As much I want Connor brown gone he won’t be going anywhere he’s got the McDavid buddy status

You don't think bringing back an EDM #1 OA pick in Hall could help ease that concern?

No I would love Taylor hall to comeback but oilers won’t trade brown cause of McDavid

Soup costs (2) 1sts to move. Then you have the Hawks moving up 1 round from a 2nd to a 1st rounder for Hall and Mrazek eating 2 retention slots? That doesn't work, no way.

I don't have any issues dropping that 2nd to something lower. I just have a hard time seeing that we'll get a whole lot more because we were paid to take Mrazek and essentialy got Hall for free. Ultimately getting (3) 1sts for contract swaps / retention...it's good asset management imo.

Eating 4 years at $5M ($20M in dead cap) eats two of those 1sts right off the bat. Then we suck up (2) retention slots to move up 1 round in the draft? We can get a 2nd rounder for Mrazek retained easily the way he's playing. Hall at half retained is a 2nd.

In other words, I'll take (3) 2nd round picks (including the one given up here in the trade) over a late 1st round pick any day of the week. 3 shots at the roulette wheel versus 1 shot in the draft.

I'm not so sure I agree with can get a 2nd round pick for Mrazek. Goalies don't have a ton of value at the TDL and with his injury history and record of being consistently inconsistent...idk. Plus, I'm sticking with my plan which is to move up in the draft. We don't know how the season will end, but moving up in the draft with 1sts vs 2nds makes things MUCH easier. Right now we've got (10) late 1sts 2nds picks in the next three drafts. I'm hoping we can acquire draft capital and get (5) - (7) top 15 picks. I don't want to lose a Lassi Thomson for nothing because we don't have space. Yes he went back I get it, but keeping your assets is another form of asset management. I'm hopeful we don't have another Kevin Hayes leave for free.

https://soundofhockey.com/2022/06/06/examining-the-value-of-nhl-draft-picks/

I like this deal from the Hawks perspective but can't see Edmonton going for it. Only thing that bothers me is only having one available retention slot for the 24/25 season.

Yup. It's certainly 1 concern. I'd rather use it and get value out of it while I can though. With the Cap Space going up so much next year, my thought process was get the assets while we can. I'm not 100% sure teams will pay up for cheap contracts and retention into the future. I don't have a crystal ball or anything, but that's my thinking anyway. Right/Wrong/Indifferent.

I think we went over this yesterday, but there is no way we will get 5 to 7 top 15 picks. We don't have the assets to trade up that high and with that volume. Right now we have 2 top 15 picks over the next 2 seasons. Could we move one of the late 1sts plus a couple 2nds to move into the top 15, unlikely, those types of trades very rarely happen in the NHL. The link you provided, while interesting in some ways, is a lot of theoretical that for arguments sake is fine but doesn't play out in reality. In other words, you can't take the "value" in their chart of a late 1st plus a early 2nd and late 2nd and magically get a top 15 pick. Maybe in a draft where there is a talent cliff after the first 5 to 10 picks but then that begs the question why make the trade.