Tarasenko for the all russian line

As fun as this would be to see, I couldn't bear watching Jensen in the top four

I dont see STL accepting that. Niskanen is a 32 year old banged up injured dman, Burka plays soft and his value has gone down hill this year, the 1st rounder will probably be a late one, but Vrana is a solid player that the caps should keep

I like these acquisitions, but you're giving up equal value, on ice this year, and throwing in futures. It doesn't make any sense. One or the other. Or a combination that adds up to the same.

Vrana is four years younger than Tarasenko, but Tarasenko has four more points this season. Taking on a huge cap hit doesn't make sense unless there's some snowball's chance Vrana asks for that much this summer, in which case it's still just getting the team a bunch older for not much reason? Could Tarasenko look better in Washington? Maybe. But could Vrana keep improving from agest 23-27, while Tarasenko plateaus into his thirties? Almost definitely.

Burakovsky and Fabbri each have five points in their last 23 games, one year apart. That part is okay as a change of scenes.

Jensen is playing the toughest minutes of his career, at 28 years old, playing 20 minutes a night. Niskanen's easing off a bit at 31, playing 22 minutes a night, with tougher zone starts than Jensen likely indicating tougher competition. Niskanen is a playoff legend, and Jensen is unknown. Adding Jensen at 3RD helps the Caps contend. Cutting Niskanen to make room for him means they have to go trade for a #1 defensive defenseman.

The Caps give up as much on defense as they gain on offense, and come out the same age, on average, at a cost of their top forward prospect, a 1st, and a 3rd. I like these trade targets, and I'm sure the other teams accept all of these offers, but the above roster is less of a contender than the current Capitals, with less of a future.

Having actually watched the players involved, not just looking at stat lines as if they spelt out everything that you need in order to gauge the value of a trade... this is the closest thing to a real trade for Tarasenko to come to the Caps that I have seen on here.

How refreshing. A Penguins fan chiming in on a Caps post to tell us to overpay for whoever we want. Haven't seen that in ten minutes.

Have you seen Tarasenko play at 31, and compared him to Vrana at 26, Burakovsky at 27, and whoever gets drafted with that pick? Because that's how this trade will be judged, and it will be a loss without even needing to remember back to this year and next year when Niskanen is a solid shutdown defenseman who puts up 20 to 30 points.