I wonder if this year's expansion draft might actually be a blessing in disguise?
Say that BMac calls Vegas and GMGM and offers him, Ovechkin. Sure, Vegas won't sell all their futures - that much is certain. But what if they don't have to?
Say that BMac offers Ovechkin and in exchange asks for one of Vegas first rounders over the next three years, where Vegas decides which pick to surrender. We then add further future considerations where the Caps are given the ability to freely pick one F and one D out of the group that Vegas selects in the expansion draft. Another condition could be that said players must at least together equal half of Ovechkin's cap hit (roughly 4,8 million).
Now I know what you are going to say; there's no way that two players in the expansion draft combined with a first rounder would be fair value for Ovy. No sir, it would not be. However, now picture that the Caps also adds a condition on their own where the deal requires Vegas to pick Orpik in the expansion draft as part of the trade.
Sure we wouldn't get full value for Ovy, but we could free up as much as 10 million in cap space. While Ovy's value can be debated to death, it stands to reason that moving Orpik's contract out without retaining salary and without sacrificing more futures would to a greater degree compensate for said reduction to Ovy's value.
Vegas gets a big name to sell them tickets as a newly started franchise, and the Caps gets some much-needed cap flexibility and can also resign any of our current UFA or RFA's.
So basically:
To Caps:
Expansion draft F
Expansion draft D
1:st rounder (Vegas choice of 2018, 19 or 20)
...And loads of cap space
To Vegas:
Ovechkin
Condition that Vegas picks Orpik in the expansion draft
