Flames likely don't need any more centres, especially one that still might be overpaid at 5.5m. Brodie at 4.6 m is much better value for Calgary.
Canes don't need any Dman. Especially don't need Staal. making 4m a year for the next five years.

If Brodie goes to the Rangers, McDonagh minimum has to come back.

The idea of shopping King Henrik to Dallas actually makes a lot of sense, and for that I award you more than 1 star. However, it's too big a deal; too complicated to be at all likely and probably too much of a haul for Henrik at his age and contract. Brodie is worth vastly more than Stepan. No one wants Staal, even with these salary retentions you are handing out like candy. Good effort.

In what world would BM do a Nash for Fowler trade, I''m sure that BM is looking for an aging Rick Nash for Fowler so Nash at $5 million for 2 years that's still $1 million more then what Fowler makes and once Anaheim resigns both Lindholm and Rakell they will be tight up against the cap.

Many Ranger fans think they can trade their overpriced bad contracts and get good returns. It's just meaningless. Jimmy Howard is another player that some Red Wing fans think he can dumped on team with cap space.....well just because they can.

Its not just about the money. Its more about the term, the contract type (NTC,NMC) and the age.

Anything over 2 years becomes a hard variable to predict. In 3 years any player can drastically change. Maybe not the Toews/Kane's of the world but a Wideman, Nash, E Staal, D Brown, etc etc. These guys were very good players 3 years ago. Now? Well you watch hockey don't you....

Contract types make dealing really hard nowadays. Not only because with expansion on the horizon, you have to automatically protect NMC's but sometimes when you absolutely need make a move to stay cap compliant, NTC/NMC's make finding ways out of cap hell hard to do. If they can be avoided, GM's do so. Its actually more beneficial to pay a player more then to give him NTC/NMC.

Age. Some guys like Jagr just defy logic but generally speaking, after 30, the stats tend to decline.

When a player who is considered not very valuable to begin with, has all three of these things, his value is creeping into the negative spectrum. They might be useful players still but a team wanting to acquire them has other options available that are A) less risky and B) Cost effective.

Gee Marco, didn't I say that? Thanks for explaining contracts so well. Marco's blogs should be mandatory reading on this site.