Cant see Isles letting Lehner hitting FA, he's been fantastic for them under Trotz. jeez imagine having Debrincat on your third line though. scary.

DeBrincat has been playing 3rd line quite a bit this season with Kampf

Kurashev won't sign for less then the $925K maximum ELC. He's earned that right especially after the performance at the WJC.

Sam Bennett is definitely not a 2C at this point in his career and into his 3rd season now isn't showing he is anything more then a 3C. I'm okay moving Perlini and Hillman for him, but doubt Calgary agrees to that. Would likely take Perlini and Forsling. Move Strome to the 2nd line and Benett to the 3rd line...I like that more then Strome and AA so good call there.

No way should the Hawks retain anything more then $500K on Anisimov. Anisimov is the 49th highest paid center in the league, making him a bottom paid 2C or high paid 3C in the league. That is not an unfair contract given his play. $4M versus $4.5M makes his contract even more fair. At $3M, almost every team would want him which makes him a steal and a bad trade for the Hawks. I suggested AA and Forsling for a 2nd rounder and several Islanders fans jumped on it meaning that was likely too much. Retain $500K and get a 2nd back, maybe throw in Hillman...that's a fair deal IMO.

Kahun is not a very good 1st liner. This is one of the Hawks biggest holes this season. Kahun would make a very good 3rd line winger. Either get a real 1st line winger (Skinner, Stone, etc.) or swap Debrincat with Kahun. The issue with Debrincat on the 1st line is his size and he tends to get pushed around by much bigger opponents on the first line that he can't handily outskate like he does on the 3rd line. Kahun, Bennet, Debrinat is a very solid 3rd line. Kurashev is unproven, and he's a center. How about Kahun - Kurashev - Debrincat? That's another very solid 3rd line. At which point Bennett is not needed.

That leaves the 1st line RW slot still open. Can the Hawks draft Kappo? If they can, he can slot right into the 1st line.

No way should Murphy be a scratch. He has been hands down, the best defender for the hawks.

Your biggest mistake is Delia should be in net. In his 5 games he's played this year, he has the best save % in the league. Namilov is likely a bust.

Going to armchair a team...let me know what you think.

Lehner is a UFA

Only reason Bennett is 2C in this team is because of his defensive ability. Panarin and Kane don't play enough defense to have a center who also lacks the skill, so Bennett moves in a fits well tbh. He's been having a great year and can fit in while the team develops. The ELCs I didn't put much effort into lol, but thanks for the heads up. We would need a top 2 pick to get Kakko. Podkolzin/Cozens would be the move if we fall out of the top 2. Kahun on the 1st was meant to be a temporary thing for me. Stone or Skinner would obviously be great, but I think someone similar to Vrana or Dzingel would work well in this team and then potentially move DeBrincat to the 1st line, or swap the 1st and 2nd and have that new RW on the 2nd (which would probably not be the best move because I would ideally keep Bennett with Bread and Kane, but he is not a 1st liner lol).

I just don't like Murphy. He's overpaid and won't be in the team anytime in the future. I just left him as a scratch for now, but I would prefer to trade him.

I get that, but im sure they're going to do their best to re-sign him. He's having a career year with his new team, dont see why he would want to leave that.

right on. is Strome the 2C rn ?

Yes

How can you not like Murphy? The guy has been our best defender being a plus 7 and blocking shots. He's the only defender in the defensive zone that's been able to do that. He looks better then Keith, Seabs, Gus...he's actually a good bargain at his cap hit. Eventually, it will be Jokiharju, Boqvist and Mitchell on the right but that's not until the 2020/2021 season so his contract is a great fit for now. Pairing him with Gus, who's not very good in the defensive zone but very good in the offensive zone, is a very good fit IMO.

Take a look at the team I just put together.

+/- is not a viable stat.

For defense it absolutely is and he's actually a +8 now. I don't know how you could suggest it's not for a defensive player. The #1 job of the defensive players is keeping the puck out of their own net, own zone and keeping the puck in the offensive zone which +/- is a direct measure of.