Zero chance the caps do that trade. Need a big piece coming back to move the 8th overall, not a bunch of late picks and a career AHLer.

The completely offensive d core

If Michkov isn't there for the Caps then maybe.

I like the structure of the Karlsson trade, but I think they need to include a better prospect than Dean and the picks should be earlier years. The Sharks would probably want the Blues 2024 2nd round pick and 2023 Senators 3rd.

After being the trade chip in the Barbashev trade, I think the Blues need to add another prospect or send a higher upside player (but not necessarily Snuggerud).

I love the upside of the Blues 2024 1st though. Could be a top 10 pick!

A prospect that is likely valued as a mid round first + another mid 1st + a mid 2nd + a low 3rd.

I don't think that gets you Karlsson + high retention + cap dump.

That much retention over four years likely nets a 2nd on its own, and Scandella's cap dump is probably cheaply bought at a 3rd (and Sharks don't need LD). That means Dean and a mid 1st is the value paid for EK65 which doesn't really seem like enough. One of those probably has to change to the 10OA to get the discussion started.

This trade doesn't seem to do anything for the caps. The 2024 pick could be a top 10 pick but this is a much deeper draft

I don’t think that much retention should ever be on the table for San Jose. But that being said, you can’t really view Scandella as a negative asset in a deal like this. Teams just don’t take on 8m in cap without getting salary back while still being paid fair market value for the higher contract they’re moving.

Given the circumstances with minimal retention though, I don’t think something similar to what the Sharks got for Meier is out of the question with short term salary going back the other way.

I also don’t think Karlsson is a good fit for STL either though . Trading significant assets for him could really set us in limbo. We need to make sure that our future core of Kyrou and Thomas and the rest of the youth coming up is a core you can build and compete at a high level with.

I’m not much of the belief that being younger helps out with value etc as once you’re 25 or so generally you know what type of player you’re getting. But for the Blues they need someone to fit closer into that core range to build up that core. Not a guy like EK who comes in and instantly becomes the best player pushing the young core to the side and more or less taking the focus and growing off of them. Not to mention our team defense as a whole is rough. We need a LD to play top pairing minutes. Not a bunch of puck movers who have a lot of deficiencies in their own end

It’s a 2nd next year and I agree. Caps shouldn’t be trading that pick in all reality. Large gap between their old championship core and anything else they have coming up. 8OA could be a good place to start building for the post Ovechkin/Backstrom/Carlson era

I agree, I could see them trading it in a package for a great top 6 player or moving up. I would be quite surprised if they move down

I don’t think anyone in the top 10 is going to be willing to move down unless it’s from like 2-4 or 5-10. There’s just not a lot of separation between those two groups and I highly doubt anyone wants to move from one group to a later group. Too many really good looking future players in those ranges.

Only thing that would really make sense would be possibly Columbus moving down to 4/5 if they like Michkov and Smith much more than Carlsson. Buti still think you just take the guy you like most in the spot to ensure someone else doesn’t take who you have at the top of your board

I don't think anyone in this draft is moving out of the 6-10 range, espceially washington