Habs take that conditional 1st for Hudon any day

yeah i was wondering if it was too much. Just basically cutting Smith's cap hit to stay below cap. I think that might be a touch too much. A 3rd could be enough.

Why would Panarin sign with a team if it's going through a dumpster fire rebuild?

You have to ask him that question. He's had the Rangers as his top choice for the last year or 2.

https://www.sny.tv/rangers/news/belief-around-the-nhl-is-panarin-wants-to-join-the-rangers/291651190/

I'm very aware of who's on Panarin's list and that includes the NYR, NYI, FL, Chicago, LA....however, if the Rangers are going to gut the team and do a total rebuild as you have in this scenario, why would Panarin select the Rangers if the arrow isn't pointing up? In other words, Panarin is going to go to a team he believes the arrow is pointing up and has a shot at the cup, not a team that the GM just totally gutted to rebuild from the ground up.

That is why if you propose Panarin on the Rangers, they aren't going to gut the team too.

I'm sorry...I have a tough time seeing how this team just got gutted?

I've just replaced:
Brady Skjei with Oscar Klefbom
Neal Pionk with Colin Miller
Marc Staal with Yegor Rykov
Brendan Smith with Libor Hajek
Brett Howden with William Nylander
Jimmy Vesey with Jason Zucker
Ryan Strome with Vitali Kravtsov
Jesper Fast with Sam Bennett
Vlad Namestnikov with Andrew Mangiapane
Brendan Lemieux with Loui Eriksson

Those are upgrades across the board. I'm just not sure what you're seeing....

I like the trades but on a different perspective, this team sucks. I'm not trying to offend you or anything because I can genuinely see the appeal in these trades, but I don't see how this team is any better than our past contending teams. Yes, it's better than our current rebuilding team, but that doesn't really mean much, and it's certainly not a top contending one in my opinion.

1) I kept all my 1sts and top prospects. Including a potential lottery pick this year.
2) I brought the average age of my forwards to 22
3) I brought the average age of my dmen down to 24
4) The majority of the team is under team control for at least 3 years
5) I'm not sure if this is a contending team next year (though looking at the analytics I'd submit that it's easily the best team in the Metro) It's certainly a contending team in 2 years with the growth of Chytil/Kravtsov and the addition of Miller/Lundkvist
6) I don't think it's realistically possible to do better without compromising on points 1-4

Looking at it again, I can see your side of it and you're right, it is a series of very good trades. I guess I personally don't think any of the returning players are anything special, but that's just me.