Major shakeup in COL, Minor shakeup in WAS

I would be shocked if the Avs moved 2 core guys,...chance for 1, but they wouldnt move 2 in a shake up....thats a tear down if they do that

What's the incentive for Caps to do that trade? Downgrade on D and on the wing while trying to win the cup. Seems kind of stupid, don't you think?

No, not really. CAPS should gain about 2million in cap space making this trade depending on how much they were planning on giving Orlov. Looking at the depth chart Williams is destined for the 3rd line, maybe 2nd, and Orlov will probably be buried on the bottom D pair again. Williams is UFA at the end of the year, and I would imagine that Orlov would likely be lost in the expansion draft. Yes Hunwick is a downgrade on D, but is fully competent on the bottom pair. Yes Komarov is a downgrade, but is more than competent where Williams would have slotted anyways, plus he still has term left on his contract. Also, Soshnikov is a decent prospect that is draft exempt. I see this trade as a way for the CAPS to mitigate the loss of Williams and potential loss of Orlov next year.

The cap space part makes no sense really. Of course they are gaining cap space they are downgrading. They will now need to go out and spend $ on UFA's to replace Williams and Orlov because the 3 guys we are giving them will not cut it. Also...Hunwick is a pending UFA. So now they turn Orlov into Leo and Sosh. That seems like a terrible deal to me.

Also not sure why you are stressing the Orlov contract situation when you paid him $3.5m. That is a very manageable cap hit.

As for the Avs deal I'd have to say COL wouldn't touch it (also Duchene > Landy so not sure about your description). They would be turning a leader and high end two way caliber player along with a 2/3 D man into 2 years of JVR, Gardiner and two high risk high reward prospects. At this point I would think Kap and Carrick are more valuable to us than any other team. We like them, others may or may not.

Also worth noting that if Barrie was willing to accept $5m I think he would be signed by now. He has requested 1 year at $6m in arbitration. I would think 1 year $5m gets it done or multiple at $6m.

I think that the deal makes some sense but I don't think that realistically the Capitals would do that mostly because Orlov is still a great young defensemen and they will try their best to keep him and Williams will be a keeper even if he is aging because of his stanley cup experience and his depth scoring. The deal may only be possible if the Caps got a younger defensemen than Hunwick and a better prospect than Soshnikov for example Tobias Lindberg, Andreas Johnson or Frederik Gauthier. Also the Colorado deal would not happen because the Avs will try and base a good chunk of their team on their young captain, Gabriel Landeskog.