Cernak and Graves would both be great additions.

From everything I've heard over the last couple of months, it sounds like Colorado will be content to lose him in the Expansion draft as weird as that is to say. They would rather lose one good player in Graves over losing Graves to trade and another player (Compher/Donskoi) to Seattle. The reasoning makes sense but only if they value any of the other players enough.

I think Tampa would really prefer to keep Cernak. Their LD is set but they need RDs which he is and he's also very cheap and cost controlled. It really doesn't make sense to move him, but they'll lose someone good to Seattle if they protect 4 defensemen. Another tough situation that would only work in the right circumstances. I think the compensation you gave in the trade is more than fair and I would try to get it done without giving up a 1st.

I actually think Colorado would be quite open to it. In an ideal world they move a fair amount of salary out next off season in the form of Graves and one of Compher or Donskoi.

If they do want to move some cap out then it makes sense, I'm not sure that is what they want to do though. It makes more sense to trade Graves and lose Compher/Donskoi for nothing than the other way around.

If they don't move money out, then they probably can't keep Saad. That's not the best outcome. If they do want to move two guys out, then trading the one with the highest value (Graves) does make sense.

Who knows what the FO is thinking. This trade makes a good deal of sense to me though.

Good package, but Cernak isn’t going anywhere

I think Foote would be the guy to target on Tampa. He's not as established as Cernak but could become a very good partner for Quinn in a year or two. I also think Tampa would be more willing to move Foote as they can easily replace his contribution (the long term benefit of Foote is hard to replace but the next year or two of him is replaceable)