That Vatanen trade is good. Very solid.

No way COL accepts that though with Barrie still in the mix. They need D-men more like Fowler and Lindholm than Vatanen.

Colorado said they're looking for prospects on defense, plus that trade was overvalued anyway, since Landeskog is having a bad season too. Swap in Theodore for the pick and take Duchene instead. Also, if you're going to take Strome with the hopes of returning to his former glory, then don't dump him on there fourth line. Put Ritchie down there where he belongs. Lastly, Bieksa sucks, so don't take him off the bottom pair.

Rakell - Getz - Kase
Strome - Duchene - Perry
Cogs - Kesler - Silfvy
Ritchie - Vermette - Thompson
(Never losing a faceoff again lol)

Fowler - Manson
Lindholm - Montour
Larsson/Holzer - Bieksa

Defense might be weak this year, but next year these rookies will grow into their roles.

Y'know, cap space != the ability to take on bad contracts. High cap-hit contracts are associated with paying substantial salary to not-very-good players. The Coyotes' MO when accepting high cap-hit contracts is not having to pay out the majority of the remaining salary. See: Dave Bolland, Pavel Datsyuk, Chris Pronger. Stoner doesn't have an associated long-term injury, so they'd have to pay him $3.25M in real salary to be a bottom-pair defender. The Ducks and the Coyotes are both internal-budget teams; Stoner's contract does no favors for the Coyotes.

If it only takes 2 3rds, the Flyers will up one to a 2nd for Strome.