I would be all for moving on from Tarasov at this point, but committing $10M to those two goalies seems like a terrible idea.

AZ isn’t doing that no way no how. COL would do that however.

I should have said in the post, but in my mind I thought acquiring Knight would make it easier for CBJ to be willing to move on from Elvis in the offseason.

Finding a suitor for Elvis would be a tough trade to make, but without a reasonable alternative #1 on the roster (I don't consider Tarasov that), I don't think they're going to be trying at all to move him.

Colorado should do that in a heartbeat; might take a little more with retention but it's the kind of move they like to make.

Love the Florida trade, I like the Vegas and Colorado trades. I'd do the Arizona trade in an instant, which means there's almost no chance Arizona takes it. Cooley almost certainly would be untouchable, but I'd be curious to see what Arizona fans think Columbus needs to add to make it happen.

The top-6 is ideal. The top-9 would be ideal if Texier took that next step. The entire forward group would be ideal if we added a Garland-type to the 3RW instead (Brindley?), bumped Texier down to the 4th line, and scratched Mathieu.

There's plenty of cap space there for the RFAs going into next season, and if Columbus finds a taker for Elvis, I'd be fine with Greaves-Knight for a year and hope one of them can take the reigns going forward. Sign another 3LD in the offseason that can take 2LD minutes if Provorov is moved and until Mateychuk is ready, maybe sign another vet winger for that 3RW slot, let Jiricek get some NHL seasoning, and this team could be a contender in 2025-26 assuming Jiricek, Mateychuk, Greaves/Knight, Chinakhov, Cooley, Fantilli, Johnson, and Voronkov all hit their expected development floors by then (and a few can be nearing their ceiling).

Avs accept though I expect the Jackets would want more for the retention.

Avs accept immediately

yes cooley is untouchable, what would want for fantelli?

That's what I thought, it would have to be 1OA plus for either player in all likelihood.

CBJ will have one top-10 pick at least to hopefully upgrade either 2C/2RD/1W long term. Would Arizona have interest in Laine and Boqvist? Obviously it would be after Laine is well clear of the PAP and if he wants a change, but I don't know that either player fits CBJ long term. What would that package look like?