This is honestly a fantastic idea. Get a massive haul for Panarin, turn it into two players that they can keep around and be apart of the team next year (assuming Duchene gets extended).

If Jarmo decides to sell Panarin, I think it would be a great idea for them to either coordinate a 3-way trade with Ottawa for Duchene, or trade Panarin and use part of or all of the return to get Duchene. Columbus seems relatively weak down the middle to me and a top 6 with PLD and Duchene as your centers looks awesome on paper. Plus, Duchene might be more willing to re-sign in Columbus than Panarin (maybe they try to coordinate a sign and trade). I'd probably also look at speedster like Dzingel from Ottawa as another target for Columbus over a poor skater like Toffoli.

Side note: I believe either LeBrun or Friedman posted an article saying that selling Panarin and using assets for another top tier player would be a good idea. Let me see if I can find it

Edit: here it is! It's from LeBrun's most recent article on The Athletic

"So here’s what Kekalainen now faces: getting the best possible haul for Panarin, a deal that will most certainly be based on futures since contenders don’t want to take away from their rosters for this year; then turn around in a separate trade and shore up the Jackets’ roster up front with another deal. It’s do-able but it means the Jackets will be both a buyer and a seller at the same time over the next four weeks.

By the way, is there a rental player that can impact your roster more than Panarin this season? I don’t think so. Matt Duchene (if he doesn’t re-sign in Ottawa and hits the market) is a centre and he’s a special player. But the offence Panarin can provide on the wing? Wow. Panarin’s presence on the trade market is a complete game-changer."

Yeah it's an interesting concept. Not sure if Boston (or another team) could stomach the cost of renting Panarin. Tyler Dellow was making a good point yesterday that people will lose their minds if CBJ "lets Panarin walk for nothing", but no one would bat an eye if a team rented him from CBJ and got nothing out of it... it might be in CBJ's best interest to keep him as their own rental. He's their key cog on offense.

I agree. It's an extremely sticky situation. I think Panarin would be worth it to some teams. WPG, NSH, CGY, PIT, among others are already very good teams that could be tipped over the edge with a player like Panarin. Losing him for nothing is definitely the worst case scenario. It will be interesting to see what happens

I like the entire scheme and particularly the Toffoli trade, both because of the first-round pick and because it reminds me of one of the world's favorite movies: Rick came to Casablanca "for the waters" but discovered that he had been "mis-informed." If you think Tyler can play LW, you've been mis-informed.

Toffoli is such a polarizing player to me... He looks like a slug out on the ice but when he's on his game he's an absolute animal. Problem is you have to get lucky and have him be "on" when the playoffs roll around.

I've noticed that DesJardins has been playing him on the second half of the penalty kill, so he's obviously developed another set of skills.

I LOVE THIS

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- me