We don’t have cap problems.

Chicago still needs to add approx. $6M of salary to meet the cap floor

They did not sign a single FA in this AGM. Plenty of ways to pick up $6 mil in Cap......

Certainly not if you looking to miss the playoffs again. You're right.

Agreed. Certainly not enough to include the 14th overall pick in a deep draft.

Murphy and Dickinson are positive additions to the pens roster (I would think) and you can also afford to add a FA signing (Bertuzzi?) to supplement the last of the Crosby era.

Hmmm...Wonder what 50% retention on Murphy would bring? that's a tremendous asset in a ~flat cap ($1M increase). Could allow Dubas to make some major acquisitions. Hawks aren't contending right now.

Deep draft means it'll be EASIER to trade back, not harder.

I think there is something to the Petry for Murphy idea, I don’t believe it needs a supplemental 50% retention on Murphy but I’m open to it depending on the return.

Just thinking about the KD/KD trade history. Mrazek comes to mind for Granlund, but McCabe's deal could be repeated too.

I meant the 14th overall in this draft has more value. Pens could actually get a legit bonafide prospect for the first time in forever. It's not worth to move it for cap relief.

This trade saves the Penguins 4.2 million this season. A Granlund buyout saves them 4.16 million this season and doesn't cost a 1st and a 2nd.

I can see a PIT trade. Like you said both Kyles have worked together on recent trades. And Dubas has traded away a ton of picks in recent years at Toronto. I think he may trade #14 for the right price if he wants to improve the team now while Crosby, Malkin, and Letang still have a couple of years left in the tank and worry about the prospect pool later.

Maybe I'm a bit delusional, but I do think Kyle Dubas can accomplish both with dumping appropriate cap and getting multiple 2nd rounders back. It's a very deep draft and PIT can 100% get a Matthew Knies type in the 2nd round. Some (myself included) are predicting even a guy like Andrew Cristall fill fall into the late teens to 20's and his production was equal to the 20 year old reigning WHL player of the year...2 years after he was drafted. It's a crazy deep draft. I'm actually talking myself into just keeping CHI's picks and adding more 2nds...but we can't draft everyone either.

I’m totally fine with keeping our picks and adding even more. The way the scouts think, and there was even a recent podcast with the Blackhawks lead scout saying this, is that they are going to “hit” on each on of their picks. Even if it’s unrealistic to make 15-17 picks in the draft there’s no reason why we can’t throw around our later picks 4-7th round to get back into rounds 1-3 to maximize the chances of those hits.

No you aren't delusional. You are absolutely correct on everything you said here. We don't need to trade up, but we can, if the right deal(s) come along. And that is what the cap flexibility is for, it's not there to force anything, it's just there so that we have the ability to pull of those kinds of moves if another GM is desperate/aggressive enough. Sticking with our picks is absolutely a viable option that will STILL bring a lot of very promising players into CHI's prospect pool. Also, I think Cristall could realistically fall to the 2nd round. Recent arguments about his skill being strong enough to overcome some of his weaknesses plus Bedard's comments about him may sway some front offices opinions, but there are probably more than 32 equally safe or safer bets that teams could also take. Reminds me of earlier today or yesterday, on Twitter, "Blackhawk Up" was saying they would be very surprised if Nate Danielson fell to 19th overall. Personally, there are so many options this year, that I wouldn't be surprised in the least bit, I would certainly be happy, though.