Ekman-Larsson would be awesome in montreal and to be honest I could see arizona accepting this trade when you consider his UFA status in 2 years (why would he stay in Arizona?), the only thing is montreal needs to be certain they can resign him and it can't be a contract that breaks the bank since they have to resign price sergachev lehkonen pacioretty etc... good job with this team although I still don't see thorton playing for montreal

One thing I just noticed though, Markov should be resigned.

And another thing emelin shouldn't be bought out, I will never support the idea of buying someone out the cap penalty for multiple years instead of one is worse especially when that player can still be serviceable for his last season.

No way Arizona would give you OEL at that price. The very least you'd have to do is give them Sergachev. Also, Arizona already have a ton of young forwads.

CaptainFlynnt: Why would he stay in Arizona? maybe he saw the god like status Shane Doan has in phoenix and the nhler for staying with forever losing team your whole career. not playing NHL hockey after mid April is very relaxing. not saying this is OEL mindset, but I just gave a reason for him to stay.

No way you get OEL without giving up Sergachev. (by the way, OEL would be one of the few guys I'd give up Sergachev for in a deal, as long as you can extend him).

Sergachev can be replaced in the short-term with Markov. Long term? We'll deal with it when we get there...

But you can't extend him now. It's the CBA. So you clause about extending him is meaningless. Now do still want to trade Sergachev?

Thanks for the good feedback!

Agree about buyouts, it's not a great solution, I kind of just did that quickly since the main concept of this roster was signing Sharp, Thornton and trading Galchenyuk for a left defenseman, but it wouldn't fit with Emelin's salary. But I think if a trade is made for that left defenseman, Emelin would be expendable.

As for the trade, personally I think that's a fair amount to give up for OEL, even though I realize he's a top flight dman, but the risk of losing him for nothing in 2 years is real for Arizona, and will they be competitive by then? I think not, so why not try to get some younger players that can develop alongside their new core. From what I can see they are short on right handed defensemen in the system too, so Juulsen would be a nice addition. And although they do have some good young forwards coming up, they were an atrocious team on offense this season and have been for the past several years (similar to Edmonton's situation up until they got McJesus), so I think Arizona could still really use another skilled forward, and one who has lots of NHL experience despite his young age. I definitely wouldn't be willing to give up Sergachev in that deal, a player who might become better than OEL in just a few years and who can be with the team for the next decade.

As for resigning Markov, I'm split on that one. He's a great player and showed that he still has some juice left in the tank, but I'm concerned that he's slowing down too much for the playoffs, and I think the D in general needs to get a little younger, they looked completely gassed by the time they got to game 5 in round 1 this season. In my mind if a trade can be made for a good younger puck moving defenseman to partner Weber, then it will be time to move on from Markov, because I also think Sergachev is ready for the NHL as soon as next season. If no trade can be made, then I'd be fine with bringing Markov back, but it would be my plan B.