Islanders won’t trade Raty.

Did Lou tell you that?

Raty for Fiala and Boldy

to be fair Lou doesn't trade "his guys" - he'll trade a draft pick, but it's unlikely he'd move a top prospect he picked.

Who knows, the Isles are the oldest team in the league and I honestly couldn’t tell you why they’re bad this year. Especially with the year they had prior to this season. If Lou thinks this team should be contending then I could see him trading for some top end scoring talent.

Having two 40 year old defenseman increases the avg age Most of the isles best players are in their prime , under the age of 30. They’re bad this season because Barry Trotz broke up his best D pair so Pulock can baby sit Zdeno chara.

I can see Lou adding a top 6 winger, im just saying it’s highly unlikely Lou includes Raty in a trade.

i’ll say this — the isles would trade their 2022 1st round pick before raty imo. with the minny cap crunch and him being an rfa his value’s not ~that~ high so i think the top 15 first w maybe a small addition is enough

Minnesota being in a cap crunch and Fiala being an RFA doesn’t diminish his value if Guerin knows how to handle the situation. There is a million other ways Minnesota can retain Fiala, it’s not like we’re being forced to trade him. As for him being an RFA, I’d imagine Guerin goes to Fiala and asks him for a list of teams he’d be willing to sign with long term, and then you trade him to one of those teams with a new long term deal worked into the trade. If he just trades Fiala without letting his new team and Fiala’s agent work out a long term contract then he’d get less value.

i mean, in my scenario his value is still a top 12 pick, it’s not like you’re getting buchnevich or toews value for him. it’s just not potential top 15 pick ~and~ top prospect value

The pick can be top 15 protected, that’s not really a big deal. If I’m Guerin I’m looking to get a prospect as the centerpiece of the return, the pick can be secondary. Maybe that’s just me but if I were a GM I would value the higher end prospects over high end draft picks.

i would personally give up the 2022 pick before räty even if it’s high.

I would too if I were an Isles fan but Guerin would likely want Räty before the 2022 1st. That’s where the negotiating part comes in.

MIN
Thomson, Lassi
Järventie, Roby
2022 2nd round pick (TBL)
OTT
Dumba, Matt
Gaudreau, Frédérick


There's no room for Dumba with 7 signed defencemen, 2 RFA's, and 2 prospects that are close, 9 in total.

Dumba is a RD, and Ottawa already has RD Zaitsev, Hamonic, and Zub signed for next season, as well as RFA's Brannstrom and Mete that can play RD, as well as RD Berbard-Docker before even mentioning RD Thomson.

It doesn't matter how good or bad a defenceman is, if there's too many already, they aren't trading for another one.

LD signed for next season are Chabot, Holden, Sanderson as well as the two previously mentioned RFA's.

What do you mean it doesn’t matter how good or bad the defenseman are? If you have a chance to upgrade your team with better players, why wouldn’t you? If you had 10 Erik Brannstrom’s and The Rangers offered you Adam Fox in a trade you’re telling me you wouldn’t consider it? Just because you already have 10 below average defenseman? That doesn’t seem very SENSIBLE.

Use some common sense, if you're trading a one way contract to a team where there are already nine one way contracts for seven spots, what's one more, right?

You need to take back a one-way contract, and that isn't Thomson or Jarventie. If you don't want one back, then the Sens aren't a good trade partner, see how that works? That's being Sensible.

Oh yeah, the upgrade part, sure teams want to upgrade, but you need to take back a one-way contract because there's already too many. See now why it doesn't matter how good or bad the defencemen are? This is about contracts and roster spots.

BTW, if you respond that the Sens can just trade the other defencemen away, yeah, just waive your wand and they are gone. The Sens already need to find trade partners for two, they don't ned to make it worse by adding yet another one.

Why is this necessary to explain? This is common sense

Athletic writers don’t think Raty would get moved in a Chychrun deal. I like Fiala more than Chychrun but I assume Raty’a not being traded.

Whether it’s reasonable or not I think a lot of people view Raty as untouchable. Personally I wouldn’t trade him.

It's true that there's a massive logjam at RD (everywhere in fact) but I would find a way to make a spot for him if Dumba was better defensively at ES

And if we'd trade for him, Zaitsev would need to go the other way or somewhere else (how do you do that? Unless maybe Ottawa retains half of his salary to the Wild?)

I wouldn't give up the moon for Dumba though. Jarventie, Thomson and a 2nd is like 2 firsts and a 2nd so a bit too much for my liking

However :

Chabot - Zub
Sanderson - Dumba
Holden - Hamonic
Mete

Now that's a NHL defense (Brannstrom traded in a package for a RW and JBD one more development season in the AHL. He then graduates in Hamonic's spot the following season)

That was my point, there's no room, so room would have to be made, and Thomson doesn't create room. To make room, it would have to be one of the three dressing RD, Zaitsev, Hamonic, or Zub. Dorion just acquired Hamonic, and the fans would riot if Zub was dealt, and Ottawa is not retaining on Zaitsev to go anywhere, and MIN would need retained cap on Zaitsev.

Dumba is no longer a viable option now that the team has Hamonic. It's time to watch the cap, and a $6MM D like Dumba won't help with that. Dumba is good, but Dorion acquired Hamonic instead, and for less.

It's possible that some, or even all of MDZ, Brannstrom, Mete, and Zaitsev to not be Senators next season.

A defence of;

Chabot Zub
Sanderson Hamonic
Holden JBD

Would be a solid starting point, with a #7D that was a return from a trade, since Mete has tired of that role.

Hamonic and Zub are both UFA's after next season, and moving one at the TDL would allow Thomson to be transitioned in permanently.

Just some thoughts...