On paper too 2-3 dcore in the league and with JG should be cup contender praying it’s something like this honestly

Isles are not trading Beau for Dunn. Both Aho and Salo signed 1 way deals and you don’t usually sign players to those unless you plan on them being in the NHL. They will rotate and compete for time next to Mayfield.

Lou clearly thinks the forwards are good enough and focused on adding speed to D. with Chara and Greene out and Romanov and Salo/ Aho in the D can finally skate well and that will help the forwards.

If you trust Salo to win LD3, fine. Don't make the hockey trade. I don't believe that piece about Lou thinking the forwards are good enough at all. His exact quote from the presser after the deadline (he was asked what areas of the team need improvement. He touched on Defense and added the exact type of player he inferred)

"Over the next period of time we'll find out about our scorers. That's where we certainly underproduced this year to this point. In fact I would said disappointed what has transpired there. We'll see where our forwards are at from now until the end of the year"

Not a ringing endorsement. The forwards did nothing after the deadline. Can't believe he liked what he saw or changed his mind

I really believe Lou will give it a shot. Even if it's not Gaudreau I can see trading Bailey and signing a better UFA. Maybe a hockey trade for Tarasenko (involving Beau?) if Bailey is kept. I just don't think we're done. If we are Lou should be put in a home

Yup I’m in the same boat.. I think if a cheap LD3 is available on a bargain (Dunn or soucy potentially) I’m all over it.. idk what forwards but we NEED one

lou wants to make “hockey trades” but doesn’t want to actually deal anyone off the current roster. what is a hockey trade in his mind? not saying moving bailey is the right or wrong move but if he’s not moving bailey, varlamov or beauvillier (bringing him to the draft feels like a sign) who is he dealing to improve the roster now that the pick is gone?

I do not really believe anything, any writer says about the Isles at this point. At the draft writers all but confirmed that the Isles traded their 1st for JT Miller only for it to be Romanov. Then there was the report a few years ago (forgot who) that Sorokin was traded to CHI, only for that to be completely false.

Could the Isles still acquire another LD, maybe. But it would not make sense as Salo's cap hit is the same in the NHL or AHL with him being on the 1 way contract.

The player that make the most sense to move would be Bailey, he was scratched a few times last year and we all want to see Bellows and Wahlstrom play full time. But he does not need to be traded now, the Isles can exceed the cap by 10% during the offseason so Lou can target a guy like Nichushkin (I really like the idea of a line of Nichushkin-Barzal-Wahlstrom) or if he misses out on a top 6 guy in free agency see if he can get Kane. Then Lou would look to move Bailey out to a team like ARI where they would only have to pay $3.5M in real salary while getting the $5M cap hit as they are looking to save money. Most likely i think the roster will be:

Beau-Barzal-Wahlstrom
Lee-Nelson-Palmeri
Bellows-Pageau-Bailey
Parise-Czikas-Clutter
Martin
Johnston

Pelech-Pulock
Romanov/Dobson
Salo/Mayfield
Aho

We are very much on the same page with trading Bailey and adding..but that's not what your first message said. You commented that Lou was clearly thinks the forwards are good enough. I'm just saying based on Lou's own words I don't believe that comment (or any reporter's opinion) to be true. I think we see at least one new name in the top-6

May have miss worded what I was trying to say, basically I do believe Lou likes the forwards and that he is not trying to force anything, but he should be looking for an upgrade in the top 6. If the UFA players he is targeting get ridiculous offers from other teams, or teams are asking for too much for his trade targets I can see him going into next year with the same forwards.

Yeah that's fair enough. But if I hear one cliche about liking the group that we have I'm going to vomit