Ottawa Senators via Tampa Bay Lightning
The offer: Tampa gets Erik Karlsson, Ottawa gets Kevin Hayes, Cal Foote, Slater Koekkoek, Sean Day, Tampa Bay’s 2020 first rounder. Rangers get Ryan Callahan, Bobby Ryan (50 percent retained salary), conditional first becomes automatic first, Anthony Cirelli, Lightning 2019 third round pick Ryan Dzingel, Penguins 2019 third round pick
This would be an absolute blockbuster trade, one of the craziest in NHL history. It’s so crazy that it just might work. Here’s a breakdown of what each team is giving up.
Senators trade
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Erik Karlsson
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Bobby Ryan (50 percent retained salary)
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Ryan Dzingel
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Penguins third round pick
Tampa Bay Trades
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Cal Foote
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Anthony Cirelli
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Slater Koekkoek
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Ryan Callahan
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2020 first rounder
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Remove conditional status from 2019 first rounder
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2019 third round pick
Rangers trade
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Kevin Hayes
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Sean Day
The Rangers end up with a pretty nice haul including three picks, a solid prospect in Cirelli, an interesting winger coming into his prime in Dzingel and the bad contracts of Bobby Ryan and Ryan Callahan. The team would still have about $4 million in cap space to play with during the season after the deal.
The Senators get Hayes, the Lightning’s top prospect in Foote, two wild card young defenders in Day and Koekkoek and a first round pick in 2020 when the Lightning are going to be under a tight cap-crunch.
The Lightning are giving up a lot here, but they’d be getting the top defenseman in the game while giving up one of the league’s worst contracts in the process. If they want a chance at the Stanley Cup, doing this deal could get them there in no-time.