Dude....

Most if not all of this won't happen, but the trade with TO is actually pretty good. I'd take that if I was Toronto. Fills two holes for them and gets fair return for Winnipeg. Nice

Signing Hanifin essentially gives us the 'Myers quandary.' We have 3 very good defenseman down our left side, and all three will demand large to moderate cap hits for years to come. It's more economic to just have Morrissey lock down that top pairing, let Niku show everyone why he's the best AHL defensive prospect in the league, and let Kulikov or a cheaper UFA play out the next couple years until Stanley, or much likelier, Samberg develops.

When you think about building a defense, I think Nashville has given the league the blueprint. You go all out on your top 4, and let your 3rd pairing be cheap, expendable, and passable, for 15-18 minutes of regulation a night against other teams' 3rd and 4th lines.

And we can't be trading Ehlers. Ehlers is quite likely a perennial point-a-game player for years to come if he can play with a good center that can keep up with his speed (Roslovic). He leads our team in zone exits and entrances and putting him on a line greatly reduces any chance of that line making a neutral zone turnover.

I'd argue after Scheifele he was the most important forward at even strength on our team.