this forward group man...

two points to NYI fans :

why would you lock this long a 4th center? Cizikas is one of the great 4th C, but he's 30 already. It could be the kind of deal that Lou makes (rewarding vets), but 6 years?! I'd think 4 years is long enough, if not too long

would you be fine running Chara & Greene behind Pelech? that seems... risky. Maybe Tarasenko money for a LD?

Not OP but the term is to keep his AAV down. Could have probably got $4x4 on the open market. That's $16m. Stretch $2.5m out over 6 and it's $15m. Basically doing the Isles a favor that he would need to in order to stay

1. $2.5mx6yrs is the rumored deal that Cizikas has agreed to. I personally wouldn’t give him 6 years but also wouldn’t be mad if it kept his AAV down.

2. There are no quality LD left in Free Agency and trading for one would involve losing one of our forwards (because of cap and value reasons). Chara is still effective as a defensive-defenseman and he would pair great with Dobson who is young and becoming a quality 2-way RHD.

I'm honestly in the camp of letting Cizikas go. He's been great but it's hard to commit that much money to your fourth line. But it seems like he's coming back so that's the reality.

I think if we trade for Tarasenko, we should ask for Scandella as well. Or we can try and get Dunn or Soucy from Seattle. Either way, no we can't go into next season with one of Greene or Chara as our second pairing LHD.

Chara is now actually an Islander lol

Yeah but doesn't mean what I said can't still happen.