Hitting exactly $0 in cap space is impressive.

Leafs won't trade Brodie for all of the reasons the Devils would want him, hes their most reliable defender.

The leafs want him bc he has 1 year left on his deal meaning he won't block an elite d prospect long term??

Hes still good enough that, even in a few years, he probably won't be the guy "blocking" a young guy. For instance, if Topi Niemela ever turns out to be top 4 quality, its probably easier to just move someone else out of the way.

Also he might just walk at the end of next year, which would suck but hes still valuable for next years run.

The Barabanov trade probably wouldn't be legal. Since that 2024 1st round pick might also be San Jose's (depending on whether New Jersey fulfills the condition from the Meier trade) -- I don't think the Devils would be allowed to use the same pick in 2 separate trades, even if they were both trades to the same team. What would happen if New Jersey fulfills the original condition and makes the conference finals?

Even if the trade is legal, I'm not sure why the Devils would be so interested in Barabanov. He'd be a short-term offensive upgrade over younger internal options like Yegor Sharangovich or Alex Holtz, but IDK if he'd be a good fit for New Jersey. He lacks the speed that the Devils covet, and he doesn't have the defense or physicality to make up for it.

Ryan O'Reilly lacks speed to an even greater extent. Given his price tag (and the fact that he's coming off a down season) I think the Devils would prefer to retain Erik Haula, a much faster player who fills the same two-way 3C role as O'Reilly.

It would be legal. They would just be executing the condition on that trade. If both sides agree…the league would allow. It’s been done before.

I agree on Haula. And he has stated his desire to come back to NJ. It’s just that doing the same ACGM post over and over takes the fun out…so I like to mix it up a bit.

Our summer probably ends up to be boring and predictable. Sign the RFAs, bring back Haula, bring back Severson or another veteran dman. Jettison Blackwood. The big unknown is…who will be our head coach next year?

I had seen him in a few trades on here recently. Figured he may be a cap casualty. We’d love to bring Severson back, but the term is probably too much with Walsh and Nemec waiting. Adding a defensive dman with 1-2 years in deal would be one of the more ideal scenarios.

Can I interest you in a lightly used Justin Holl?

What does his next contract look like? And how are his puck skills? A big part of NJD system is dman that can hang onto puck a bit to allow our transition players to get up ice. Always figured Holl to be more of a crease-clearer type.

I'm mostly joking, he has a terrible reputation amongst the fans in Toronto. He's certainly not a crease clearer. Id say he usually has a good first pass and is a decent skater, hes a great PKer, loves eating blocked shots, and hes liable for 1 monumental breakdown every 3-4 games or so. My guess is he gets 2-2.5 Mil somewhere.

Really hoping the Sharks and Devils aren't trading partners for a long time after the last one.