He meant mid 1st rounder and the 18OA is a mid 1st rounder. Saad is worth this at the TDL with 1/2 retained. He's worth just the pick with 1/2 retained now but not McLeod

The Hawks are the 3rd most valuable franchise and are top 5 in revenues...the money isn't nearly as important as freeing up cap space which is why moving De Haan frees up more cap space and Maatta can be bought out if they need more during the season in a trade or next offseason if Seattle doesn't take him. Way more flexibility with Maatta then De Haan.

I don’t know why retaining makes much of a difference to NJD. They have cap space.

I figure NJD probably wants to improve, Saad helps their forwards, they have all year to resign him, and they deal from a position of strength.

Again. I just think he’s confused about that bit. Although it would be interesting to see the financial decisions teams make with their revenue going down.

NJD doesn't pull the revenues of Chicago, Toronto, NYR, etc. They are middle of the pack but money matters in Covid when there are no fans to a team moreso out of the top 5, maybe top 10 in revenues.

Money is not the issue for NJD. Their owners just put in a huge bid to buy the NY Mets and just bought a minor stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers. For the Devils, they are not going to spend a 1st round pick on a 28 year old w/ only 1 yr remaining on the contract. If a rebuilding team trades away a first round pick, it is for someone younger w/ more years under team control (IE: Vince Dunn, Erik Cernak, Willie Nylander, Kevin Labanc, etc.)

Saad to Jersey is not a good fit. I see Saad being coveted by a club wanting to add depth for their playoff run, not on a rebuild. Saad would be a good fit in Boston if the cap can be managed. A lot will depend in the off season. Saad will probably remain a Hawk until the TDL.

It is too early to move Murphy, unless than the plan is too secure a high draft pick in 2021. Unless there is an able replacement, trading Murphy will leave a vacuum, and the Hawks defence will continue to suspect. There is no need to add offence (acquiring Tuch) The club has many creative offence players. Goals this club should aim in the next season. Have a top 10 power play, reduce shots on goal against.

There is not a owner in the NHL, at least 90%, that aren't close or over billionaires. Money isn't the issue for them personally, but they don't operate any of their businesses in the red for craps and giggles so yes, money does matter to every single owner. It's a game for them to turn around or operate profitable businesses regardless of how wealthy they are personally.

Late reply but: generally, buyout cap hits do change based on age. 1/3 of the remaining contract value, if the player is younger than 26 at the time of the buyout; 2/3 of the remaining contract value, if the player is 26 or older at the time of the buyout. Normally, since Maatta turned 26 before the most recent buyout window, the amount left for the Hawks to pay and thus his cap hit would be higher. So yes, age does definitely impact buyout amounts and cap hits - normally, anyway.

https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-faq

However - and this is a big however - part of negotiations for opening play again made it so the buyout age is based on June 15th. So Maatta's buyout is still $680k because he was still 25 on June 15th. It's why CapFriendly has their buyout calculator defaulting to that date. I didn't know this fact when I wrote my previous comment.