Kings aren't taking Smith unless there's a 1st coming along with him.

I like that lineup. I just don't think that gets it done.

Technically Andersson would be said 1st round pick, being he was drafted 7th overall just a few years back. Not to mention the 4th round pick.

But I believe Gorton will keep Smith for the final year of the contract and will shed salary off the salary cap some other way. Rather than pay such a high price to rid the team of only a $4.3 and change million contract.

I'd understand that if it was Staal. But for Smith that's far too excessive demand imo.

If that’s what it’d take we buy him out or do something else (maybe let Fast go). No need to be wasting picks for a guy with a year left.

Do you guys have a guess at what cap hits those two RFAs expect? If they're each at 4M, the Caps offer only seems a little bit apart, to me. IF they're each at 5M, it doesn't seem ideal for WSH. If ADA wants 6M, I'd be torn between him and Trouba.

Pure guess, but imo Strome gets $4,5Mx3 and DeAngelo probably $5,5Mx6.

I'd assume that their contracts will hit those ballparks.

What's funny is that the Kings would probably consider taking Staal without a 1st. Smith is done in the NHL and is essentially just dead cap space.

Andersson has little to no trade value. Maybe you could swap him for another high-risk, high-reward type prospect with issues (Honka, Puljujarvi, Ho-Sang), but the Kings aren't taking on that much dead space if he's the sweetener.

Lol

I could see WSH wanting a little bit more to take on that 8M cap hit on Trouba, but, truth be told, behind Carlson, the shutdown role Trouba ended up in last year might be a better fit in WSH. Neither DeAngelo nor Trouba would get 50 points with Ovechkin and Carlson playing the points for 1:30 of each 2:00 power play.

So start with something like Kuznetsov and Kempny for Trouba and 3x4M Strome, and then NYR sweetens with either Chytil or with Car 1st and Buf 3rd?

I could be way off on this. It's tough to evaluate defense, but 8M is a bunch of money for any amount of defense if the cap isn't going up.

If that's the case with not just LA, but the rest of the league. Rangers hold on to Smith for the final year of the contract.

To give credit where credit is due... Smith is a decent enough penalty killer as a defenseman and can also play 4th line wing - while switching back to D if needed for the penalty kill.

But what's very underrated about Smith is his ability to fight. Seems to always make his opponent bleed his own blood. Which makes him a useful role player on the 4th line and Defenseman penalty killer.

Meh. Kings have a man-beast named Kurtis MacDermid to do the fighting if it's necessary. With all the kids the Kings are trying to get time on the bottom 6 this year, Smith has absolutely no place on the roster. Same with the bottom pairs of the defense.

The Kings have a logjam at both bottom six wing and bottom pair LHD, all with players that are younger, better, and significantly less expensive. He's entirely replaceable.