Rumor

I mean all he actually said was that Stepan to the Sens might happen. There was nothing but fan speculation about Anisimov or 2nd rounders (definitely nothing about Balcers), all he added was that the return for trading Stepan on could be a 2nd (which I doubt honestly, even half retained). I don't see why we'd want to give up anything extra unless Zaitsev was going the other way, Anisimov has a lower cap hit, makes less actual dollars, and was on pace for the same number of points (but far more tilted towards goals, he had 5 more goals in 21 less games). Since he'd probably only be a 4C regardless (L. Brown, White, Tierney in the top 9), dunno why we'd even want Stepan, unless we're the ones getting a pick for the extra money owed (although I don't know why we'd move Anisimov yet when we just signed Dadonov, Galchenyuk, and Zub). Confusing all around

Stepan at the TDL could fetch a 2nd if he plays well this year. I don’t think he fetches that right now. From the Coyotes perspective Zaitsev is a non-starter because he’s on a longer term deal. If there’s a deal to be made it would need to be a one year deal coming back and roughly equivalent (though preferably less) salary in return, hence why Anisimov makes sense.

Yeah that would make sense for Arizona, but it's also why it doesn't make sense for Ottawa. If they're basically the same player and Anisimov is cheaper (arguably better because more of his points are goals) then why is Ottawa adding anything? It would make more sense for Arizona to add in that case. The only thing Stepan's got going for him at this point is name value from when he used to be good

Perhaps because he may be able to fetch a 2nd at the TDL? I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense to me either.