having chara and phaneuf would set us back both great #3d's at the moment, but you can only have so many of the big tough slow skating type players..
I'm not suggesting giving up significant assets for him but I think he can fill Methot's role for one season better than some alternatives, which is really the question Ottawa needs to be asking. Personally, I think Boston will have a hard time moving him at all for anything but a cap dump coming back.
I'm suggesting that, assuming the assets required are marginal, protecting him isn't a big deal since Ottawa can't protect all four guys anyway and the difference between losing Methot and Ceci is both bad so we should instead focus on cushioning the blow.
Ottawa has cap space to burn, and his salary remaining for the next 120+ games is something like 6 million in real dollars.
it is really a choice about the best method to deal with losing Methot/Ceci and not even about Chara. There are a dozen older NHL defense-men who could fill a similar role.
Hell, if Ottawa doesn't trade for one, they'll probably sign a similar player on the Free Agent market anyway.
Another way of looking at it is this: Instead of trying to get rid of a top-4 defenseman so that Ottawa can protect all their guys, they should instead acquire as many top-4 guys they can (on as big a discount as possible) since Las Vegas can only take one. Then, after the draft, they can figure out what to do with the extras.
