Fair enough. Given how tight TOR usually is against the cap - and it's looking that way again next season - I'd rather be clear and free of him and the cap hit, if I were Treliving. To each their own.

I think you can probably put together a pretty strong D corps with Toews, Makar and one of G or Bo still there. Bo would probably be the guy I would move in the off season in those circumstances as he'd reap the most in return. Obviously G gives you more cap space short term. Add a vet like Gustafsson cheaply and you're half way there. Forwards, if you're deciding to keep JD, then one of them is able to be sacrificed. Would you do it ideally? Nope. But those are the kind of hard choices GMCM is going to be facing.

Definitely tough choices to be made but I don't think they can trade Girard or Byram and just fill in with a cheap vet and expect the level of play from the D to not drop off quite a bit. I mean, maybe they get lucky but trading a top four guy and trying to plug that hole with a 3rd pair level vet isn't going to be a smooth transition. Same for trading forwards; there really isn't anyone they can afford to lose. Sure would be nice if they had developed cheap guys to take over some roles but that ship has sailed.