You should not be sending any of those pieces to Vegas in that trade. In fact, you should make them give you at least a 3rd to take him.

Especially Smith isn’t at is best right now

Vegas will not be sending assets just to shed salary. I understand the thinking but at trade deadline, there certainly will be enough interest in whoever they move that it will at minimum mean they won’t need to sell at a loss and likely will receive decent assets.

Don’t forget, they got a 3rd for Reaves while cap crunched. A 4th for Eakin while cap crunched. A 2nd and 3rd for Gusev while cap crunched. A fourth for Stastny while cap crunched. A 3rd for Schmidt while cap crunched. A 2nd for Miller while cap crunched. Roy and a 5th for Haula while cap crunched. And nothing for Fleury while cap crunched and him having a M-NTC and an agent telling front offices he will retire is traded.

1- Heh. Probably should brace for disappointment.

2- None of those situations even compare to this one. Those were mild, This is DEFCON desperation.

And, uh, getting nothing for the reigning Vezina winner very much equates to having to pay to offload middle six types. Not at all sure why you think that giveaway makes your case.

Yes, Fleury was a pure cap move, as were all these mentioned, yes Vegas got nothing, they also did not have to give away anything when the entire league knew they were under the gun. I’m not sure your point here, I implied at worst they would be giving away players this deadline for nothing, that’s way different than them giving a 3rd+ to shed Smith like the post I quoted said.

The other situations were dire as well. Fleury carried a $7M hit, Stastny a $6.5M hit, Eakin a $3.85M hit, Miller a $3.875 hit (multiple years), Schmidt a $5.96M hit (multiple years), Gusev asking for $4.5M when traded. The entire league knew Vegas could not carry any of these and they got assets from every trade except Fleury, in many cases decent assets.

Habs can get a way better return for chiarot

Smith is not Fleury. And none of the previous situations were close to this dire. It's no longer about carrying middle 6-ers. This is well beyond that. I understand you don;t want to believe this is different. Fair enough. But it is, and everyone else seems to know it.