Kopitar had a down year. LA would officially become sellers and rebuilding. If I were LAK, and I decided to become a seller. I would go to MTL! BUT that deal would be very different. Keep Galy, I'd want Sergachev. There is no deal possible without him. I'd want Addison. I'd eat Pleky's $6M and I want (2) 1sts and a 2nd in 2018.

I'd prefer to buy out Plekanec than to give extra assets. How do you know it was a down year? That cap hit and term is suicide for someone his age. I'll give you Danault Mitchel Hudon 2017 1st and 2018 1st and you have to retain 1.5 mill. Making an offersheet to Draisaitl for 10 mill is always a better option since hes 9 years younger.

It's not necessarily plek = those two assets. Yeah, I understand it looks like that considering the way I wrote it...it's more of the overall package though. Kopitar is 29, which means he's in him prime right now. How was it a bad year? The whole team was bad. He's also generally not the stat stuffer. He's more of the shutdown center type. There would be no deal without Serg.

The perception on Kopitar is the same as Toews right now. Which is weird to say because Toews had essentially two rookies and Kopitar had two old and busted wingers in Iginla and Dustin Brown. Neither Center had any help at all. Trying to be objective...as a Hawks fan...I think Toews had more help at the end of the season because Schmaltz did ok learning on the job for a rookie.

What I meant is, you can't guarantee me that it was a down year, for all I know he's on a decline. The problem with LA IMO is that they don't have anything great in the prospect cupboard. They also have little leverage on negotiations. Brown and Gaborik will not give them anything great in return. Brown and his contract suck. If I'm another GM and you offered me Brown, I'd tell you " sure but i also want a 2nd rounder in 2020. I'm giving you virtually nothing, except for the luxury of being freed of a horrible contract. Same thing with Gaborik but to a lesser degree. Gaborik can actually get you something, probably not great, but you're freed of another horrible contract. imo LA needs to do a minor rebuild. Just having 10 mill available by ridding one self of those contracts is a start. And get some decent free agents. You can also go through a major rebuild by also trading Kopitar to Carolina, they have so many assets, they'd offer you the world, starting with Hanifin.

I 100% agree with you regarding the LAK prospect situation....110% even! AND also 100% agreed that Carolina would be a good partner. I just thought their budget constraints would be even greater than MTL. I think LAK in general should rebuild. I'd trade away Carter at this year's trade deadline. They're probably not going to be in the playoffs again, the 2018 draft is supposed to be strong. Carter is still playing at a very high level and not too big a cap hit.

Could you see a Carter for Danault, 2018 1st and any (1) of the 2nds at the TDL?

About Kop, also true that I don't have medical records or anything more than anyone else to say Kopitar is (or isn't) in decline or not, but same can be said for prospects too and probably even more so. Not every superstar in the OHL becomes a great NHL player. In Fact, many people are saying (not me) that this year's OHL player of the year Debrincat will be a bust.

Why would LA trade Anze Kopitar