CMac was reportedly interested in Mikael Backlund last summer before settling on RyJo, and I wonder if that isn't an option that gets revisited if Colton gets moved.
Backlund is 35 but is still elite defensively. At $4.5m X2 you could get double retention to bring it down to $1.25m X 2 years.
Guessing it would cost something like a 1st + 3rd to Calgary, and another ~3rd round pick for a third team to retain 25%. Losing those picks would be offset by whatever picks Colton would return.
Note Backlund has a NMC so that would need to be agreed with him.
MacKinnon-Mittelstad-Backlund down the middle would be great C depth. And with Lehkonen and O'Connor on Backlund's wings you'd have a fantastic shutdown line.
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