Hard to see EJ waive his NTC to leave one of the top contenders in the league

I don’t hate it however I don’t know how desperate the avalanche are to move him.

I also think waiting a year and getting a guy like Murphy in free agency would be a good idea. Chicago has jones, Mitchell and potentially regula coming up on the right side. They may not want to extend him long term to a top four contract. We could offer something like 5.5x5 and get our partner for werenski.

Tru but I really dont think its a good idea to run Peeke and Boqvist as our top 4 RHD this year.

What about something like Subban. Yes it's a crazy scenario but he's only got one year left, would be cheap (in terms of assets) and could play first pair maybe for a rebuilding team.

Yeah I thought about him too, I think he'd be a good mentor but NJD would basically have to retain half and give him to us for free

I completely agree however 6 million is a heavy cap hit. Especially if he’s not in the long term plans. This year it’s fine but laine, roslovic, boqvist and Elvis all need extensions next off season. While we have cap space it’ll get tied up really quick. Conner could be a part of the future and would be worth the cap hit.

They wouldn't do that they don't need to move him. But you could probably get him for a late round pick if you wanted. It would be a lot cheaper than any other potential RD1 that you would get. Plus it's only a one year commitment.

It absolutely IS a good idea. We want to be bad, and get into the top tier of this draft for someone like Wright/Lambert/McGroarty. This is not a team that's gonna compete for a Cup this year, so might as well take it all the way in the other direction.

So if they aren't ready, you want to just throw them out there and potentially hurt their development?

Well, Boqvist and Peeke have already proved they're NHL-caliber D, so I don't think that's as much of a worry as putting someone like, for example, the newly-drafted Corson Ceulemans out there. It's gonna be a learning experience for these young players this year, and I don't think the assets coming back make the value what the CBJ would need. If you really think that kind of exposure would hurt their development, you could throw Kukan up as Werenski's partner (who cares if he sucks), and let Boqvist and Peeke be 2RD and 3RD, respectively. A Bean/Peeke pairing could be pretty fun.

However, I think there's value in letting Z develop chemistry with one of Peeke/Boqvist/Bean; that could be an electric pairing in a year or two once they acclimate to one another.

I like the idea of EJ to pair with Werenski if he is healthy, but they could also try Gavrikov with him first.

Subban is intriguing as a one year bridge guy, but ai don’t think he’d be a good compliment to Werenski. Z needs a stable d presence.

My biggest worry this upcoming season is the dmen are so bad defensively they just get caved in on a nightly basis and don't actually develop so it's another wasted year of RFA contracts. Last year was a complete waste of everything development wise (fully admitting a lot of that was likely on Torts) and I don't want to repeat that. I agree a guy like Subban or EJ or whoever vet dman could be a good calming presence on the ice and mentor on the bench. Plus if it's only one year left on the contract who really cares? Cap space not spent is wasted cap space in my book.

Yeah I'm not sure other people realize that some players careers and development have literally been ruined because they've been into the wolves too quick. I agree 100%