instead of buying him out, the Jets pay an extra $75k in cap this year but free up 1.8m in 2025-26, and save like $700k in real salary.

Doesn't have to be Ottawa, can be any team looking to add a veteran middle of the lineup player to improve their depth. If he plays well in the playoffs, maybe we return a late 1st?

Find a 3rd team to eat a Mil/year if you can to lower the cap hit even further.

I get that Ristolainen has his warts, but Philly has said they're willing to retain, so if the cap hit is right, bringing back a cost-controlled RHD makes a lot of sense to me if I'm the Jets.

Now, all of the moves I have made until this point have more-or-less built to this trade. This isn't even necessarily the assets that would need to go in this trade, but rather a framework to indicate the seriousness of the offer. As long as the Jets are keeping their core roster players, and Mcgroarty/Lambert/Barlow/Salomonsson, they should just put together a godfather offer for a Dobson-like RHD, whether or not that player is *actually* available.