I don't see Ottawa taking either of those trades. If they want a veteran dman then they could just resign Boro. AA isn't worth a 2nd round pick anymore.

I could very well be wrong but I really have a tough time seeing russell waive for Ottawa. I don’t think he will be hard to work with for destinations but at this stage in his career I just don’t see it.

THANK YOU, no one puts Lavoie, he's REALLY good

I honestly believe the Oilers don't get a thing for AA and they don't qualify him

Wow, that bottom 6 is horrible.

Even if it is likely, I don't think Holland is that incompetent at asset management. He'll get something, he managed to get Tyler Ennis for a 5th (just sucks he got hurt)

Overpaid? Yes, but not horrible. It was good for us last year (just made some changes), plus Sheahan and Archibald are wicked on the PK

Trust me, if there was a reasonable way to get rid of Neal or Kassian, I would

Fair, to be completely honest, I don't think Melnyk would let Dorion do it anyway because cap hit

Benning is a great 3RD, but you've massively over paid him. More like $1.75-2M x2.

Bringing back Sheahan is merciless insanity. He was -20 at 5v5, and the single biggest spot to upgrade on the roster.

As noted, Russell (likely) won't waive for OTT -- his stated preference is a western Canadian team to be close to family.

Lavoie will have a great chance at being Connor's trigger man, but more like two or three years down the road.

Why on earth would you have Rodrigue as a back up when he's never played a single NHL game? He'll probably need more time than Lavoie to make The Show. Konovalov is closer, and he'll need another year to burn off his KHL deal. Need a one year stop-gap for a backup.

Just some thoughts that come to mind when I look over your roster.

I think he'll make the jump this season, if not in camp, sometime during the season

To answer the backup question, I'm completely guessing with Rodruige, maybe he plays a few games, maybe he doesn't. I wanted Konovalov but like you said, he's a year out on his contract and I'm not sure who the Oil could reasonably bring in as a backup

Benning... I don't know what I was thinking, I did not mean to give him that much. I will update

Sheahan, he's a good PK guy and I'm sure Holland could find someone to replace him in terms of 5 v5, but I don't see him doing that (I had Mikael Granlund on a 1 year deal previously, but I doubt he signs)

Russell, I did not know he said that. In that case, yeah, I don't see him waiving especially at his age

He couldn't make an SHL team this year...

EDM should have 2.5M or less to spend on a backup. So Dell or better. Holland hasn't yet ruled out bringing back Mike Smith, unfortunately.

At $3M or less a competent 3C should be available as a UFA (think: J. Larsson, Haula, Koivu, etc) or in a trade (Derek Ryan, Turris, Sutter (please no lol), Bozak, etc).

Funny you mention Dell, that was my thought as well after you replied haha

Out of the players you mentioned, I'd be most interested in Haula (by FA) but I don't know who we could trade (fairly) for someone like Turris or Bozak. I already know Ryan or Sutter would not be good here lmao

Derek Ryan would actually be a good fit on a tough minutes shutdown line and on the PK. If we could swap KRusty for him that would be ideal.

Neal for Turris with 10-15% retained (to account for the extra term) is a trade I'd do yesterday. Neal's permanent residence is in NSH and he's good friends with RyJo by accounts.