First trade happens ASAP, the rest around the trade deadline & in the offseason. If any of Holden, J. Brown, Gambrell and Ennis have value, by all means, move them too.
1.
Colin White (4.75M x 4 years - 20.5M) + Chris Tierney (3.5M x 1 year - UFA) to San Jose for *Evander Kane (7M x 4 years - 26M) + SJ’s 2023 2nd round pick
*Kane has to express his desire to come to Ottawa for a fresh start. In turn, it has to be made clear to him that if he f**ks up, it's his last chance in the NHL.
**Kane also has to commit to doing his best to be a positive influence in the locker room and in the community.
- SJ gets out of a bad contract & locker room situation. Instead of retaining half of Kane's salary and taking on a bad contract, they bring in White (who can be bought out for 1/3 of the cost if things don't work out in the Bay) & re-unite with Tierney who's a pending UFA. San Jose add a 2nd round pick in 2023.
- Ottawa acquires E. Kane in hopes that he has grown and learned.
2.
Matt Murray @50% salary retained (3.125M x 3 years - 10.5M) to Colorado for COL’s 2024 4th round pick
- Colorado brings in a relatively cheap insurance policy in case Kuemper falters in the playoffs. Matt Murray has come in for the starter twice and won the Stanley Cup twice. If he works out in Denver, Sakic has a Stanley Cup winning 1B goalie on his hands for 3M.
- Ottawa gets out of what has proven to be a bad fit between goaltender and the mess of a team he’s playing in front of. Murray has shown that he can be a very good goalie at times, the issue is that there is no such a thing as ''a system'' in Ottawa to ensure consistency on the nights he doesn’t have ''it''.
3.
2022 TB 2nd round pick + conditional OTT 2023 3rd round pick to New York for Vitaly Kravtsov
*New York receives the 3rd round pick if Kravtsov scores more than 35 points in the NHL in 2022-2023.
- Straight forward deal. New York receives a 2nd + conditional 3rd if Kravtsov produces as a top 9 forward next season.
- Ottawa gets a potential top 9 forward.
4.
Nikita Zaitsev (4.5M x 3 years )+ OTT’s 2023 2nd round pick to Arizona for future considerations
- Using the Shayne Gostisbehere model, Arizona takes on a decent, albeit overpaid defenseman in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick.
- Ottawa weaponizes their draft capital to acquire cap space and remain within Melnyk’s budget.
5.
Ottawa drafts one of Wright/Savoie/Lambert/Kemell/Nemec/Cooley/Geekie/Miroshnichenko and lets whoever they select develop in their respective league in 2022-2023 (unless it’s Wright).
6.
Ottawa signs Artem Minulin to Zub’s ELC out of the KHL.
7.
Ottawa extends Josh Norris (6.5M x 8 years),
Nick Paul (2.25M x 3 years),
Alex Formenton (1.5M x 2 years),
Erik Brännström (1.25M x 2 years).
8.
Ottawa signs one of Holtby/M. Jones/Rittich to a cheap deal (±2.5M x 2 years) to back up Gustavsson while Sogaard gets one more season in the AHL.
2022-2023:
Tkachuk - Norris - Batherson
E. Kane - Stützle - Kravtsov
Formenton - Pinto - C. Brown
Sanford - Paul - Watson
Kelly
Chabot - Thomson
Sanderson - Zub
Brännström - Minulin
JBD, MDZ
Gustavsson
Holtby
In the pipeline: Greig, Kleven, Boucher, Sokolov, Jarventie, Crookshank, Lodin, Kastelic, Ostapchuk, Latimer, Guenette, Aspirot, Sogaard, Leevi, Mandolese.
