Italics are RFAs or UFAs, except DiPietro, which I messed up lol.

Washington: If the Capitals lean more rebuild than retool, Dylan Strome would be past 30 by the time they start getting anywhere. They acquire a younger center in Matthew Poitras and a young right winger in Fabian Lysell, both smaller guys, but they have time to build around them with bigger guys. Poitras showed a few flashes of brilliance in his short stint, and Lysell has picked things up in the AHL, just under a point per game this season. McMichael, Lapierre, Poitras and Protas would all be options for them at center going forward, as well as anyone they may draft. They also grab an additional 1st round pick for 2026. Let's assume T.J. Oshie decides he needs to hang 'em up on account of the poor condition of his body at this point of his career.

Ovechkin - Lapierre - Wilson
Milano - Poitras - Protas
Miroschnichenko - McMichael - Lysell
Malenstyn - Dowd - Sgarbossa


Boston: Trades the two youngsters Poitras and Lysell, and their 2026 1st round pick to acquire a number one center in Dylan Strome, former 3rd overall pick who's been a consistent 20 goal, 65 point scorer with the Capitals, and could take off playing between Marchand and Pastrnak. Excellent set up man for Pasta and currently 27 years old. They also trade Linus Ullmark to the Devils for Alexander Holtz, one for one. See the Devils write-up.

Swayman - Bussi/DiPietro/UFA

Lindholm - McAvoy
Lohrei - Carlo
TBD - Peeke

Marchand - Strome - Pastrnak
DeBrusk - Zacha - Holtz
Frederic - Geekie - Coyle
Lauko - Beecher - Brazeau


New Jersey: Trades Alexander Holtz, who didn't quite show as well as he or the team would have liked this past season, for their goaltender in Linus Ullmark. The Devils, as a condition of this trade, get to speak to Ullmark about an extension beforehand, see what level of interest the goalie has in staying on the east coast to play for an up and coming team.

Ullmark - Allen

Hughes - Hamilton
Siegenthaler - Nemec
Bahl - Marino

Bratt - Hughes - Mercer
Palat - Hischier - Meier
Foote - Haula - Halonen/UFA
Bastian/UFA - Lazar - Clarke

I have no interest in Ullmark... had Boston started Swayman last year vs Florida the whole series, they'd have 16-4'd a cup run

Swayman isn't even "elite", but Ullmark is elite**

** denotes that when games get big, he can't make the save... one of those guys that gets in his own way

If you're a young man, you'll be like nooooo... but if you're middle aged and you've watched teams get f'ed over for years by costly goaltending at crucial times, you'll get it.

Boston says no to this, they could probably get more from LA if they traded Ullmark

Believe me, I've seen a lot. Luongo may have been that guy, but he got to game 7 of the Cup Final. Sucked big time in the games played in Boston, but still got there. Game 7 could have gone differently, you just never know. Jose Theodore won a vezina and hart in the same year didn't he? But could never quite lead his team anywhere. Even Carey Price took the Habs to the Covid Final, but he didn't finish it off either. Evgeni Nabokov couldn't get the Sharks over the hump, but was it really his fault? Curtis Joseph was a great goalie but never won a Cup, but I don't think it was all his fault either.

I hear you, but I don't honestly believe it was Ullmark's fault the Bruins lost last year. He was playing hurt, right? Between him and the coach, he shouldn't have even been in some of those games, but put some of that blame on the coach for keeping the rotation going.

If you're looking for a goaltender for New Jersey, you'll be hard pressed to find a goaltender around the league right now that is guaranteed to be "the guy" ... Jake Oettinger, great but hasn't proven anything - Vasilevskiy, great but couldn't keep the puck out of the net sometimes against Florida. Bobrovsky, great, but at least last year screwed the pooch in the Final. Even Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur had their moments. Mike Vernon went from winning a Cup in '89 to being undressed and beaten "like a rented mule" by Pavel Bure in OT game 7 in 1994's first round. Won a Cup again 3 years later. Point being, the options are slim. Markstrom, Ullmark, possibly Saros ... who else is available? None of them have proven anything at all, really, except in the regular season.

Besides, Darcy Kuemper proved you don't need the best goalie in the league to win a Cup if you have the right team in front of him.

ya, boston doesn't even consider this - this is awful. take out poitras and the first and tehy might still say no. ew.

How could I argue with such an eloquent argument!

My philosophy is that you need legendary goaltending to win a cup with an average team (Roy 93)

You need great goaltending to win a cup with a good team (Brodeur 03)

You need good goaltending to win a cup with a great team (Vasilevskiy 21, Osgood 08)

And you need okay goaltending to win a cup with a star team (Kuemper 23)

Sometimes, occasionally, teams win the cup in a weak year. But NJ has "a good team", which means they need a great goaltender. It has to be Saros, or it has to be status quo. If Nemec turns into a superstar player, they could win with a good goaltender.

I also don't like the excuse the Ullmark was injured. Price got the Habs to the finals basically on one leg in 21.

Right now I'm watching the Bruins TML series and believed that the Leafs should have started Woll the whole time because I know Samsonov is a head case. I can't stand that. There's a biblical saying: don't lean on egypt, lest it be like a reed you lean on and it breaks and pierces your hand. There are goaltenders that look sturdy, but when they're tested in the playoffs, they break. Those guys get scratched off my list fast. If NJ gets one of my ****list guys, I'm going to hate the move and know they're going to get trounced in round 1.

My candidates are basically Knight (despite the off ice issues), Gibson, Askarov, Saros, or status quo and play an Allen Schmid tandem next year. Why? They should only spend assets on someone they can win the Cup with, and they don't have near Colorado's stud team of 22.

what more could i say for such a ridiculously awful trade? if it was close it might warrant some conversation. if someone walked up to you and said, "i'll give you 10 bucks for 100 bucks," do you sit around and negotiate? no. you just say no.

You seem incapable of explaining how two players with little to nothing to show for in the NHL to this point are so much better than a 27 goal 67 point center who put up those numbers on a very average team. You just saying "it isn't worth my time" is meaningless to me, especially since you did in fact take the time to respond to it.

dylan strome is a nice player.

do you know how rare it is that a teenager can play center in the NHL, for a good team no less? right there, it's a hard pass. no shot the bruins would trade poitras for strome...who again, is a nice player. but he's not special. then add in the teams top prospect, the reigning vezina winner, and a first. you kidding me?

Yes, Poitras showed pretty well. But I'll wait for him to be a consistent 60+ point producer in the NHL before saying this is a garbage idea... Lysell hasn't even cracked the NHL yet. The Bruins, with a pretty light prospect pool, should be trying to win another Cup within the next few years before Marchand is done. Strome, I think, gives them a much better chance of doing that.

Ullmark is not part of the Strome part of the deal, don't mischaracterize that. Holtz didn't have the best year, but still had 16 goals playing an average of just 11:18 per game, and was a 7th overall pick. The chances he is a "bust" after a less than stellar first full season are low, in my humble opinion. A risk for the Devils to trade, as just like Zacha, the guy might just turn into a great top six scorer, and add a young body to the Bruins roster immediately and for many years to come. When Holtz was in the AHL, he was a PPG player, a little better than Lysell. As the higher draft pick and bigger player, I'd take him over Lysell.

You need to know I very, very, very rarely make "on paper" only proposals. I've thought about the fact that the Bruins will be looking to move Ullmark anyway, that Holtz has a lot of potential yet to meet, but also that unless they go total rebuild, their Cup window is now, and they'll have considerable trouble maintaining it beyond the next few years unless they're able to make lucky and/or genius moves in the free agent market as Marchand's career winds to a close (Draisaitl after next year?).

I think Strome could easily hit 80 points on the B's top line. I don't think Poitras can, at least for another few years, should he be able to get there. I respect that you don't like the deal, but I won't accede that it is as "garbage" as you think it is.

the bottom line is that if the bruins move out ullmark, lysell, poitras, and a first, and only get strome and holtz in return, don sweeney is fired within 24 hours.

it's one of the most horrific proposals i've ever seen. take out poitras (the most valuable piece departing from boston), and maybe its at least worth a discussion.