To Anaheim: Burakovsky
To Washington: Larsson
Fair value and helps both teams?
Bob Murray has previously stated that he's not a fan of acquiring a guy in Burakovsky's contract situation, and I get it. You get a guy in the final year of a bridge deal and you know he's motivated to get paid. There's a chance he finally has that big break out year, demands a big money long term deal and then goes right back to being a talented young player who leaves you wanting more. I just can't see going after an impending free agent of any type when we have a tight cap situation and will need to give Gibson his #1 goalie money next off season.
The Ducks have a lot of question marks in their forward group right now, mainly down the middle with the uncertainty around Kesler's health and only having two other NHL centers returning. If there's a move made up front it would likely be to acquire a cheap defensive center to act as a stop gap in any absence from Kesler. At this point I'm not expecting any movement in the winger group this off season based on Murray's recent comments... Rakell, Kase, Cogliano, Silfverberg, Ritchie and Perry for the top 9 wing spots with Eaves and Troy Terry being wild cards. There's a lot of situations that need to sort themselves out before the direction of the team becomes clear.
Murray also stated that Larsson will battle Marcus Pettersson for the third LHD spot, with the winner also likely needed to fill in top 4 minutes when injuries hit. Probably better to let that play out a bit rather than trade one and assume the other is ready to be our #5 D right now.