For a second I was gonna say that isn't even possible, but it totally is, and that is disgusting.

So we draft him but he doesn't make the team?

NSH declines easily. A single 1st round pick that is likely to be somewhere between 12-20 doesn't get you Saros. And my likely hot take, Lauzon > Marino, not for play reasons, but for contract reasons. Lauzon has become a decent 2-way defenseman while leaning more toward defense, which is what NSH needs.

If you want to only throw only one 1st at a chance toward getting Saros, the Casey or Mercer better be involved as well. Especially considering that for the 2025 pick, a contract can be negotiated prior to the trade happening.

If we were to win lottery again, and take Celebrini, I think there are lessons that could be learned with Jack’s experience. He probably joined the league a year too early…and even he later said he should have gone to Michigan for one season. (Celebrini, like Hughes, is very young). I wouldn’t say he “doesn’t make team”…they are not going to ‘Ty Smith’ him. It would be pre-arranged.

“A single 1st”?

(It’s been 30 years since a goalie has returned multiple 1sts in a single trade…and that guy had term).

Mercer is a non-starter for a rental. Casey, maybe, but probably not with a 1st attached.

I think a huge difference is the size of responsibilities at the time. Having a Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier above him would be some serious coverage.

Trotz has been VERY vocal on what he would expect as a return for Saros. Goalies who are consistently top 5 in the league don't grow on trees. Saros would be the best goalie on the market by a large margin, should they move him.

Trotz has already said if he doesn't get a premium package for him then he will just resign Saros instead, and his idea of "premium" was last year when LAK asked for him and he said the equivalent of 3-4 1st's/ Blue-chip prospects. That has likely come down, but it is still the equivalent of 2-3 of those. If term is really all you are concerned about, that could be negotiated as part of the deal.

The comp we always see is Schneider, regardless of how many people would do it, and that would be the minimum Trotz would potentially accept for Saros. If you aren't willing to put in an offer that would pull other top goalies away from their teams (e.g. Ottenger from DAL) then what makes you think NSH would be willing to seperate from Saros that easily?

Because Saros is 1 year away from UFA and dedicating 8 mill x 8 years and significant trade protections until he’s 37 means what the **** do you do with Askarov

Trotz has said numerous times in different press conferences around the topic "Why can't we have both Saros and Askarov?" His intention seems to be to run both of them in a 1A 1B situation, similar to how BOS is operating now and how Saros and Rinne operated toward the end of Rinne's career. NSH is not unfamiliar with how to handle this kind of situation.

Regardless of Saros's contract situation, Trotz isn't going to budge on his asking price for Saros. Again, goalies who are regularly in the conversation for the Vezina and are considered top 5 in the league don't come cheap.

Then you go waste either a top 11 pick on a backup, or 8 million+ dollars on a backup.