Of these teams, only maybe 1 has the space to take on Ekholm. These returns are all over the place. You're not going to get Jones out of NYR for Ekholm, but Carolina will cough up a late 1st and Suzuki yesterday. All in all, New York may make sense at a far lesser price. Hajek/Harpur hasn't really been impressive. As much as LA will eventually need to move an RD, I'm not sure Ekholm really works. Depending on which RD it is, maybe, but I'm not sure about this package. I think Kings fans are better for this. Edmonton needs defensive help and that's a fit but they don't have the cap space at all and I don't think Broberg would be the piece involved, maybe someone like Savoie is better for this kind of fit. Carolina just straight-up does not have room. As much as I think they'd be willing to pay this price to upgrade on de Haan, they've got roughly 2 mil in cap space and, like Edmonton, aren't accruing because they are in LTIR relief.

The idea with these trades is to show a main return for Ekholm. This obviously doesn't involve any other players going back that could relieve cap.

Zac Jones' value is not THAT high. He likely has the same value as Broberg. Schneider would have much more value, which I know NYR wouldn't be willing to part with. The idea is, if we're moving Ekholm, we'd likely have to get a LHD back (ideally). He's not a rental, either. The NYR trade is not very far off. Habour and Hajek wouldn't be enough to acquire a 30-40pt shutdown defenseman locked in for another 3 years after this season.

NYR isn't interested.

Oilers should do that yesterday!

Would Nashville take back a bit of cap to make it work? Like Puljujarvi or something, they don't have to qualify him and could just let him walk so no long term commitment.

See my above comment. This doesn’t involve any cap relief yet. Just for discussion

Edmonton would gladly give you Savoie and a first for Ekholm. i think you would have to take Kulak as well though.

To the Oilers or the Kings IMO.

Zac Jones is one of the more promising Ranger prospects right now, especially on the back end. Schnieder is a non-starter for an Ekholm deal, but I don't think Jones would be someone that NYR would make available with a 1st. Jones may be part of the deal in place of the 1st, but NYR likely isn't moving both. Harpur/Hajek haven't been the complete dumpster fire, but they're less than ideal. Ekholm is a great fit but that cap hit is really expensive.

Even with term, this is a player on the wrong side of 30 signed to north of 6. That's not a fun deal to take on knowing the potential decline of a defensive specialist can be sudden.

NYR doesn’t have the cap for this unless ur taking trouba back.