this would be the end of the rebuild and back to the bad times, taking on 4 years of a declining stamkos at 8.5m who wont be able to stay on the ice for large chunks of the contract left. Total disaster here for the Rangers.

You could've stopped at Buch and it would've been a no....

Rangers easily decline both.

Unless we know of a reason why the captain of the Cup champs agrees to waive to NYR, Stamkos ain't leaving. Just for cap reasons, Tampa might consider just Buch for Stamkos straight up.

Ummm, I don't know what makes you think stammer is declining but that 5.2 probably wouldn't enough to sign both Cirelli and Cernak plus Tampa won't trade a 40-50 goal scorer like they grow on trees. And If New York, I'm not dealing that first until they see how they play this season, maybe they miss and get lucky with the draft AGAIN. Beside, I don't think going after Stamkos is the direction this team is going.

He’s injury prone but he’s not declining. 66 points in 57 games last season.

Brendan Smith's time in the NHL is coming to an end, skating just 11 minutes a night and turning 32 in February. Hajek isn't a good prospect, but he's okay. He'll play a couple hundred NHL games in his career, on a 3rd pair. The second round pick is the incentive to clear the cap space.

If NYR need the $4.35MM in cap space, I think the Sens might accept this deal.