I don't think VGK wants Ryan by himself they'd want him with Karlsson, so I don't think they'll take him for a 3rd. But you might be able to eat some money and move him for something. And honestly, it might be worth keeping and playing as long as we have room. He's not a bad player, still top 6, he's just overpaid. So maybe play him to boost up his value then trade him.

Carlson on the open market gets more than $5.9

That this build has exactly 8M in cap space says to me that its author knows both of these things, tried to fudge Carlson's salary down to see if the Caps could afford Karlsson and Ryan without losing Carlson as a UFA, and then chucked Ryan away in frustration and hit publish.

Bobby Ryan has eight goals. he plays sixten minutes a night, with 53% offensive zone starts. He's -7. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/r/ryanbo01.html Last year he had about a dozen goals and as many assists. That puts him level with Alex Chiasson last year. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/c/chiasal01.html Alex Chiasson's not bad, either. He's just taking up a spot that could be used to develop a prospect out of Hershey.

But a team thinking about paying five years of Bobby Ryan's seven million dollar salary to get one year of Erik Karlsson shouldn't be dissuaded because Ryan only has eight goals and is -7. No. The bigger issue this year is that Karlsson only has seven goals, and is -27. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/k/karlser01.html

Karlsson has had some great playoff years, offensively, but can the Caps really deal with his defensive weaknesses throughout the regular season, and still get to the playoffs? Ottawa has mixed results.

leaving 8.1 in cap space was intentional. It was done to offset the carlson salary that will be north of 5.9 when he hits the markey & an ext. for EK... - because nobody is giving it all up for a rental.

However, the only true cap relief wash gets is for orpik to retire & shed us of his albatross of a contract.. The hope was getting a 'decent' C in return from AZ... Likely? NOPE.

Nobody will want Ryan & his contract either...

Currently Wash has the #1 goalie prospect in the world, unless that has changed overnight, thus in my eyes making holtby & his north of 6 million salary expendable... again, probably not gonna happen either....

The big question is, what team is going to dump the farm and future picks, for ONE year of EK???

Samsonov was the #3 goaltending prospect in 2015. I'm glad the Caps didn't drop Holtby back then. http://www.nbcsports.com/washington/washington-capitals/caps-have-two-50-top-nhl-goalie-prospects

Of course, if you dig through that writeup and find the link to the top fifty goaltending prospects of 2015, you'll find that two of them are now starters in the NHL: Hellebuyck and Murray. 48 aren't, although another four or five have shown promise in limited action: Dansk, Subban, Jarry...

That's over three years. That is not a lot of turnover. Teams like to be sure their goalie is 100% ready to play in the NHL before they give up on having a plan B. It's kind of an important position.

Should the Caps trade Holtby? Maybe, but not for any offer I've read on this bulletin board yet.... except for the one ridiculous one where some Carolina fan offered five first picks and a second. That would be fine. But he's got an NMC, and he's on a solid team where he seems to get along with the guys, so whether or not the Caps should trade Holtby is irrelevant to whether they can.