With all of that cap space, a Zaitsev buyout would be a major mistake.

I don't see how. The cap implications of buying him out are way secondary to the on ice implications. He makes this team so much worse. He needs to go.

Him and his buddy Anisimov are gonna take the same plane.

Zaitsev will 100% be stopping in New York because once Lou Lamiorello likes a player, nobody can ever convince him to stop.

No kidding. Just trade him to Lou and eat half his salary!

Ottawa might very well be great in two or three years and that Cap space might be necessary. Just ride out the contract or trade but not buyout. Always ends up hurting you the last few years.

if you have the cap, why not just keep him? it won't hurt you later when you have to resign your studs

Ambitious, I know, but - I don't love what I've seen of Brannstrom on the right. What about Dougie Hamilton?

IMO, Dougie's likely to re-sign in Carolina. There's a lot of posturing going on in both camps, but both sides apparently want to stick around short of a massive overpay.

I think a strong 2LD is exactly what the Sens need this off-season and if they can get Oleksiak that would be great. Graves from Colorado is another target that might come cheap pre-expansion draft if Colorado is looking to recoup value for an asset they’d have to leave exposed (and trading him to the East may be more palatable than losing him to a new Western rival). I think this is the case whether we get rid of Zaitsev or not (Chabot-Zub / Oleksiak-Zaitsev / Brannstrom-JBD / Mete-J.Brown would be the alternative if we kept Zaitsev around). I just don’t think getting rid of Zaitsev is something that will be high on Dorion’s to-do list, if it’s even on his radar. If getting him out of the lineup is a priority though, I would much rather simply send him down to the AHL, 3 more years on the books is much more palatable than 6 more years, especially when for at least 2 of those years we’ll be swimming in cap space (maybe buy him out in the final year). This may also motivate him to come to a mutual termination to find NHL playing time elsewhere a la Gusev which would be the ideal solution. I would agree with you that this top 6 is the ideal outcome for next year, as Brannstrom gets into the top 4, gets to play the right side (one of him or Sanderson will have to swap sides if they both figure into our long term plans so it might as well be the guy who likes that side), and gets to play with a big defensively oriented guy who can act as a stopgap until Sanderson is ready for that role while allowing Brannstrom the freedom to get creative offensively in the meantime. I feel like Oleksiak will want a slightly bigger contract though (3-4 years at 3.5-4mil). I’d probably be fine with overpaying him in order to actually get him as he’ll be very valuable for the first two years and should still be a good player on our 3rd pair for the last 1-2 seasons (maybe mentoring Thomson by then).

Also on Stepan, I really don’t care if we keep him or not because 4C is really low on the list of things I care passionately about, but like, why add Bishop and Amadio, who are both energetic young guys capable of filling that 4C hole, if you’re just gonna sign a mediocre aging veteran who didn’t want to be here.

Ottawa does have some fire museums, but no way is Dougie coming here.

Also there's been no sample size to judge Brannstrom's play on the right side, because he hasn't been given any chance to do it at the NHL level. He had like two games with Ron Hainsey to start the 19-20 season, and then he's had the odd shift with Chabot which have been absolute bangers. He played it a good chunk last year in Belleville on the right side, especially when they were rolling 11-7, and it was some of his best hockey. I think you give him a real opportunity on the right side, and if it doesn't work, you can just switch him to the left side and Oleksiak to the right. Oleksiak's game doesn't really change if he's playing the right side, so the fit doesn't really change imo.

IDK, I can't see the Sens paying him his full salary to play in Belleville, and if he's on the NHL roster DJ is going to use him, because he has huge blind spot for him.

For the record I don't think the Sens WILL do anything with Zaitsev, but I think it would go a long way towards building a respectable blueline. I think otherwise, Victor Mete is probably not going to be an NHL regular next year if they add a guy like Oleksiak, and I think that's a pretty big loss as he's looked really good imo.