Rangers pass

Schneider is not available

Schneider is not available and we don't want to overpay Hronek either

What about 1 for 1?

Hawks probably accept

No thanks saying this as NYR fan

WTF is that Ranger trade.

Chicago accepts.

I can't see the Hawks using the second retention spot leaving only one to take on 9.7 million per x 2 in cap and 20.3 in actual salary over those 2 years for just a 2nd. I got Garland probably as neutral value as neither a dump nor some wonderful asset you are paying anything for. Last year about this time the rumor was the Hawks had interest to swap up draft position to take Garland (or a slight partial dump). I would guess if you offered 2 years @ 4.95 per you could get a taker from one of Domi, Foegele, DeBrusk, DuClair, Roslovic, or a half dozen other similar UFA's without having to retain on an already decent contract in Donato. Take out the retention and I would probably do this and walk away for as few of our RFA's that it is time to move on from.

Nevermind then. I was thinking Garland only had one year left.

I can see your point. Just not sure I agree. Hawks stated goal for this season is to get better. To improve the on ice performance. Adding a player who has scored 50 points three years in a row at the expense of Donato would seem to help achieve that. Garland upgrades the top 6. Mikheyev takes Donato's spot in the bottom 6. Forward group is better. Could you sign a guy for $5m a year as a UFA? It's possible, but it's also far from a sure thing that the Hawks get a productive top 6 caliber player as a UFA. Just to hang on to a retention slot.

I get what you are saying. I'd prefer without the retention, but wouldn't be angry if they made deal as proposed.

We'll see, but I would rather go after a higher level of UFA like Stephenson, Teravainen, or even bring back Kane and get an actual good top 6 instead of a 3rd liner like Garland that we have to pretended is a top 6. We need actual top 6 players so we can push guys like Foligno, Hall, AA, Dickinson down the lineup (and off the PP) and not have them all in the top 6 by default because they are better than Tyler Johnson or in this case Garland.

Mikheyev should EASILY cost a 2nd and honestly even a little more since he has 2 years left. Garland for essentially free....sure. Eating a retention spot to give a contender a great value 4th liner (because that is exactly what Donato at 1 million is) is nothing I am interested in.

Refreshing to not see the same Mikheyev dump + 2nd trade for the millionth time lol. This one's interesting. Basically comes down to whether we think Garland is worth Donato retained.

Fair points on both sides. Retaining 1mm on Donato is not a great use of one of our final two retention slots, but there's a decent chance we don't need both this year. Based on some of KD's recent comments, I don't think he's weaponizing our cap space anymore unless the compensation is high quality.

I think Garland makes our team better, can play up with Bedard if needed, and should have value at the '26 deadline with retention. Given the 2nd coming our way is at the top of the round, I'm inclined to do this deal (even if as a nit I'd probably ask for one more mid to late round pick coming back to the hawks to make things proper even).

Cheers