Wild say merry Christmas... no take backs.

What's the ask on Zadorov these days?

I'd do that deal for Ottawa. Jost has been underwhelming since turning pro, but he's still young, and the type of player Ottawa should take a swing on. Plus it's a step towards Ottawa's ultimate goal of icing a lineup exclusively of former UND players.

Would only consider that Ottawa deal. Think Jost isn't going to get into the top 6 and even top 9 is a tough battle for him.

But those other trades... Especially Bura for Zucker. Just keep Burakovsky. Also I would keep Graves to pair with Makar since they have been playing good together IMO. Zadorov would be expandable to me if Byram is ready next year

Heading into the playoffs with Graves on the top pairing is just asking for trouble IMO. He has done an admirable job so far, but he's playing over his head and the longer you ask him to continue doing so, the more likely you are to run into trouble. And if we wait until we run into those problems, we may no longer be able to do anything to address them before the playoffs kick-off. Similar thing with Bura as our 5th best forward. He's done well for us so far, but there is always the risk that he won't bounceback quickly from his next coldstreak (like he has been doing thus far) & he's just dreadful against the puck...genuinely one of the worst defensive forwards we've ever had that was a full-time NHLer.

Zucker's checked out in Minny and Murray's as likely to break on any given night as EJ...but when on form -- as being traded to us should rejuvenate him the way being traded to a playoff team has rejuvenated Hall -- Zucker's a much more reliable goalscorer than Bura, whose forechecking provides a lot more against the puck, and when healthy, Murray is a rich man's Graves...better defensively (especially in transition), a more reliable outlet passer (meaning fewer silly turnovers), and a decisively better skater. Obviously there's the health risk with Murray, but if he wasn't injury prone he wouldn't be gettable at a reasonable price...and we wouldn't need to condition the pick on his health.

I wouldn't re-sign Zucker or Murray past their current deals...though I'd happily give Pageau the ~5.25 per he's failing to get out of Ottawa if the term is only 4-5 years (preferably 4)...but for the rest of their current deals both would fit our style really well and address two of our three most exigent question marks until the kids are ready to take those jobs for themselves.

Can't imagine he's moved during the season since we still need help holding the fort until Byram & Timmins start breaking into the lineup, but over the summer I'm lowkey expecting Joe to move the zadorable giant for a 1st and either a B/B- prospect or depth NHLer. For reference, I'd rate our prospects as

Bluechip:
Byram

A/A-:
Timmins, Newhook

B/B-:
Bowers, Kaut, Kovalenko, Ranta; Helleson, Zhuravlyov; Annunen

Well I expect Cole - Johnson to be the 1st pair in the playoffs like last year. You can put Zadorov with Makar on the 2nd pair and let Graves play 3rd or something. IMO the 1st round pick in the upcoming draft is more valuable than gambling on Murray to be in good form and stay healthy.

As for Burakovsky. Have you seen him play for the Caps? If you did, you know he has been one of the best Caps in the past two postseasons. Sure his production wasn't good at the Caps since he showed just flashes of what he's capable of. But his playoff performances were simply great. He's been good st the Avs and he has done a good job on both the MacKinnon and Kadri line. BTW, Zucker is more like a 20-25 goalscorer. Burakovsky can score that much too

...cole & ej were our 3rd pairing last spring -- averaging less than 15 min of 5on5 time in the playoffs -- and by far our worst unit; consistently getting pinned in their own end because they couldn't get the puck out of the zone without icing it. Those two were little more than PK-specialists; now I hope they would be better this go around with EJ (hopefully) healthier & more able to skate the puck out, but that's far from a guarantee...

Unfortunately, Zadorov's regular brainfarts have meant that he & Makar haven't actually worked well together so far. I have no doubts that (in time) Cale will become good enough to make up for someone as unreliable as Zads (unfortunately) still is...like Barrie used to do once he got past the early-season funk he seemed to face every year...but that's a lot to ask of a rookie. And it's yet another risk that we should be able to afford to eliminate without touching Byram / Timmins / Newhook or those future 1sts' who will still be on their ELCs when upcoming extensions bring us right up to the cap.

Watching Bura play for the caps is why I'm worried about the 20-30 game coldstreaks that have plagued his career thus far lol. Zucker is generally a much more reliable finisher & is actually a nifty forechecker...unlike Bura, who's beyond useless away from the puck...