This doesn't really address the issue here.

"It all really depends on their usefulness and desperation" - Bjorkstrand and Pacioretty, two *very* useful players, were moved for dirt. And for bad players? A 1st for Monahan. A 2nd for Nick Ritchie. Desperation? Doesn't matter when you get OTC, you need to be compliant by opening night. A number of teams are still OTC, with moves to be made, and as we get closer to the season, the pressure is going to go up, along with any potential ask. Plus, every time bad cap gets moved to a cap-compliant team, that is less cap available on the market to be moved.

My point is a lot of ACGMs are thinking they can move bad players/ salary for cheap, when that is not the reality.

Gudbransen was signed before there was any whiff of JG, and the thought was that was the end of the day. JG was signed, and now CBJ needed to move cap. The ask for moving one year of Nyquist or two years of Voracek (two guys who are very capable and contributing players), was a 1st+. It was ****ty to have to move Bjorkstrand, but to hold out in this market is a risky endeavor - the return for a good player will go down, the cost of a bad player will go up.

Again it all depends on usefulness AND desperation. Keyword AND Columbus became desperate as they needed the space to sign Gaudreau. Essentially they traded Bjorkstrand for Gaudreau and a 3rd & 4th. Vegas traded patches and coghlan and are still almost 6 million over the cap. Hence why they needed to trade for Weber. Most of the teams are over the cap now but once they put their respective players on LTIR, they won’t be. Some of those teams are also over the nhl contract limit and once they send players down will become cap compliant.
Idk what your point is on Monahan and Ritchie…Monahan has been bad and injured with a huge contract. Ritchie was bad and Toronto was in a bad way cap wise last year. Ritchie had multiple years on his contract.
As for Columbus I agree that they signed Gudbranson to a bad contract probably not thinking they could get Gaudreau. But once they did, they needed the cap space and were desperate. A bubble team at best probably not willing to pay a top pick yo get rid of Voracek or Nyquist because teams knew they were desperate now. Again going back to the point of usefulness AND desperation. None of the teams over the cap currently are desperate or they’d have made the trades by now.

Wow Calgary gave up way too much to move Monahan's contract.

I feel the next dump trade we see involve a 1st is gonna destroy cap friendly as the conditions will be impossible to map out lul

You make a good point. On the surface this seems like a 1st-round pick for cap space they don’t need and some cash. But given Buffalo’s rebuild timeline, developing young players in the NHL is probably worth more to them than what is most likely to be a mid to late 1st-round pick three years in the future. I’m not sure I agree with KSIxSKULLS that players don’t develop on the 4th line. They’re getting exposure to NHL competition and the coaches can try them in different situations. I think whether a player is better off developing in the NHL or AHL depends on the player's age/maturity and whether they've already done all they could in the AHL. Leaving them in the AHL too long could be detrimental to their development.

I hadn’t considered that not playing Monahan after trading for him could damage the team’s relationship with his agent. They didn’t sign him though. What if they were to waive him and send him to the minors? Then at least he’d be playing. I’m sure the agent just wants him to have a chance to get his game back.

Internal Cap.

$30M worth??? That's asinine. I don't doubt the chance though.

THATS LIKE GIVING MALKIN AND LETANG FOR NOTHING CALGARY??

holy crap this has to be the record for the most liked post on this website

This one has to be it.

HOLY ****, no wonder u have like 3k more likes then posts

Yeah, when it comes to trade and signing threads, I have plenty of hit posts.