Interesting idea, but I don't think there's anyway Chicago or Montreal would do those trades retaining that much salary

It's an interesting thought, but I don't think Chicago would pull the trigger on that one. They gave up Panarin to get Saad back, so he's obviously very important for them to have back. Remember, they also got Forsberg in the deal to be their goalie of the future. That cancels out the need for Grubauer. While the value may be close, the fit is not.

Why would they trade for Alzner that didn't want to resign with them?

He didn't resign/didn't want to resign because the Caps couldn't pay him what Montreal could.

Very intriguing thought about Saad. He adds to our scoring. With that being said, you’d probly have to give up Burakovsky instead

Montreal isn't retaining that much salary over four years for a 3rd pick and an equally slow cap dump.

You're right that Chicago would have to retain salary to trade Saad for Connolly. Posting this on April 4th, 2018, Saad has three more goals than Connolly, while playing 7 more minutes a night with much better linemates.

Saad has been a good playoff scorer, but almost half of his playoff points came in 2013-14. He's kind of hot/cold in the playoffs, which is a step up from Connolly so far, but not a big enough step up to throw in Grubauer and a 3rd.

With the benefit of having seen Grubauer play another dozen games, and show that his gaa and spct in small samples are not flukes, his value is about equal to Saad's, whether or not Saad is available. Even without knowing that, though, I don't get how the Caps would be better off heading to the playoffs without a backup goalie, and just cap space.

I mean... maybe they could have traded for someone, but who knows?