Stecher is all they need

Done

This would make the Gudbranson deal worth it

Zaitsev is such a gas can

'Lundqvist requests trade'

Rightly so. Zaitzev is not very good, and hugely overpayed.

Right. Hence the possibly top-40 pick. But it'd be the first five-man Russian unit in the NHL since Detroit way back in the day, and it might get Zaitsev going. I'd ask Ottawa to retain half, instead of the pick, but we all know the answer.

Ya, it might work out ok if Washington tried this, but not the first thing they should think of.

What we've mostly been talking about in Caps therads is signing Tanev or Vatanen at nightmare scenarios around 5.5M. I think Vatanen and Zaitsev each averaged 22 minutes last year, got 12 even strength points, and were minus a few on a bad team. Tanev has a little more offense, but averaged under 20 minutes on a good team, so he might not be better. The team needs depth in case of injuries, and stocking up on draft picks is never a bad thing. The risk is that Zaitsev will get old, along with Oshie, and the team will need to rebuild. But if they win first, who cares?