I can’t tell if this is serious or not and I am very uncomfortable. I guess I’ll just say Ottawa says no, they don’t want Duchene back, they’d prefer to keep the young assets. I’ll let other people deal with the rest of this lol

Ya no way Edmonton even thinks abotu this deal

Toronto should take this and run

Sabres need 1.5 to 2 retained on Johansen to take that contract

Ha, sorry to make you uncomfortable. Not really serious, but I tried to keep it realistic, within the boundaries of the concept (trading away all the older players, only accepting young guys in return). My rational here was that Duchene played well in his 1st stint in OTT, so they might want to try and recreate the magic. I retained on a long contract, because Melnyk is a cheapskate, and I thought that might entice him.

A Norris finalist and a top 10 RD with great chemistry together doesn't intrigue you?

A top 5 player in the world every season and their best young d man?

I hear you, but the rational was that the difference between Ellis (locked up for the long haul) and two years of Jones is a bigger gap than the difference between Drai and Josi. With McDavid, EDM can absorb the loss of Drai enough that the huge upgrade on the back end outweighs what they're giving up. I understand it's not the least bit realistic, given the age differences, but I honestly think it makes EDM a more dangerous team.

Johansen was interesting until I saw his contract, The Sabres are already overpaying a couple players, we'd have to find a deal for Okposo to someone also his contract makes his value a little less than the deal.

I figure Risto is overpaid by an equal to greater margin than Johansen is, so the rationale was that sending him to NSH was kind of the equivalent of retaining salary on Johansen.

Some people think Risto stinks I'm not part of that group - in fact I'd rate the Sabres RDs as Risto, Joki, Miller, Montour , I did get mad at some of the mental errors but he cut those down quite a bit last season, next season will be interesting, to see if he progresses or regresses.

Edmonton says wtf no

Not even tempted to negotiate? Josi and Ellis would be the 2nd and 3rd best defensemen in Oilers history.

Yeah but an Art Ross and Hart candidate making 8.5M at only 24 years old is pretty hard to give up. I dont think I would give him up for anyone other than MacK
And btw, josi would prolly be 3rd best, behind Coffey and Pronger

I totally understand. Given the ages of the players involved here it's not realistic. When I came up with this dumb challenge, I didn't realize how problematic it would get, when it comes to the high end players. This trade was one of those so crazy it might work longshot ideas.

I thought about Pronger before I wrote that part. He had a great season and an amazing playoffs in EDM, but given how brief his tenure there was and how ugly things got, I pushed him down the list. But I'm from a fanbase that still boos Ryan Suter when he comes to town, so it takes all kinds. I had Lowe ahead of Pronger in my head actually. I think longevity and dependability get underrated, on these kinds of lists.