I think the Parayko trade is very intriguing for sure.

Not sure why vegas would want to trade for sekera they have to resign Miller and Theodore (and possibly keep some of their veteran forwards).

Raanta may get another shot at starting in arizona and he may take it so you never know with that.

And with the stastny signing it's not about what you value him at but also about market forces. Who's to say a team with a lot of cap room would not give him 6+? He's got 50 points this season. Who knows if teams like CAR, BUF, SJ, VAN or MTL would give him more than you would be willing?

All in all solid ideas.

I'm counting on Vegas' big name UFAs not resigning in Vegas. I'm certain other teams would gladly pay a ton for Neal and Perron for example. Don't know if Reaves lands another NHL gig tbh, the game has changed too much. They have a bunch of dead cap disappearing this season too; Stoner, Grabovski, and Garrison all expire this season. In the ~$26M they free up, I'm certain that Karlsson, Miller, Theodore, and Marchesault's new contracts might barely use up that extra free space. With the cap going up $5M, they'll have a load of space. Not to the point they'd need him explicitly to reach the floor, but enough that they'd still have over $5M in room. Sekera's played a fair bit of RD in Edmonton, if need be, he can push over to the right side to help balance their roster. I'd have no issues bumping the pick up to a 2nd rounder to help make the deal happen.

I think Raanta, like any player, wants to be the guy. He'll definitely get that chance in Arizona, but he can have that and a legitimate chance at winning in Edmonton. I'd run him and Talbot as a 1A/1B until one of them decidedly takes the reigns. If $3M is what it takes to pull him out of the desert, I'd hope they do it.

The Stastny signing is the only hard part, and the Oilers would really need to bank on his desire to win (especially if Winnipeg doesn't get past Nashville). He can get more money, or go get his name on a cup. Because Vanek is a 1-year deal and the cap might go up again next year, I'd be comfortable giving him $5.25M at most; the more money we have for Poolparty and the other RFAs, the better.

Well I mean that's the problem with VGK- if they have that much space perron and/or neal have a good chance to resign there. Also the 6 dmen they play now all can be coming back; they may want to either keep those 6, or bring in someone on a short term deal (1 year) to make sure they have some flexibility (maybe they'd be willing to sign mike green?).

The Avs would have zero use for Russell, too old for the rebuild and clogs the left D where the Avs have plenty already, plus he has a NMC.

Seems like a lot of cap dumping on other teams. And you land one of the biggest UFA signing, centre Stastny and then you stick on left wing.

Don't think the Blues make that deal. If they did their RHD is depleted.

Given the financial situation he's in, there's absolutely no way in hell JJ signs for that low. His parents screwing him over financially means that he needs a big payout; if he could take a deal like that, there'd be no talk of his ever leaving Columbus.