Very well done and thought out. I think this is one of the most realistic teams I've seen as far as trades and moves.

A couple exceptions....
You are about $1M off on the cap hit for Zingers. While I agree he will give a slight hometown discount, realistically he would still cost the Hawks $4.5M and that would be on a 5 year deal. He is also not a center; he's a middle 6 winger.

I do think Nyquist would be a good fit also.

Given that Faulk is a 1 year rental, I'd remove the picks from the trade, or remove Anisimov and trade him to Buf for a 3rd rounder.

Hawks will be up against the cap next year but they can also carry 21 or 22 players; Crow re-signs for $3.5m to $4m, Faulk or Gus for $4M and let the other guy walk or even both and bring up Mitchell, Krys, Boqvist or Beaudin to fill the spot(s) on ELC's, Cat for $7M, Strome for $5M, and it all should work out.

I'd also rework the lines....

Nyquist (Saad) - Toews - Kane
Cat - Strome - Dzingel
Saad (Nyquist) - Caggs - Perlini
Sikura - Kampf - Hayden (Entwistle)

Kubalik, Johnsson, Highmore, Kurashev are all wild cards...

Defense it will be interesting at some point to see what Carlsson has from the IceHogs and also wouldn't trade Gilbert just yet. Koekk is a decent 7th man but also should see what those two have.

Overall good creativity!

Boqvist?

Thanks! I thought Dzingel played center early on with the Blue Jackets, but I would still as the Hawks take that bet on Faulk and if he doesn't sign you bought another year of better defense for your draft picks to mature and step into the line up. I really like Beaudin as an under radar guy who can step in because of his high IQ in a couple years. I actually like your lines more than my own as Nyquist and Saad probably don't compliment each other as having them split up. The Gilbert trade was just to start breaking up the log jam at defense as they have an overabundance of guys who can be a 6 or 7th defender.

I think he is at least another two years from playing as he learns to improve defensively and puts on some muscle. His offensive skill is amazing, but his play in his own zone is still iffy and he could improve his stick gap