There were some other actions or non actions over the last month that I didn't understand and that look even more bewildering now. The acquisition of Graovac from the Wild for a fifth round pick in '18, was so that they wouldn't have to expose two of Eller, Beagle and Wilson. Looking at Makfi's approach to the expansion draft this was an unnecessary move and even if its a fifth round draft pick, it's not like the Caps have been blessed with a large amount of picks of late. If Caps happen to lose Eller in the expansion draft, that would have been 3.5 off the books and obviously helpful with signing the RFAs, so why go through the trade with the Wild. Then there was the sighting of BMAC and Bergevin yaking at the prospect draft. BMAC had to know that Montreal had been interested in signing Alzner for a while and prior to the prospect draft, so why not make an effort early on in trading Alzner to Montreal for a late pick.
Just seems that where some other GMs appear to be playing chess, BMAC of late seems to be playing checkers.