I like the Kreider trade even though I would prefer to keep him.

Don’t like giving up on Lias and his potential in the middle for another redundant winger with high skill, especially with Tolvanen in the fold.

Would rather buy out Smith than that price to deal him.

Nemestikov deal makes the most sense and buying out Smith on top of it, clears the cap space we need.

Problem with Lias/Howden/Chytil is that they all need a season of solid minutes at center to see their potential but you can't see what they can really do if they are on the 4th line. Only two of them will get solid 2C/3C minutes which is why I figured you package one with a 2nd for Gusev who could be a scoring machine.

Same mentality with Lindgren as he will be buried on the depth chart unless a few people get hurt. So if losing him clears all of Smith's contract for the next two years, it might be worth it

I agree on both points. Not that I would necessarily make the same trade, but if I had to trade 1 of our 3 young centers at this point, it would be Andersson.

As for Lindgren, with Skjei figuring to be here long term and assuming Miller reaches top-4 level, we have 1 spot on the left side undecided. Kids fighting for that job will be Lindgren/Hajek/Rykov/Reunanen/Robertson/etc. I can see Skjei being traded down the line if the kids start to outplay him, but that's still just 2 spots open on LD for all these promising kids. If I had to choose 1 young LD to be included in a trade, it'd be Lindgren.

This is a good problem to have. Agreed with everything you said.

These trades are very fair too. We got too greedy with thinking every trade needs to be blind robbery. Move the pieces you need to now. The team is going to be fantastic. Set it up right for that LONG run at the cup.

Rags would have to take back some salary in the Gusev deal, but everything else looks pretty fair.