Please no with that Buffalo trade .

If NYR will actually trade Kreider with 50% retention for a reasonable return that doesn't make us immediately worse, I would do that and move Domingue, Condon, and Rutta. Sergachev for Ristolainen is seriously awful (even with the retention, Sergachev's bridge is not going to be significantly higher than the cap hit we'd have to pay for Ristolainen and the terms would be about the same, and Gourde is only a cap dump if you don't watch hockey and just read the threads here, meaning we added value). Conor Sheary is a good bottom-six player, but he doesn't fill a need here other than taking a spot that could be used to develop a prospect who would be cheaper against the cap for a little while. Larsson and Thompson probably don't make the roster yet either. And the thing is, Buffalo is moving a lot of valuable pieces and assuming dead cap. This could very well be a trade that both teams reject. If we save the cap space by not making the Buffalo trade, we don't have to magically make Killorn and Gourde's NTCs disappear, either.

That being said, Kreider would be great on this roster and I think we have the cap if we move Condon + Rutta + Domingue, none of whom are necessities (McElhinney is the new NHL backup, and we have Wedgewood, Martin, and possibly Tolvanen as minor league goalies, and Schenn, Witkowski, Gaunce, and Foote (?) to replace injured defensemen). Someone would definitely take Rutta and Domingue, and if we give up a mid-round pick, someone else should probably take Condon. That frees up $2.7m in cap, which would help a little bit with the Point signing and give us enough space for Kreider at 50% retention.

Trades are mostly unbalanced, and more importantly Killorn and Gourde never waive