Who adds what?
Joined: Jul. 2017
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The whole Metropolitan division is five points apart. Carolina has fallen, in a week, from third to sixth place, one point above last, but only two wins out of first. When they were tied for third place last week, this didn't make any sense at all. Now, maybe? If the salary works for them?
I think for the Hurricanes to move Pesce and stay competitive, they should ask for a defenseman back. Their prospect depth on the left side is legendary, and on the right side, TVR is all I hear about, so probably Ozhiganov gets thrown in, and Carolina adds a 14th forward type, to avoid waiving a forward when Nylander arrives?
I agree that picks right now mean more to Carolina, which is still developing talent at many positions, than to Toronto, who would add a top pair defenseman here, pushing Zaitsev back to a 2nd pair role where he can be very successful, and Hainsey to a third pair, penalty killing specialist job.
But contracts and cap space are valuable, tradeable assets. A top pair defenseman at 4M is valuable. A top six forward at 7M might be a slightly better player on the ice, but under the cap, if he prevents you from trading for or signing another player you need at 3M, he has to be a whole lot better to be worthwhile. Toronto definitely has to be prepared to add here, if they want to pass their salary cap standoff off to a team that's got a point a game forward in a contract year, and isn't going to have much cap space, either.
Best case, long term, for Carolina might be trading Pesce for Nylander's rights and a 2nd, failing to sign Nylander this year, drafting top five, and signing Nylander next year. But my guess is that with new ownership, their idea of best case is getting some players who help them make the playoffs, because that's a thing a lot of people like to do in sports.