Future Ducks legend
Joined: Jun. 2022
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I poked around cap friendly for expiring RD contracts that are large enough that the team might be willing to do a Col 2023 2nd to their 2023 first in order to save the cash.
Dumba from MIN, not a great fit but they are in cap hell, however MIN seems to understand they are working through a rebuild on the fly and covet their first round picks more than Stanley Cup dreams. unlikely to make the deal go through. Dumba cant be seen as any sort of cap dump either, however if he and MIN decide to part ways, sending shatty for him and some mid round pick coming back might be worth the audition cost. Would be a better pair with Fowler on the top pair to replace Klingberg when he ships out. He does have that 10 team no trade list though, which the California teams are usually all on, but maybe he dropped one of them to add Vegas instead.
Burns from CAR, way more term than I want to touch, and CAR picked him up for a specific reason, but at ~5.3 mil for three more years, not the absolute worst in the world if we need to bury him. San Jose retaining a good bit has some nice irony to it, but again, guy is as big of a defensive liability as Klingberg is. Not sure if this deal would make any sense on Carolinas side since they've lost patches until late in the season and probably prefer the offense Burns brings.
Johnson from COL, probably the most difficult to get done, but potentially the most desirable from our side, they save 4 mil and swap their first down to their own second. Probably the worst 1st round pick next year but 32nd overall still has someone decent laying about. Might be easiest for Col to stomach knowing that pick will be in the 30s as well. Hardest part will be his 19 team no trade list.
The Dallas deal you propose might work if we take either Miller or Hakanpaa back the other way as well, to clear a spot at RD. it would be a cap neutral upgrade for the RD they send our way, and they clear out Khudobbin's contract (looks like he is cleared to play this season) to allow for resigning Otter. Drop our 2nd if this is the case. I'd personally like to have Hakanpaa back, wish we hadn't traded him out, though at the time I understand why we moved him.
Those are really the only partners I can find that I think make any sense at this point, and not that many of them make that much sense.