Idk about having stalock as the backup and koskinen on the taxi squad. That's a lot of dead cap. I would rather buyout koskinen and put stalock on the taxi squad and then sign smith or someone else.

Stalock seems pretty serviceable to me. If you can get decent backup play , for 785K, that's great value. Maybe you can acquire a better option at the deadline.

Ithink you just eat the last year of Koskinens deal. Thats 4.5 freed up for the next year and that basically covers Nurse and JP extensions.

Add another 1st round pick and it’s a deal. Rust alone is worth a 1st+. He is a top 6 versatile forward with a phenomenal contract. Adding in Kassian who is a cap dump, even at 800k retained still needs to add for us to take him on. If pens trade Rust, they’d rather just get the picks to be honest and then maybe use the cap space to go after Coleman in FA

I'd agree with you if Rust had a couple more years left on that deal, because yea the cap hit is great for what he brings. If he agreed to an extension I'd definitely consider what you're saying in terms of his value, I couldn't see him signing an extension though.

Him only having the 1 year makes him much more attractive to a team looking to compete for a cup.

Why is that?

Because teams that are cup contenders are cap strapped and need to juggle their cap situation every offseason until it starts going up again. Edmonton is going to need to sign Puljujarvi, Bear, Archibald, Nurse, and fill out their roster.

K well maybe at the deadline or something.. but I'd way rather have rust at 3 or 4 years at that cap hit.

Koskinen off the books will basically go to Nurse and Puljujarvi. Turris and Russell also off the books next season. So I don't think there's much of an issue there.