I hate this notion that they are a trade away from winning. There’s very little playoff experience with the majority of this roster. I can’t wait for people to start complaining when they get bounced in 4-5 games in the 1st round. Like be realistic and take off the blinders.

I think that's very fair, but if they are thinking about making a push and/or trying to build a winning culture, maybe bringing in Giordano would be helpful to those younger players? I feel like this would be the type of guy that can help in more ways than on the ice.

We can go on a serious run easily. Igor+++, anything can happen. 100% right, don't waste precious assets on rentals! Package the excess for elc C at least.

It'll cost that just to dump Nemethis

This is my point exactly. Don’t think short term. If it was for a young cheap center I could certainly get behind making a big deal. But the idea of trading multiple young assets for guys close to 30 and making the team older completely defeats the purpose of this so called rebuild. At that rate if that’s the strategy, may as well trade Kakko, Schneider, Laf, Chytil, Kravtsov, Lundkvist, Jones and Othmann and 2-3 1sts and just go all in this year and next year. After that we’d just be a middling team with nothing in the development system.

Next years Play Cap: *8m for 2 Forwards*(preferably Cs or a RW), 9m for 3 Fs also works. The rest are elc/min. So no Boeser, JTM, Josh(not John)Anderson... or temps.
Gone by then: Chytil, Nils, Kravtsov, Gauthier, Georgiev, Nemethis.
Drury knows winning and his stamp here is underappreciated, for now. Highly doubt he's blowing a load on that MTL stuff

Apologies, but struggling to see what I offered that would be considered "precious" for NYR. I think it's more than realistic that for the next 4 years the right side of the defense will be Fox Trouba and Schneider (assuming Schneider is bridged), so moving Skinner is not going to ruin the farm. Skinner is already 22 and every year where he sits in the AHL his value declines. I think he's a good asset but realistically he's not going to be a staple in the NYR lineup and I don't think you're getting stand-alone value for him, so moving him along with a contract you want to be rid of is a solid move. By the time Skinner would get a substantial opportunity, he'll be 26 and 1 year away from UFA where he'll likely walk. Additionally, NYR can afford to move one (NOT BOTH) of the second rounders they have in this draft; looking long-term, regardless of whether the pick is a forward or defenseman, he will probably not be able to crack the lineup (he's going to compete with all the young players currently on the roster, the other early picks from this year, and also the likes of Othmann, Cullye, Robertson and Lundkvist, just to name a few). And you could argue that whoever that pick becomes has value, but again, you run into that same problem where he'll sit in the AHL and his stock will depreciate if he doesn't crack the lineup.

We can agree to disagree what the cost of moving Nemeth would be, but I'm basing it off of precedent (which is usually how GMs operate) so see the Staal trade to DET and I think you can see that it comports with this offer.

Can you list some names of top 6-top 9 ELC centers that teams are willing to move? That NYR will be able to afford in the next couple of years? I think NYR are going to extend Strome in any event.

I think you're 100% right when you stated above that players that have high salaries with term currently in the league are players NYR should avoid, because it creates a cap crisis in the near future and possibly down the road, too. But I think getting veterans on expiring contracts is sending a message to the players in the locker room that you are are investing them and want to create a winning culture. I think so long as you keep this year's first rounder and one of the second rounders, you can spend some of the assets you've accumulated (that's the point of rebuilding and accumulating assets in the first place!).

And lastly, it's possible (but I'll admit unlikely) that when you bring in some older veterans that can still play (like a Giordano or a Pavelski) that they may believe that signing with NYR on cheaper 1 year deals next year could be their best chance to win a cup, so bringing them in and giving them every opportunity to "drink the cool-aid" might give you another year of them.

I understand that giving up assets for rentals is risky, but NYR have put themselves in a position to take risks; otherwise you end up like the Kings with a bunch of good prospects that will depreciate in the AHL because there are log jams across the roster.

We will have to agree to disagree here. They aren’t gonna win anything this year and wasting assets on rentals or older players will not do anything meaningful for them. This team is getting lit up in the 1st round. They need experience in the playoffs for any meaningful run. They’re realistically a year or 2 out from when they should actually make moves like this. Anything sooner is premature imo. Obviously they most likely will make a stupid trade or few of them and it’ll be pointless.

Regardless of wherever you think this team will finish, you probably want to build a winning culture, and I think sometimes that may cost a few expendable assets. I agree with you that it's doubtful they'll make a deep run, but maybe they grab a couple of rentals and they can win a round? I think it sends the wrong kind of message to the locker room to sit there and do nothing. That being said, that first rounder they have should be kept at all costs. That I think we can agree on.