If Columbus was willing and in need of added cap space with less term, I could see this working. I think the draft pick would be better than a 7th though. All factors equal, Hartnell is a better player than Sbisa even at his age.

Decent, but Prout would have to be thrown in from Columbus' end if they're taking back a defenseman. Then Van could either include a higher pick (5th?) or a bottom-6 forward, like Etem.

Or do you think VAN would do Hartnell and Prout for Gudbranson?

Or Hartnell and Prout for Larsen and a 4th?

I doubt it. The whole emphasis here is that both team get what they want. Columbus gets extra cap space and less term as well as a contract they can expose in the expansion draft, Vancouver gets a better player with a somewhat expensive contract but since they have ample cap space to manouver, they don't mind.

Changing anything in the trade defeats the purpose. Aside from improving the draft pick from a 7th to maybe a 3rd/4th since Hartnell has proven to still put up decent numbers these past couple years.

If it's a choice between keeping Scott Hartnell or adding a grossly overpaid and useless 7th defenseman, I'd rather just keep Scott Hartnell. At least he contributes to the team.

Also, Sonny Milano wasn't thatgreat in the AHL playoffs, why are we acting like he'll make the team next year?

I agree, keeping Hartnell is best option. Dumping clarkson contract is priority 1. If Foligno doesn't play well this year, maybe trade him over Hartnell. As for The playoffs, bjorkstrand, Anderson, sedlak & Zaar all had better showings than Milano.