that Ladd trade would never go through

I only did it because OTT needs to hit the cap floor and Mitch is a decent d prospect. However if a little more needs to be given up I'd be willing.

As an Isles fan who really wants to shed that contract, I'd say add this year's CGY 2nd rounder, ask for a 4th rather than a 5th and retain 1.5m annual salary. Ladd at 4m a year isn't THAT bad of a contract; he's still a good 2nd or 3rd line winger who plays good defensive hockey. If Ottawa insists on getting a 1st rounder coming back, give them it, but then get rid of the 1.5m salary retention.

Agreed except for giving up the first. I feel like that might be too much I'd rather do two seconds or package the 2nd with a better prospect than Mitch, not too much better though.

I’m not happy about giving up a 1st either, but we could use that space to sign a big FA some time in the future. And it’s not like our prospect pool isn’t deep, we could go a year without a 1st rounder. That said, I still feel like there’s a way to shed that contract without losing a 1st, so long as we’re willing to retain some salary.

Yeah we do have a great prospect pool so it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.