoki Haru's stick because he just couldn't keep up with him. And so in this case, Peschi would be almost the perfect sort of guy to tag along with him on that right side for the next five, six years. Love that.

Now, I don't think Buffalo necessarily has the pieces to satisfy Carolina's like needs for turning Pesci into something that can help right now necessarily. But I think they could provide them with a bunch of assets that Carolina could then turn around and flip into ready made help. right. So my offer was no Osland or you could take Isaac Rosen if you prefer him, but I prefer Osland. Yeah, 39. And I would retain on half of Victor Oliveson's remaining one year just to give Carolina kind of a goal score and entice them with, oh, well, he's only, he only costs whatever, 2.8 or 2.9 million. It's not even the full freight of the 4.75. You get this guy for free. He might score 30 goals for you, who knows. It's only a one-year commitment regardless. And I think that kind of makes a lot of sense. Maybe you could throw in another pick or so depending on how much

you value those futures. But I think there's an interesting framework around that that would make sense for both teams. Yeah, the Olofson's stylistic fit, like I can't think of a tougher one, like a prayers up to Oloffson, who now has to go play dump and chase when really he's best suited to playing with some sort of East West linemates and planning himself in front of the Nasson. But that's okay. I mean, the values there in terms of he's good. Just to give Carolina kind of like a shooting talent that can step in from day one

and just kind of placeholder. It's not necessarily that deal breaker. Yeah, yeah. Negotiable. So up against it financially that they have to like make the money work in that capacity. So. But yeah.

I love the concept. I think I think that one makes sense. Yeah. You know, for for Buffalo, it's either Pesci, Tanev or DeMello. That's like the extent of my wish list for that right shot, second pair of defense for them.

Peschi would obviously be the most expensive, but all three guys essentially have one year left and our UFAs after that. So I think there's something workable there for them, certainly. Yeah, that's, yeah, I mean, you're better off doing that than getting like Joel Edmondson, right? And yeah, I mean, I like the idea of Buffalo aggressively paying to really significantly upgrade their defense score,

especially if they can't get like a game stealer in net. You know, you might be best off if your Buffalo bringing in a couple of guys given that Devon Levi's going to be waiver exempt this upcoming year, right? Because then you sort of have three guys you're comfortable with playing NHL games. That's kind of the Vegas model

and just really amping up what you're able to prevent in terms of quality chances. Peschi would certainly do that and would be worth paying retail price for. The thing that I love about this. 31 teams, to be honest. The thing that I love about this is

essentially we're just replicating conversations we'd be having at the dog beach while we watch our pop's frolic in the water and instead of we're just recording it here. So yeah, maybe a few fewer swear words, but otherwise pretty much a replica of the conversation we have. All right.

Should we do a pure Luke Dubois trade here before it actually happens? Go, I don't have one. So you do it. I mean, and I've been pitching you for this for weeks. So you can vouch for me that this isn't a matter of me just being like, oh, well, it seems like he's going to go to the king. So I'm just going to try to get.

an easy one. You've also been all over Kings bundle multiple good players for one great player for like six months here. So you're I will I will vouch for you. You've been way ahead of the curve on like the the rumored shape of the PLD. Like I couldn't stop thinking about your trade, your LA Kings trade pitches in particular as sort of details have dripped out of those particular talks. Well, so I'll give you the a spicy one that I like and then we'll go with the one that probably will happen. My preference is Winnipeg signs Pier Luke Dubois to a $6 million qualifying offer. They retain about $2 million on it. So that gets him down to $4 million for next season. The Goligowski play. Let's go. You combine him with Connor Halibuque's 6.167 remaining.

So that gets them to about 10 million combined, right? Which would essentially be nearly what Pierre-Luc Dubois's 23, 24 salary will be on an extension just by himself. Winnipeg does so, not to help your Luke Dubois, but to help themselves because it maximizes their leverage in terms of what they can get back in return. And instead of this conversation about whether it's like Valardi and IAfollow or whatever, we can throw in IAfollow certainly just to get some money off of L.A.'s books for next season. Yeah. And it's good. I'm taking a step further. I'm not, that gets you into the conversation of like including Quentin Byfield and throw in whatever you want else, whether it's a joy.

Gordon Spence, whether it's an Alex Turk, like nothing's off the table in that regard because all of a sudden, LA is essentially being like, we are taking this aggressive approach for next season. We're addressing two of our biggest needs or aspirations in one move, and we're essentially paying a premium to make the money work in one go, as opposed to just bringing in Pierreluke DuBois and then having to kind of pinch your nose and bring in some goalie for like the league minimum,

which is what they're probably going to have to do. Yeah. Now when you go into LA, you have to face co-partoutputation. hard to know Dubois down the middle, one of the deepest, most mobile, most disciplined defense cores in the league, and Connor Hellibuck at the back. I mean, that's

such a pain in the neck. And I think that's worth, you know, if we're talking um, Valar, uh, sorry, if we're talking byfield, Turcotte, you know, Kupari, Ayafalo. I think we're talking about a trade that actually

does make some sense for LA. Plus, with Kopitar's money coming off the books, and I guess you'd have to wait, right? If you qualify Dubois and sign him, he wouldn't be able to be extended until January, but that would be for functory. And then I think the test for L.A. in the wake of this becomes be a destination, be the Hollywood team, right?

Like, that's going to, like, you're no longer doing the, like, internal build thing. You're going to try in Vegas Golden Knights this. You're going to try and keep leveling up because players want to live in SoCal and play for you. And so, you know, you are sacrificing a fair bit of flexibility to like do it again next summer. But you'll get some of that flexibility back with Kopitar's expiring. And I mean, that team sounds like a monster, right? Like I love the idea of the Pacific Division just loading up and being a gauntlet again.

And I wonder, too, do you think there's extra pressure on these teams because of how complete Vegas looks? Right. I mean, if you're L.A., your path through the playoffs, you know, you've been frustrated by McDavid Dreisdell in consecutive years. This would be the response where it's like, hey, remember when the Jets swept the Oilers? Let's be the best defensive team in hockey. I kind of like that. And I think the time to some extent is right for L.A. to really begin, not just to cash in their

chips, but to push those chips into the center of the table. Yeah. And as you mentioned, Kopitar is $10 million, South. comes off the books next year. I assume he'll be back, but on kind of one of those like Patrice Bergeron style organizational friendly one-year deals with some bonuses and just keep that going over until he's ready to call it a career. I guess more realistic is you probably, rather than waiting until January 1st to give peer looped out by the extension, you probably are going to get that in place with this deal and that's going to kind of make this all, this whole conversation

of mood point because you're going to want to keep him happy and not have him playing at a reduced salary in year one, right? It's probably going to come with that immediate. I'd assume somewhere in the ballpark of eight years, eight point five to nine million per, right? That seems like kind of the going rate for these types of players. And all of a sudden, if you're LA and you do that, it already diminishes your flexibility, right? You're going to be left with like three or four million dollars to bring in a goalie to share the net with Copley and then bring in like one more defenseman, probably like a left shot on the third pair. The Dersy trade, which seemed kind of innocuous on Saturday, right? He was just like, oh, Jersey per second round pick. We loved it because

Sean Jersey was, and I say this, fully loving the player and what he provides, he was like put on this earth to put up 50 to 60 points playing relatively low stakes hockey. Yeah, I was going to say meaningless, but that's unfair, but low stakes hockey for the coyotes next season. And just being one of the most fun players to watch because on any given night, he could be the best player for either team and I love Sean Dersey so it's going to be perfect. If you play fantasy hockey, you need to draft Sean Dersey next season. It's going to be electrifying. Now, he struggled last year.

Do you think, do you think Sean Dursey and like Hollywood Brown will have like a, like, we're crushing it in fantasy for the worst team in the league, um, meetups during the season? Oh, yeah. I think they should. They honestly should. Just like like those, there's going to be no bigger gap between actual on field or on ice value and fantasy value. than what you're going to see out of Glendale and Mullet Arena between Hollywood Brown and

Sean Dersey next season. And that's perfectly fine. Like if you're Arizona, right? Like they gave away one of these second rounders. I believe they had four to choose from. And you essentially, he's going to be your number one right shot defenseman next season. I think the only other right shots they have signed to NHL contracts are Victor Soderstrom

and Josh Brown. And because of LA's depth of that position, Jersey was playing the left side. We should say last year. And I think that's partly why he struggled. He was playing on his offside a lot. So I think he's going to be good, obviously better from a counting staffs perspective than an actual winning games perspective. But that's a fine trade.

But the reason why I say it's in August, right, because L.A. gets this Montreal second round pickback in 2024, which is may as well be treated as a late first. Right. I think it'll probably be around the 35-ish range next season. And so the most realistic trade that we've seen kind of speculated is Pierre-Luc-Dubal and then maybe like a Jansen Harkins or some other throw-in from Winnipeg's side for Gabe have already. who's an RFA, Alex Iofalo, who has four million left for two more years to make the money work, and then probably Montreal second, which would be a delicious twist of the knife, if that is the route this goes, Montreal's own pick being used to secure this deal. But what do you think about the parameters of that, especially from Winnipeg's perspective,

right? Because we've talked about this a lot, but they clearly have no interest in trading all of these veterans for purely futures, right? like they want players who can come in and be there for a couple more years at least and help them stay around that fringe playoff mark because they don't want to lose all potential fan interest and revenue at the gate like they want to keep people coming to these games and so they probably prefer going this route of getting a guy like iafalo and valardi who are going to step into their you know top six immediately next season i mean i like iafalo and valardi a lot and they

feel like very Winnipeg Jets style players, right? I'm, there's something about the way that they play, the way that they profile that just makes sense to me wearing Winnipeg Jets, Navy. You know who the big winner in this, though, is it's Jersey, not just because of the opportunity that awaits him in, in Arizona, but the idea that he gets dealt and that the pick acquired for him, it's like Winnipeg preferred the pick to Jersey, right? And it's like, so now you get to go to Arizona, you get to go live in Scottsdale instead of living. in Winnipeg. I think he might be the big winner

in this whole trade. Look, the Jets, obviously, in my view, and from a how does this team win a championship perspective would be better off to target pure futures and rebuild, but if you're not going to be able to, I mean, do you view Dubois as like a top line center? Fringe? No, fringe. No, fringe top line.

But the thing is, if you have Copa are still playing at this level for another year or two. And Philip, I know for L.A.'s perspective, he doesn't necessarily need to be a pure alpha number one battle winner. No, he just needs to kind of fit in with that group. But I'm talking about it from Winnipeg's perspective. Like at the end of the day, if you view him as a Bohorovat, like in that Bo Horvatt, Tomash Hurtle range as a player,

which I think is probably where I'd land on him, right? top 35 center as opposed to a top 15 guy and your return is IAfolo a late first of equivalent pick and a really good young player in Valardi who's still got some versatility right I mean he's a winger but I don't know that he's always going to be a winger you know at the end of the day I think the value's there and and I think Winnipeg's done really well trading the bigger name guys for the more anonymous guys and then having them be roughly as good. I know Pionk had a nightmare year this past season, but like for the most part since the Truba trade, you know, what's the value gap between Truba and Pionk bin in their respective

new cities? Like I don't know that it's been nearly as big as the headlines and the name recognition would suggest. So in that mold, like these are the types of, this is the type of business that Winnipeg does really well. And I, you know, if that's what it looks like. Like I don't hate it for them. In fact, far from it.

I quite like it for them. Well, I love Valardi as a player. Like the only real concern for me is health, right? Because when he's on the ice, he's fantastic last year. He had 23 goals and 63 games. Yeah, he's a sick shooter. His shot is a weapon. But he also has a nice little.

He uses his frame well. He's got a good, good hands around the net as well, like a lot of like tip-ins and deflection goals last year. He was 17th in league in goals per minute. So considering Winnipeg doesn't have a lot of leverage here in the sense that everyone knows they have to trade peer Luke Dubois. And it's kind of like a ticking time bomb. getting an actual legitimate quality piece in that regard that's 24 and cause control makes

sense. I guess from LA's perspective, I get why they're interested in Pierluke Dubois, right? Because it helps lighten the load on Kopitar. Like there's no reason at 36 years old why he should be playing 20 minutes a game again like he was last year. And he gives you that size down the middle. You're paying for age 25 to 32 seasons essentially on an eight year deal with him so that those are the years you want to buy. He's like one of the biggest chaos. agents in the league where he leads the league the past two years in penalties drawn and penalties taken. He, like, his net front work is phenomenal.

He creates so many high danger chances. And so I get it from LA's perspective. I guess my only question is to kind of piggyback off what you asked me initially, is he enough of a difference maker to justify pushing chips in this way as opposed to potentially playing a bit more of a patient game and keeping your powder dry for, maybe a better player that comes up in the next year or so that is that is trying to, you know, flex that pre-agency muscle and get to LA because that will happen regardless of who you think it is. There will be a couple of players that will check those boxes. And so I wonder whether going

all in now as opposed to waiting for six months to a year, what the kind of more plus EV play is for them. Well, and also if you want to be the team that locks everyone to down defensively, but also has maybe a gear offensively that the Kings to this point in their sort of build, their Rob Blake era build haven't had. Like, could you have a tastier group of UFA centermen that profile that way than the following three extension eligible guys on July 1 in Matthews, Aho and Petterson? I mean, that's, that's like across the board three absolute difference makers. But, you know, I guess I'd go with this, like, as the NBA and the NHL, this is like an overarching theory of mine, is that the NHL and the NBA are like converging in terms of the

style of their player movement. So we've got the NHL. All of a sudden, there's pre-agency and, and this like, you know, nascent sense of player empowerment, Tori Krug even getting in on the action, refusing to waive. But also in the NBA, we've got this, you know, like if you've been paying attention with like Davis Bertons and Bradley Beal like teams are giving away players and actually paying to get off of players. Jordan Poole like we're seeing NHL style trades in the NBA to go along with the fact that we've had a you know an eighth seed ride unsustainable round of percentages and you know a cynical play style that took advantage of gaps in the way that the game is officiated to make the finals it's like the most NHL story ever what the Miami Heat did um but part of that

Like if that logic's right, right? Part of what the NBA teams that land the guy do best is they got a shot. They're always winning, right? Like on the one hand, to be asset poor should, you know, one of those three centermen that I listed, for example, shake loose next offseason as a pre-agent or, you know, in Matthew's case is an outright UFA. are you better off having the assets to outbid somebody? Or are you better off being the team on the rise that someone wants to be a finishing piece for? Right? So I think it's sort of about like that's how I'd look at the gamble.

There's the flexibility or optionality angle that you maybe want to keep your powder dry on. But on the other hand, do you need to make sure that your scene is a realistic place to go in a cup? if you're going to sort of cross the finish line as the most appealing destination for one of those guys once they start sort of flexing their muscle or should they start to flex their muscle either, you know, this off season or next. That would be my question to you. Like I don't know the answer. I just, that would be how I'd view it. Like maybe the Kings aren't even playing this game. But if they are, maybe part of the judgment call is our best bet to get one of these guys is going to be to be the single most appealing.

destination in the league, which is going to require, like, PLD helps us accomplish that because that's going to make us a second round team, a third round team. That's going to be the thing that helps us, you know, look a certain way, project a certain way in appealing to this, you know, overwhelming class of free agents over the course of the next 24 months. Yeah. Well, there's certainly value with the bird in the hand, right? Like, rather than the waiting game, I guess, the only problem with that is probably

if you make a move like this until at least 2025, you are kind of boxed in a little bit in terms of even if someone shakes loose just because of we expect the cap will go up but not as much as the following year. So you create this like little buffer period where you're in limbo a little bit. Whereas if it was a year ahead now,

I would be like all about it because once the cap spikes up, you have all of a sudden more runaway to get out of contracts and move stuff around, which is something that was a trademark of the NBA. and now with all these apron rules they're installing is almost going to push it more towards the NHL model. Oh, it's a hard. It's a hard cap system, man.

It's a hard cap system because it limits your flexibility. And, and you know, the elevator system or the elevator capier in the next season. Like it feels like most of the agents, you know, the people with skin in the game that I talk to are expecting, you mentioned a lower than expected bump.

Like I do get the sense that most agents are sort of trying to look at it and think about it and project something far more modest than like the nine you know we're going to be at 90 million in the summer of um of 2024 like you know it feels like the expectation uh just back of the napkin seems to be more like four four and a half lift um but yeah i mean hopefully hopefully everything holds together and we end up at 90 million by uh by 2025 anyway okay tom let's uh let's take a break here before we okay switch gears and talk more trades uh we're way too into the kings we didn't we didn't get into many trades we've done 30 minutes on two trades.

So looking forward to seeing what part two holds here. You're listening to the Hockey P.Dio cast streaming on the SportsNay Radio Network. Breaking down the top stories in the NHL every day. The Jazz Mary Show. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, we're back in the Hockeyedio cast with Thomas Trans. We're doing trades. We'd like to see this offseason, Tom.

I think you're up now because after my 20-minute, Pierre-Luc Dubois, trade. Do you have some easy ones that we can lightning round through like five? and then we can get into a couple big concepts like Calgary on the back end. Okay, I do. Okay, I have one which isn't a three team or so, but I'm sure it won't be a lightning round one, but it's going to be one that's sure to annoy the most people. Okay, let's get to that. And then I've got like, I can round through like some that are just like,

I like the fit here and I think this will be the price. So go with that and then I'll like lightning round you a couple. And then we can get in a, and then let's get into flames once. Okay. Alex DeBringcat, who's a player that is. Let's go. Highly,

highly talked about, right? Yeah. We'll be on the move. Alex De Brinkat from the Ottawa senators, so the Vegas Golden Knights. Oh. Let's go.

Pick 77. Okay. And Nikwa. Ooh. Okay. So I love that for Ottawa. Nick Wah, 26 years old,

four years left at three million per. Steel. Was bumped to the wing for a large part of the season. just because of Vegas's depth. For Ottawa, he would essentially slot in behind Tim Stutzla and a returning, Josh Norris. Perfect for that role, right? I think you and I both agree he has much more untapped playmaking potential

than he's been able to show just because of usage. And even in the playoffs when he was playing with Carlson and Smith on the second line, he showed it. And so I think that's the best player that they're going to get back in return for this. It doesn't necessarily recoup the draft capital that they paid to get. Alex DeBrencat and obviously Vegas can offer them that in return. But I think considering their sort of objectives and the way they've pushed themselves into getting a player in his prime who's as good as Nick Waugh is on the contract he's on

is about as well as you can hope for. And maybe I'm just really high on the player and others might not be. And they're going to be like, oh, I can't believe that's all you can get. But I view that as a pretty fair return. Yeah, you're talking about Nick Waugh playing the wing and all I can hear in my head is the is the German scientist from the Captain America movie where it's like the sanity of the plans of no consequence. Like why? Because he can do it.

Like why push Nick Guad of the wing? Because he can do it. He's such a skilled playmaker. And he brings all the like size face off winning defensive chops stuff you want in a third line center. That's a really good trade for the senators. I actually love that for the senators. You know, the problem is, is no matter how this. to brinket trade looks, the asset they're getting back is not going to match the seventh overall

pick in the 2022 NHL entry draft, which resulted in them picking Kevin Kurchinski, who's, who's really, really good. But you have to get over that if you're Ottawa and just, just make the best deal. Here's my brinket deal, because I do have one myself. I've got him going to Detroit. And I've got him going to Detroit with Matthew Joseph, who obviously disappointed on the first year of a three or three million dollar extension, but drafted by Steve I. Eisenman's Tampa Bay Lightning, right?

Had sort of that breakout year in Syracuse for Steve Eisenman's Tampa Bay Lightning, scored 13 goals in his first NHL season when Eisenman was still in Tampa Bay. So from Eisenman's perspective, it's like by low on two. Pricey, yes, but also like prime aged wingers. And, you know, I think I can get them cheap. And Detroit sends to Ottawa one of their second round picks and Philip Zadena. I that's my you don't like it

I just yeah I don't I don't know like Zadina I'd be okay he's 24 years old he doesn't make much money like I'm fine with seeing if there's something there I don't that doesn't move the needle for me if I'm Ottawa though no I agree with you I'd way rather have your deal yeah that's why I've seen a lot of even if it was like oh 17 and Zadina or something it's like I don't

it's fine I don't think you're getting 17 though if Detroit's taking Matthew Joseph. This is basically my like, we made a mistake. Let's get a cost-controlled guy and a valuable pick and we move on. Yeah, well, especially considering- And we get rid of both of the last summer's mistakes in one fell swoop. I mean, and they're also direct competitors in the Atlantic. Not that that should preclude you, but in this sense, like,

I'm not just giving the brinket to Detroit considering he's such an obvious fit and need for them from a scoring perspective without making them pay for it. Right? And so all of these rumors make a lot of sense for Detroit and to brinkat, but the reason why I like the Vegas one is because he essentially slots in to replace Barbashev on Eichol's wing, which is just scary to think about. And if you can get him to sign for like 7.5 by 7, which might be a bit on the lower end, but considering the lack of state tax and also playing for a reigning Stanley Cup champion

to get in to live in Vegas, maybe you can sell them on that. They can actually make that work without, like I'm assuming Robin Leonard will not play in NHL anymore, but beyond that it doesn't even involve like shenanigans involving Marks stone on LTIR or anything. Like that, that team is cap compliant if you do that, even with Aden Hill's extension. And then you could even get crazier and potentially do like a, I mean, you can always get rid of Alec Martinez's remaining a year if you need to declare room, but you could even, if you like Nick Guas so much, you're Vegas, you don't want to do it, but you do want to get into the

Alex de Brinket business. How about a Zach White Cloud to Buffalo for a bunch of futures fits that right hand and need for them and then you turn those futures into DeBrikan. Man, I like, well, I love the white cloud fit for New Jersey. I just would not trade him or sorry, for Buffalo. I like it for New Jersey, too. I like white clouds fit on 31 teams, which is why if I'm Vegas, I'm not doing it. I mean, I do think Vegas shedding money along the blue line makes sense. We know how big an engine that blue line was for them. I had a Vegas and the reason I had the devil's in my mind, I had a Vegas sending for Alec Martinez and you know I had New Jersey targeting him because I do think while

you're losing Graves and um severson and I don't think you need to be concerned about it given the emergence of Kevin Ball giving the present given the presence of Luke Hughes and given the um you know a way that Simone Nemich played in the American League last year I still think if you're if you're the devils bringing in like an adult a multi-time champion like Alec Martinez would be the way to sort of short-term replace the veteran help you're losing on the back end like if I'm the devils I'm not really going out and like spending on a free agent or anything but if it's a one-year deal for the right citizen for the right winner I'd consider it and Alec Martinez for me is that guy Brendan Smith and a 2023 second round pick

That's full cap relief for Vegas now they can go extend Barbachev which I do think they want to do So that would be that would be my Vegas Golden Knights dump a salary trade If on them there's almost nothing like the white cloud Hague pair The way that they played in Tuss in the playoffs and being six million I'm just not parting with that like that to me is one of the best

cost efficient and like hard cap era pairs in the league right now. No, I'm, I'm, and they played first pair of minutes for them at 5-15. Yeah, I'm with you on that. I'm just, I'm trying to illustrate the point of like,

Vegas has proven they will not rest on their laurels. They will be willing to make a splash trade and mix things up. And they have the, they have the ability to do so, right? Like they're not backed into a corner cap wise. They can do whatever they want. That the brinket trade for Niqua is,

man, the more I think about it, the more I love it. I'm on board. I love the fit of Waugh in, in Ottawa. And I also like the idea of, you know, shifting occasionally a guy like Brady could check onto the wing to play with him just because given was, given was playmaking ability and his size, I think you'd be a lot to handle if you attack teams with those two on the same line. All right. I've got one really quick one.

We can literally just like go over this so fast. But the team that should pay a third round pick to acquire Matt Greslick is the Detroit Red Wings. Oh, yeah. I'm really convinced to this. I mean, you've got the Sherott, Edvinson, Mo Cider size guys on the back end. So if you're concerned about Greslick size, like what team is better positioned to deal with that then Detroit and what they really need is just like overall two way ability and Greslik has that in spades.

They're the team, especially with their surplus draft capital. They can make that happen and that would be a smart fit and that would probably be a place that, you know, ultimately could extend him beyond that. But obviously that's not part of the deal or it doesn't need to be in my opinion. What do you think of this one?

This one's, well, can I give you a quick? Can I give you a quick grizzlik one? It is a three teamer, but I promise I'll be quick. No, that's fine. Okay. I've got one you'll hate. That's why I'm excited.

To the Colorado Avalanche. Okay, good. Perfect. Yep. Taylor Hall at 50% retained. So $3 million. Yeah. The Blackhawks retain that 50%, right?

So the only issue there is they were already retaining on Jake McCabe so that locks them in for two multi-year retention slots. But they retain half of it. They get Matt Grislich, who is instantly their number one left shot defenseman for this season. And then they can flip him at the dead. line again if they so choose to. Yeah. Grizzlic and Murphy and Tufts. I don't hate it.

And the 27th overall pick from the avalanche. So they get back in the first round. Okay. And the Bruins get back a fourth or whatever, third. But most importantly, 9.4 million in salary gap relief because they just got off of Taylor Hall's contract entirely and Matt Grislich without retaining any money back. And they, it's a tough bill to swallow, but they're going to have to make those types of moves because they have absolutely no other recourse

in terms of clearing money to improve their team and they don't have any picks. So it's a tough one for the Bruins. I'm sure they'd like to get something back and return beyond a third or a fourth marginal pick. But I think that's a fascinating three teamer right there. Yeah, I like that a lot. I think Boston to clear that much cap space,

I mean, especially to have Chicago retain for you, they might actually need to throw more into the deal. Like as much as they might look at it and be like, I'm not sure we got enough. The financial flexibility they're getting back might be more valuable. Like their side might be the underpowered side in terms of overall or aggregate trade value. 27th overall, considering how teams are valuing first rounders in this year's class plus

Grizzlick is a pretty useful way for the Blackhawks to use that retention slot in 3 million. Right. Yeah, no, for sure. All right. This is my J. Fresh Memorial bad trade for the avalanche, putting that evil out there in the world so that the Pittsburgh Penguins can then actually make the trade instead. The logic of this trade is how to create the space to extend Devante without taking a step back.

Okay, so this is, this is a- I hate it already. Yeah, this is a long-term flexibility play. All right, I'm just going to go. To the Montreal Canadians, Samuel Gerard. To Colorado. Yoel Armia at 50% retained and Joel Edminson. Well, that's not enough. I don't think that's enough back for the abs.

Well, they're clearing the long-term flex. See, I think it's an underpowered on the other side. I don't think they need to worry about clearing his money. Like, I think, I think they could wield that as like getting actual pieces back that can help them. I don't. I'm not an Edminson guy and Armia is fine at 50%, but I would swing bigger with like a Taylorall type move. Yeah. I mean, I don't disagree with you, but at the end of the day, you're trading a guy you think of as a second pair tough minutes guy in Gerard for a guy who you probably profile similarly, but with a little bit of a more rugged style.

And he expires. Like he expires and he's affordable for this upcoming season. And you've added, you know, a guy who you're counting on to be like, can you just chip in a goal on the third line here and there? Yoel, come on. can you just because if you can do that, you're way better than, you know, the, the Ben Myers, Dennis Malgan

sort of crew that we were sending out there in the playoffs. So I'm upgrading their depth and effectively, you know, Gerard, I think, can do more than he's asked to do in Colorado, but what are they looking for, right? They get a guy who can play the left or the right side and who can hold up in and tufts. And, you know, that's what,

that's what I'm trying to accomplish. And then I clear a bunch of space, like I clear most of. Grard's money and can, you know, start, start talks with, uh, with Devon Taves's agent and lock in a guy who I think is essential to what they do. That's, that's the logic. I knew you'd hate it though. I hope J. Fresh hates it. Okay. Well, here's a, sorry, Jack. Here's, here's, here's one for you. To the Avs, Nicolai Eilers, two years remaining at six million per. Yeah. And I mean, I'm already on board. and Logan Stanley.

Okay. For Sam Gerard and 27th overall. Is that enough for Eilers? I mean, Sam Gerard are $5 million for four more years with no For the Jets too. For the Jets. Especially because you're going to have Dylan and DeMilleux are both UFA's next summer. Yeah.

I would be trying to trade Pionk if I were them as well. I think Gerard is an interesting play for them in that regard. I mean, I value Nikulers more. I would, I would, if I had Nikulers and I was trading him, first off, I wouldn't trade him. But second of all, if I was, if I was forced to, I would ask for more than that. The issue is that he's so wasted on a Rick bonus team that I just, I don't, selling him now while you can still get premium assets before he's an impending UFA next year is interesting. I could take or leave the Logan Stanley one if you want to throw in a fourth or fifth rounder in return. And then the abs turn around and replace Gerard.

by being the team that gets Matt Griswick for a fourth. Yeah. I'm into that as well. So you turn Sam Jari's role into Grislich, and then you get Nicolars from that. I don't know. I think the abs, I mean,

they've shown that they're going to get creative, that they're going to be aggressive. I think they can aim higher than Edmondson and Armia personally. But I'm with you on. Like, they need to prioritize keeping Devon Taves. So it'll be interesting to see what they do. Um, okay.

Do you want to do some flames ones? Cause I have, I have a big Carlson one. Okay, let's start with that one. Oh, no, no. Do the Carlson one and then let's end with the flames because I've got a bunch of flames once. Okay. To the stars. Eric Carlson at $10 million.

So the sharks retain $1.5 million for the next four years, which they've expressed, uh, a disdain for doing significant money. I think 1.5 they could be talked into. Okay. They take back Mason Marchment. So 4.5 million for three more years, but those are basically the rest of his 20s. I think that's not that big of a poison pill deal. And Colin Miller, 1.85 for one more year, play him, shelter him, trade him at the deadline,

whatever you want to do with them. It's just one more year. They get compensated for that, not only getting off of Carlson's money for the next four years at 10 million. They get Niels Lungwist, who's a 23-year-old playing on an ELC for one more year and just got traded for a first and fourth last year. 61st overall this year, a 2024 stars first, and your pick of Eric and Martino or Antonio Strangers. What is the shot attempt differential of Amiro Haskin and Eric Carlson pair? It's like 68?

Well, I just, I just think they should like. Does anyone else touch the puck? I mean, they should just make sure they have one of those guys on the ice at all times. Like they shouldn't even play. Obviously, you can play them situationally if you're pushing for a goal or whatever. But their second pair was such a. weakness in the playoffs against Vegas, right? And so that would make the money work. It would require promoting Logan Stancoven and Maverick Bork and having them play roles for you next year,

but I'm fine with that. I think they should probably do that anyway. That's going to happen anyway. Yeah. And so the money is not that prohibitive on the Carlson deal. Like obviously there's a risk involved in terms of you're buying high and like he's, what, 33 years old and could get hurt again. but if you look at the way their contracts are distributed, like Hints and Hayskin and are locked in. Robertson is a due to raise in three years and Odinger in two, but at that point, Ben's money comes off the books. Lendell's money comes off the books.

Siggins is a bit longer, but his last year has only a $1 million salary, so I'm sure you can get creative with moving that deal out if you need the clear space. I think there's a way to sort of have your cake and eat it too if you're Dallas here where there's not that much risk, but the reward is so high because you're improving your biggest weakness in a massive way for a team that was already pretty close to making the Stanley Cup final.

So I don't see a way they could improve their team better than this. And for San Jose, I'm not sure what they're looking back in return. But there's very few teams that are going to be able to take Eric Carlson back at $10 million without asking San Jose to eat significantly more than that. I mean, I love it. I love the fit. And, you know, San Jose, I think is going to be really hard. press to get anything approximating full value.

And I think you've actually taken care of them in a way that also improves the team paying for it. So, well, it's a lot to take back. It's a lot to like take back in terms of like you're taking Marchman or Miller or whatever. You're retaining someone, Carlson.

Yeah. Not getting back a premium prospect in Stankov and or Bork. I think those guys are not to be considered here. But you're getting back like a quantity of assets, right? And considering how few teams can actually take Carlson back. I would consider it if I were them because this is probably the time to do so. It was probably at the deadline last year, but if not this offseason, otherwise, you might just be stuck with them for the next four years. Yeah.

Only issue I see is Marchman has a modified no trade. And as we've learned with the Krug deal, not learned, but as the Krug deal reminded us, you know, you can talk as much as you want about taxes and all that. Like the dirtiest word for players considering where they want to play is rebuild. And the sharks are purely a rebuilding. team. So that might be the only fly in the ointment, but I really like that trade. Okay. Let's do, let's do some flames ones here before we, before we get out of here. What do you think about this one? Calgary, okay, is going to retain 50% of Mikhail Backlund's contract. This is part of a sequence of moves. I've got two trades involving Calgary,

trading centermen and getting young centermen back. So that gets him under three million for next season, right? Under 3 million for next season. And they're also going to send Kevin Rooney to the Tampa Bay Lightning. So the Tampa Bay Lightning are bringing in McHale Backland. And Calgary is going to get back. Tampa's 24 third, Ross Colton, who they can extend and Philippe Myers to make the money work. Yeah. Backland, Backland gets to like, Backland can be the lynch pin of the next Godrow line, right? the Tampa Bay is going to have to play Stamco's with Point with Coulorne moving on.

Be careful in saying the names Backland and Cidro in succession that closely. I think Flames fans might give PTSD from those two names being linked. Fair. But yeah, I mean, they're going to need to they're with Killorn moving on. They're going to need

to like load up. So I think, you know, no one talks about Tampa Bay needing like bottom six center depth, but I kind of think they do. Because I think Stamco's going to have to move to the wing full time. I think probably is going to have to be a second line center. Mikhail Backland would come in and give them an elite, an elite defensive center.

Like you want to play that one three one in the playoffs and grind out a bunch of two one wins. Mikhail Backlens, your guy, and at 50% retained, you know, I think it's under three, right? It's like 2.7 or something like that, 2.9. I think that's a win for Tampa and then Calgary turns around and has a guy who I think can level up and do a lot more if he's in a situation where he's given the opportunity to do it in Ross Colton.

Obviously a huge loss to lose Backland, but given his age, given the fact that his extension is going to be a 35 plus extension. Maybe he has more value around the deadline, but I don't think you're getting a better player back than Ross Colton. So I think it makes sense for Calgary, especially as part of a sequence of moves in which they also send

Elias Lind home and the UFA writes to Trevor Lewis which I've included just for funsies to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Oh, you stole this from me, you said him again. He's united with Godreau. Yep. Okay. And Calgary returns Cole Cillinger,

Adam Bockvist, and to make the money work for the Blue Jack Roslick. Oh, I mean, that's a no-brainer for Calgary. I don't think they would be able to get back that cylinder tier of prospect. I had Roslovich, Boquist, and Alex Texier, who's going to be returning to the NHL. Yeah. And then it may be a, you know, 98th overall or something, a pick in there. But we're kind of on the same lines there.

I think Lindholm will return a little more than that. Like the way I sort of look at this as, um, if the conundiates, got what they got for Horvatt, right? And Lindholm is better. Right. That's a first. So I sort of view Cillinger as like the equivalent of a first in value. That's Anthony Bovillier. I view Jack Roselvic as equivalent in value. And then they got Atu Ratu and I sort of view Bukvist as like an upgrade on that, on that prospect. So, you know, I think that's the template of what a Lindholm deal has to look like. So I think you're I think they need to get commensurate value of a first round pick, but obviously Columbus isn't going to trade three. So that would be my that would be my,

um, that would be my, Calgary ends up out of this with Cillinger, Colton and Jack Roslilvic, who, you know, they'll rebuild like he'll play half the season and probably get sent on. And you've got real NHL players so you're not like fully rebuilding, but you've pivoted quickly from, you know, a 35 year old and a 28 year old, neither of whom seems eager to stay with your organization. And all of a sudden you've got a Colton Cillinger group down the middle that, you know, I think is really interesting for a flames team that already has guys like Pellichet, you know, to sort of do an expedited build here. Yeah, I like it. I mean, we're kind of thinking along the same lines there. So I can't quibble with it too much.

The idea of reuniting Linholm and Goodro is fun as well, right? Super fun. And Trevor Lewis for Mike Babcock. Congratulations. Oh, there we go. I mean, can they get Kevin Rooney as well? Can we actually flip Kevin Rooney from Tampa Bay to? Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, well, while we're on this then, because I like both, I had a backland going to either Colorado or Carolina, as has been rumored. I still think Colorado, even after the Johansson trade should be in on that. But let's do Hanofen and Tofoli then as well while we're on this, right? do you have any Hanifin or Tofoli landing spots even if only kind of in general framework

rather than like specific assets returning? And you know what? I don't at the moment. Excuse me I feel like I've let you down. Please. Hanofin who I do have to say I don't value as much as the industry probably does. I think he's

a player who looks really good in a uniform and he definitely does. Is big and can skate well for that size. I don't really know what specific qualities. He's above average to really good at, but he's just like a fine player,

a good second pair of defenseman. If you look at his goal shares at 515 to throughout his NHL career, the 2021-2020 season is an outlier where he was really, really good. And then if you look a bit closer, most of it was just playing with that historically great to Chuck Goodrow in home line. And without them, he's essentially been like a 50 to 51% goal share player throughout his career, which is fine.

It's like very, it's a very no Hanifin stat, which is like, yeah, not nothing, but also not something that I'm excited to sign for this. He's a classic, like, yo, yo player, eh, where, where two years ago he was undervalued because he was the price of Dougie Hamilton. Right. You know what I mean? And now it's sort of flipped where people are like, no, he's a star and he's definitely just like a really good top four.

defenseman. And not a top pair defenseman. I like him as a 26 year old making 4.95 million. I don't love him as a 29, 30 year old making 6.5 or whatever, which is what it probably will on his extension. But to Pittsburgh, Noah Hannafin, to Calgary, Michael, Michael Granlin's contract, which is $5 million for two more years. So it avoids the, uh, the shame of the buyout, even though with Caldupes obviously wasn't involved in that trade and 14th overall. Oh, wow. Wow. So Calgary gets, picks 14 and 16.

Now, that's obviously that that's rich. I, I'm just, I'm thinking that people really like Hanifin. I'm kind of like put myself in the shoes of the industry as opposed to what I don't think that's rich. I think, I mean, again, the prover of like at the end of the day, you're still getting less for Hanifan than Philadelphia got for Proveroff. Well, in next season, you're essentially turning Granland salary slot into Noah Haniffin who will help you significantly more of your Pittsburgh and all you really care about is next year.

And I guess the year after while Crosby is still under contract. So yeah, I actually think Pittsburgh might need to sweeten it based off of, yeah, let's throw in Sanio, uh, yeah, something like that. I, I think that's right. All of a sudden, if you're them, you're going, if you're Pittsburgh, you're going Haniffin-Latang, Marcus Peders and Jeff Petrie, P. P-O-J and then you sign either Calduba's favorite, Justin Hull, or

bringing Duke Goudas or Clifton or any third pair right-shot defenseman. And all of a sudden, that's a pretty formidable blue line for that team. Like I think Mike Sullivan can certainly make that work. And so that's a massive improvement, I should say, as dubious as I am of Hanofan being a star, going from what Brian Dumlin gave you in that role last year,

I do think it's a significant upgrade. So, well, and I do see proto-Dumelin when I watch Hanifin play. You know, like, I think, I think his fate might be to be the 51% goal share guy on, like, almost like a, like a, like a competent passenger D, you know, on a, on a really good team where it's like on paper, it doesn't look like they should be able to match up with the best in the league. But on the ice, it kind of works. I kind of, that makes sense to me. I like that. That's interesting.

Big price, but, I mean, it does make sense. that the penguins do need a big time left ED. And Hanifin's probably the best who's going to move or who might move over the next two weeks. Yeah. The Tofoli one, I didn't have anything locked down. I think, I mean, there's so many teams, right, because he was so good last year. And 4.25 million cap hit, but also just the 3.5 million salary next season. And the fact that he's now thrived in how many markets that are, that are like not necessarily the easiest to be in, right?

Like I think any team like no one should be scared off of like, oh no, like can Tyler DeFoli work here? Like I think every single good team should probably be in on Tyler DeFoli on the trade market. So I included teams like the leaves and hurricanes. I was working on a Rangers one and it just got it got two at a hand. I'm almost like scared to actually say the names involved because I was like, oh my God, this is going. I'm going to get ridiculed off the internet if I put this into into the public sphere. So I didn't wind up having anything locked down for Tofoli, but just because of how little he makes for how productive he is,

I think a team that's like very cap-strapped should be all in on him. For sure, for sure. Colorado to me is the team that makes a ton of a sense for Tofoli, but I didn't look at it and shape that deal. I've got one more Seattle one, by the way, that I designed as like a sequence in terms of them getting peshy. And this also involves the flames. But what about what about Morgan Geeky?

RFA writes for Morgan Geeky, who, you know, can play center. I like him more on the wing, but he can play center. Jagger Furcus, top dub prospect, a really good pick by the Cracken. And Winnipeg's, or sorry, not Winnipegs, Seattle's 2024 first round pick. Okay, 2024 first round pick with the following protection structure. Top 15 protected. Top 10 protected in 2025. And then top three protected at infinitum beyond that.

just keeps rolling over, but it's never going to be surrendered as a top three pick. And that's just because geeky and FERC is like, that's a fair bit of value coming back to Calgary. So you're not also to offset that Seattle's not taking the risk that they've given you Tim Stozzler. And then and then to Seattle, Elias Lundholm with an extension. He sort of serves as like the big Wenberg upgrade, right? You know, there's no Jack Eichel available in the trade market this summer, but Lindholm is the best opportunity for a team like Seattle to take a big swing to upgrade down the middle. And then, you know, a world where they're going Baneers, Lindholm and Yan Gord down the middle, I mean, you know, again, we're not talking Carlson, Stevenson, Eichel. But that's the, that's the neighborhood I'm trying to get into with that deal.

Yeah, I like that one. I mean, I know the fit is certainly good. And if it came with an extension, I'm interested. I'm worried about what Lynn Holmes extension is going to look like. Me too. It's the equivalent of a bull horat and you don't, like, if he goes to Columbus, at least Johnny Goodrow will be passing him the puck. So he probably will score 35 to 40 goals.

Yep. On Seattle, I'm more dubious. It's probably similar to what he did last year, which is really good, but not worth 8.5 million probably. So, yeah, all right. Well, I think that's a, let's put a pin in there. Hopefully we can get this out there and people can listen before any of these players get moved. But that's always the risk you run this time of season.

Tom, this is a blast. I'm really, there's no one else I would have rather done this with. And so I'm glad we got to do it. I'll let you quickly plug some stuff like you did at the top. Let the listeners know what you've got in the works where they can check you out because you're going to be very busy over the next week or so. Yeah, I'll stay tuned to connect this hour this week. I'll be, or Canucks Talk, excuse me, this week. Good plug, Durant's killing it.

Canucks two hours. Canucks two hours. Canucks talk. I'll be live from Nashville throughout the week. So should be a fun show as we trace all of the happenings around Vancouver and, and of course, around the NHL. And obviously at the athletic, I'll have tons of draft coverage over the course of the week, mailbag up now in two parts.

It includes that trade that brings Will Borg into Vancouver, my most on-brand fake trade of all time. I love it, bud. Keep up the great work. Enjoy your week in Nashville here. We're going to check in with you soon. Thank you to the listeners for listening to us. We'll be back with plenty more this week of the Hockey Ocast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network.