You can only sign Tavares for 7 years and Parise isn't leaving his hometown for crap hole Arizona either.

You said critique away ...

That's a lot of salary dumping - harder to do IRL than from the armchair. DET has no room for Ennis, nor does ARI have any need for that Parise contract - they could sign a guy like Neal/JVR/Perron if they need to reach the floor and it would be cheaper, more effective, and they wouldn't have to give up picks. But I do think MTL would be interested. Look around the league at other centers making 5.5 for 2 years and I think you'd be happier with Fletcher's extension of Koivu.

I'm being pedantic here, but anyone signing UFA Tavares could only offer 7 years (he could be extended for 8 by NYI only). Also, Marchessault is playing his way to a bigger contract than that IMO.

Agreeing with you AK_tune, I think Marchessault is playing much bigger than $3.5M. I think he will want, and maybe even get, something in the 4 or 5 yr range for around $5M.

Parise is still owed $36m over the next 7 years (not counting this season). $9m, $9m, $8m for the next 3 years. His last 3 season are the cheap years with $2m, $1m, $1m salary. Parise kills the AZ trade with his NTC.

Ennis isn't going to get anything in return, Wild would be paying picks to get rid of him. Buyout would be more likely (as you said).

Koivu might agree to a MTL trade, if the Wild go into tank mode.

I was impressed with the cup of coffee Murphy got when Spurgeon was injured. The RD looks more stable than it did when the season started for at least the short term. Juulsen would be nice to have though.

Bassman: You are one of my favourite bloggers on this site. I feel you might have trapped in the house by the snow and cold too much in the past week, and you are taking out your frustrations (with some justification).
Usually when a competent GM takes over a team (such as yourself), the damage has been done. You should have been signed a couple years ago, before some of the madness wasn't entrenched on the team.
Long term bad contracts, lots of NMCs, sounds like a middling team at best for awhile. Best wishes in your new job. Enjoy the Vikings for the next month or so.

We can take Ennis back if we send you a 6th

No take backs.

Ennis hasn't been bad actually. His cap hit is just killer. If he was on a ~$2m contract he would be okay, the $4.6m hurts.

Habs will gladly take Koivu if he is willing to waive. Hearing Koivu's name at the Bell center again would be awesome!

Why the hell would we do that?
Only way the Sabres take back Ennis, is if it’s a deal like how we took Pominville to get Scandella cheaper

No team is taking just Ennis

Not a bad idea, but you have to take into account the NMCs. Parise and Koivu wouldn't waive without very good reasons, as both have very strong ties to Minnesota (it's Parise's home state and Koivu has spend his entire career here). Moreover, you'd need to retain on at least one of these guys (possibly all three) in order to move them.