I'd rather have the cap space to sign Pettersson long term. Just gonna have to go with Schenn

Assuming that Niku and Wideman both prove to be full-time NHL capable, I wouldn’t dislike this at all.

deal

I doubt Juolevi clears waivers.

Then upgrade the pick to a 4th if that’s the case

Fair enough. But with keeper breaking his leg and hamonic possibly sitting out the season, D depth took a real hit. I think we could use one more bonafied NHL d-man

That works. We only trade Kulak if he becomes expendable, and if he's expendable it's because we already have enough D above him in the depth chart.
Doubt Juolevi clears anyway.

i dunno if im MTL upgrading the 7th D with a player in a similar position to Kulak when we got him makes sense.
He's a big bodied guy who can learn a lot from Shea Weber who's remaining on from the sidelines to help the the team
This year Juolevi would get special attention that normally a 7th D doesnt

It gives us Cap space which is more valuable then Kulaks upside
We brought in Chiarot and Edmundston because he failed to step up and take the job
he's a good bottom pair/7th D capable of 16-18 minutes but after that it gets sketchy and turnovers become a thing

Juolevi might not get any better
But we know Kulaks not getting a new deal with all the LD we got coming up in the next year
We could turn Juolevi into another Morrow rebuilding value then flipping him for a pick

Kulak's a reliable 7th and can sub in the top 4 in a pinch. It's hard to give up a good insurance policy for a questionable return. The cap space is secondary.
I think he'd need to drop to 8th to even consider it. That means at least two players need to prove they are better options first.
If Kulak would clear waivers, I'd even keep him then, but that's doubtful.

Juolevi is a good risk/reward opportunity, I just don't think it's the right move for us at this time.

His waiver cap hit is the same as NHL
I dont see how that would help

Reliable 7th D are less important then you think
Can you remember our 7th D from 2014? or 2010?
A Reliable #5 D like Emelin is what we need and what we were missing last year.
Weber/Petry/Chiarot and Eddy had to play 21-25 minutes a night rotating with Merril/Gus
All because they couldnt trust our bottom pair who had no leader

The fact we couldnt trust him in the SC playoffs speaks volume's to how Coach Ducharme views him different then Claude Julien.
Ducharme relied on Merril and Gustafsson over Kulak. Under DD we also so the decline of Kulak and rise of Romanov

Each coach choose their guy
It appears Chris Wideman for Ducharme as he offers more offensive upside and best of all Half Kulaks career turnovers with more points in less games.
Wideman Defensively isnt as good as Kulak but he's not that much worse(the difference is so small vs the upside its really a non factor)