Fiala is asking for 8 to 9 mil, something Guerin isn't willing to do.

I don’t think he’s the answer anyway. In my opinion they are better off taking a swing at Boeser

But if Guerin is dealing him, he’s going to ask a ransom in return. And rightly so. Fiala is a player.

Fiala is definitely going to start on the high end. I think he knows anything above 8 even on the open market really isn’t going to happen. Wild will offer something like 6.5 and then it will go back and forth and end up in the ballpark of 7 AAV. I think he may go slightly less if its for max term. 6.75 x 8. Remember Kirill initially started at 10 AAV for 3 years.
If I’m the Wild I’m moving Dumba over Fiala. And if this deal is on the table I’m taking it. JBD can almost play right now, him and Addison can fill the Dumba’s role. Justin Braun as a possible vet move as well. We could also move an LD prospect.

That’s precisely why he’s not staying with Minny

There are moves that can and potentially could be made that keep him in Minnesota. It's not a forgone conclusion he's gone.

This is one of them.

No to Dumba.

We would have to pay to acquire him, pay to make space for him, and then he would ask for his own big pay day for the tail end of his career

MIN will absolutely not be able to afford Fiala without sacrificing a lot.

Edmonton can't be taking on cap like this, they're too tight already. You'd have to take some money back to make it work.

Kane won't agree to go to Ottawa and it's his choice of where to go of course

To be honest, most of this is bad for Ottawa

- Sacrificing two 2nd round picks for a guy who will most likely be on LTIR (insurance pays 80% of these contracts)

- Spending a 2nd to get rid of Zaitsev, I'd probably do it though. However, they don't NEED to do that. Could just buy him out, send him to the AHL or keep him as the 7th/8th guy who plays when there's injuries. That money is already a sunk cost.

- Connor Brown trade is missing a 1st round pick. Has been comfortably more productive than Coleman/Lehkonen and would get WAY LESS? He was 2nd in takeaways last season, most used forward on the PK and got Selke votes.

- Dumba trade is not awful but JBD's ELC and most likely cheap RFA contracts for a few years after that will be very useful. He's not going to put points so it will take time before he becomes expensive. And he's going to be good defensively (can't say that about Dumba). I am not doing this, particularly considering contract/term and future salary demands on Dumba's side.

- The Kane trade is obviously attractive but this pick is too high : 2022 1st round pick (OTT). If it was 2023's first (top-10 protected), I'd probably do it.




Well, Sens wouldn't be able to afford him anyway so no point trading for him

The real solution for them is to go for a shorter time "stop gap" Top-6 Winger, like Claude Giroux who would just be perfect




Fiala is better than Boeser (easily IMO), Boeser will also look for big money and has been injury prone. He could be a guy who declines in his late 20's because of it (like Bobby Ryan and many others, for example)



Doesn't matter, Connor Brown is worth a lot more than a 2nd round pick.

It would be very COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE for Ottawa to trade him for futures (not the type of move you do when you want to exit a rebuild lol) and I don't see who on Edmonton the Sens could use. They shouldn't/won't trade any of McDavid, Draisaitl, RNH, Nurse and Bouchard

Jesse Puljujärvi would probably be the guy of interest, IF available. The prospects of interest would be Bourgault or Holloway. No time for picks.

Brown's numbers compare to Derek Ryan or Warren Foegele. He's worth a 2nd to me, but only if some money were going back, which isn't the case here.

The Senators can afford Fiala long term at 8x8. If Dorion is still in charge, he is 100 percent coming to Ottawa. There is too much smoke.

The trade will be:
-Ottawa's 1st Round Pick (5th-7th overall)
(The main piece in the trade. Gets Minnesota a good prospect who might play for them on their ELC a bit sooner than with an average prospect)
-Alex Formenton or Connor Brown
(Helps Minnesota with depth after losing Fiala. Connor Brown is excellent and can play in the the top 6, but he will cost the Senators 5+ million with term to extend. Given his age, and the point the team is at, I don't think they do that. He'd basically be a strong rental for Minnesota, and if they are out of the playoffs at the deadline they might be able to get a few picks/prospects for him. Formenton could be extended at a very reasonable price. He is not as good as Connor Brown, but he would be a long term addition so he might have more value. It would come down to who Minnesota prefers.)
-One of the following prospects/young NHLers: Brannstrom, Ostapchuk, Roger, Jarventie, or Sokolov.
Greig and Boucher would be off the table. JBD and Thomson would be off the table because of the Senators positional need for RDs. Alternatively, if there are no prospects that Minnesota likes, put a 2nd round pick in place here.
-Gustavsson
He would be a throw in. He has very little value, and will have to clear waivers if he doesn't make the Senators. With Melnyk gone, and the NHL apparently looking for ownership who can spend, I don't think the Senators buyout Murray. It doesn't make sense to stretch out his cap hit to 4 years, when they will have enough room to burn the cap off over the next two, with the distant upside that Murray puts it together and stays healthy for more than 3 games. Gustavsson gives depth to Minnesota, and similar to Logan Brown being waived in St.Louis, there are less stakes if Minnesota loses Gustavsson to waivers. For Ottawa, Gustavsson is a big piece they acquired in the Brassard trade, for Minnesota, they would be waiving a player they got as a throw in. The Senators can appropriately lie to their fans via Bruce Garrioch about how important of a piece Gustavsson was for Minnesota, so that they think the Senators didn't lose him for nothing.

Fiala will sign for 8x8 or less. You can't just look at raw point totals, because scoring is way up. Point per game now is like 65-70 points a few years back when you adjust for how a player stacks up against the rest of the league. A big 1C like Zibanejad just got 8.5, and aside from his COVID year where he stepped back a bit, he has been way more productive in the last few seasons before the contract than Fiala has been.

As far as Minnesota won't trade Fiala for a package that doesn't have Stutzle, Sanderson, etc. It doesn't work that way. Minnesota would take that package and pay and drive Pierre Dorion to his nearest pay phone so that they could call it in. Fiala is one year away from UFA status, is an offer sheet threat, and if not traded will be on a 1 year contract via arbitration. At the deadline, the most they will get will be a late 1st, and two B/C level pieces. They aren't getting a blue chip prospect via the 5th-7th overall pick, an elite top 9 winger for 1 year in Connor Brown, and other smaller pieces.

Ottawa has about 22 million in cap space next year, with 14 players on the roster. Formenton or Brown going to Minnesota clears up to 3.6 million. A Colin White buyout clears up about 3.9 million. A Del Zotto buyout frees up 1.5 million. Then Norris will cost 8M give or take on an 8 year ticket (although, I think they go with a bridge). Giroux, if he comes here as rumored, will cost 6 million ala Pavelski a few years ago. Joseph likely costs in the 3 million range on a 2 year show me deal to buy up his RFA years. Brannstrom is likely traded in the offseason. That would give the Senators 6 million in space to fill 7-9 roster spots with 2-way/depth money type contracts. That would be a bit tight, but it would be doable.

“Don’t you think it is unnatural for us to possess things that don’t bring us joy or things that we don’t really need?”

— Marie Kondo.

I agree I think Giroux is the obvious answer. If they can also grab Kuzmenko I’d be happy with their offseason. If you remember the situation around the Bobby Ryan contract Murray basically handed that contract to Ryan because of fan pressure after trading Spezza, which is similar to the situation the Sens are in now. I just hope they don’t make a knee jerk reaction and over pay to acquire a player and slap him with an 8x8 contract.

Some people are really living in some kind of alternate universe it's crazy. Avoiding facts like the plague

Connor Brown

2019-20 : 0.23 GPG 0.61 PPG in 71 GP (43 pts)
2020-21 : 0.38 GPG 0.63 PPG in 56 GP (35 pts)
2020-21 : 0.16 GPG 0.62 PPG in 61 GP (38 pts)

Derek Ryan

2019-20 : 0.15 GPG 0.43 PPG in 68 GP (29 pts)
2020-21 : 0.05 GPG 0.30 PPG in 43 GP (13 pts)
2020-21 : 0.12 GPG 0.29 PPG in 69 GP (20 pts)

Warren Foegele

2019-20 : 0.19 GPG 0.44 PPG in 68 GP (30 pts)
2020-21 : 0.19 GPG 0.38 PPG in 53 GP (20 pts)
2020-21 : 0.16 GPG 0.34 PPG in 76 GP (26 pts)


Brown has 54 more pts than Ryan during that period and 40 more than Foegele during that period of time... I mean, this was easily verifiable!

You literally just said that a guy with a 0.62 PPG the last 3 years has COMPARABLE numbers with a 0.34 PPG guy and a 0.39 PPG guy

So I guess Brown numbers are comparable to guys like Bergeron and Kuznetsov :


Don't worry I won't name you but this will be used as a reference on another website for a good laugh. Thanks for the free dopamine!




Also, these are really funny too. Who are you and what do you base yourself on?

Let's look at Blake Coleman and Artturi Lehkonen returns, their stats, their usage, etc and then rethink "He's worth a 2nd to me"

This is hilarious!



Wait, this even FUNNIER!

"ONLY" if some money were going back

I already told you, Edmonton literally can't acquire Brown without money going back. Without it, there's no deal. And looking at 5v5 scoring (because Brown isn't getting PP time on a good team) is more accurate. I'll post links to make it easy:

Brown v Ryan, this year
Brown v Ryan, 3 years

Brown v Foegele, this year
Brown v Foegele, 3 years

Brown is worth more to the Sens than a 2nd especially coming out of their rebuild. He’s got 20less career points than Hyman who the oilers blessed with a 5.5M contract until 2028! and he was lucky enough to have played on the top line in Toronto and Edmonton. Where as Brown spent his career on the rebuilding senators and leafs.

You don't have to convince me that you don't want to make this deal, it was not my proposal... I wouldn't do that at all. Would rather just let Brown walk than trade him for a 2nd when 2-way 50 pts players of ilk get traded for much more (Coleman and Lehkonen are not even 50 pts forwards)

I was more quoting you again about that crazy statement in post #12



I think it's ok if homers stick with what they think, it's much funnier this way! Think about an internet hockey world without these? It'd get boring IMO

People analyze the market and know players like this return more than a 2nd

In the meantime, the Oilers would JUMP on this like crazy if it was possible.

They wouldn't reply "oh wait, we can't take him if no salary going back"

It's a steal, you do it then figure out the cap after lol

Which I backed up with links. But anyone who calls Brown a "50 point player" when he's only surpassed 40 once doesn't get too concerned with facts, I guess.

Enjoy watching your team golf.

hahaha now the golf comment. Seriously, I'd pretty pissed too if my team had only won 1 playoff round in 15 years, particularly after having been gifted by so many 1st OA picks. So I can understand adn share the pain

Sure Brown hasn't reached the 50 pts plateau in Ottawa but he has paced for over 50 pts in each of the 3 seasons. Pace is universally understood in a pandemic era

It's the same stupid argument some will use to say Nathan MacKinnon is not a 100 pts player.

Go on to believe what you want to believe! Please don't change, you guys make the world more interesting!

Still ignoring the facts I posted links to?

Your links prove brown is superior to both players I’m confused why you choose to die on that hill?? I would see your argument for Foegele but ryan barley sees the ice played more games with 25%less minutes his stats are going to be skewed. In any case, the oilers are a 1 trick pony. bottom tier goaltending bottom tier Dcore and outside the top 2 forwards it’s pretty mid. If the Oil were in the east they wouldn’t even make the playoffs!

One single time I would love for someone who says this to provide an actual source on it. The number he's asking for has never been officially reported by a reliable source.

Thank you for saving me the time.

Every NHL coach, GM or even players themselves would take Connor Brown over the 2 other guys without even thinking. It's not close.

Foegele and Ryan are decent players too, just not in the same tier.

Do we need to make a poll on HF to see what people think? That'd be locked down very quickly for lopsided results.

Nothing to see here.

Forgot to answer this

You are actually mixing up the Spezza trade with Alfredsson departure.

Melnyk cheaped out and didn't want to pay what Alfie felt he was due. So he decided to go play with his Swedish friends in Detroit. Murray had to do something as the fanbase was burning. He signed Clarke MacArthur (one of the best UFA signings in Sens recent history) and traded for Bobby Ryan. That was 2 excellent moves at the time (MacA was underrated though)

The 2014 draft was seen as weak draft (Nick Ritchie didn't result as much). Silfverberg's rookie season was nice but it was clear he wouldn't become a star in NHL because of skating and quickness. Noesen was a prospect who had several significant injuries the 2-3 years prior (and never became much because of it)

That trade was still worth it IMO (and Ryan gave us some great moments, like that 2017 playoffs run and that hat trick game)

Ryan scored at a 0.58 PPG in 455 games with Ottawa
Silfverberg scored at a 0.51 PPG in 610 games with Anaheim

Silfverberg is now a cap dump too

But I don't see why the situation is similar now?