Leafs decline because there's really no need.

I’m just unsure on Toronto’s center depth if you have Johnny and Auston in the top six… and Kampf and Engvall as your bottom six centers. You’re gonna want to have a Dylan Gambrell over a Pierre Engvall, plus this is for the deadline. It’s never a bad thing to have bodies.

Engvall is decent enough center at just 100k more. Spezza and brooks would play 4c most likely. We're cap strap enough rather use that money than a very minor at best upgrade at 4c

It’s hard to say if Chicago does that deal because we already have a number of capable centers and it would be hard to see how Hertl could fit into our cap situation going forward. I would request that you take on a larger contract to facilitate the trade, like Johnson for example (instead of Connolly), and the trade becomes much more palatable because it opens up cap for an extension. Honestly though, my preference is that Chicago does everything in their power to get D-man from Arizona.

I'd do this trade as a Hawks fan. I understand the cap delta between Connolly and TJ are real, but we can figure that out. Hertl would be a good addition and hopefully that would entice his fellow countryman Kubalik to sign a longer term reasonable extension too.

Which side does Simek play? It seems that Chara won't return to the Caps but I'm not sure if Simek would be a large enough upgrade to TVR, Fehervary, Jensen, or Kempny for the Caps to justify benching one of the players I listed.

Simek is a natural left defenseman, but he has played on the right side when he first joined the team.