No thanks!

Montour is currently playing on the top pair. He's a RHD. He's young, he's under team control, and he's got great potential. Is EK an upgrade? No doubt. But is that upgrade big enough to give what amounts to 3 first rounders (including Jones), a second, and a top 6 forward back, all the while taking on Bobby Ryan's terrible contract? Hellllll no. Not to mention that they'll be in cap trouble if they resign Karlsson for anywhere near what he's going to be asking for.

If EK was the EK before the cyborg ankle, then I think GM BM might think about trying to get him, think Pronger/Niedermayer type setup. As it stands, BM should stay far away from EK.

You're not wrong about most of that. This was mostly just to see what kind of cap implications would occur with both of those contracts. Montour, though, is not a top 2 dman. The way we play our defense, we don't really have a "top pairing" (no Keith/Seabrook from years past in Chicago playing 30+ minutes a game each). Karlsson + Fowler or Lindholm is. Monty has plenty of potential as a top 4 guy eventually, but he has stalled out lately and would be an easy part to include in a trade for a top dman. We also have to be realistic with our "cup window"..

In response to ithical, I totally agree. I thought of this as BM's version of the Pronger trade. The moment we got him in 06, I started telling people we would win the cup that year. Wouldn't have the same feeling this year though. Just doing some thinking