I get what you're saying, but I don't see how you convince McDavid to stay if you make the blue line worse by trading Bouchard for futures? Because while he's certainly not a complete all-zones defender, he's absolutely a damn good player and they don't get better in the short term simply by removing him. All of Edmonton's playoff success (outside of a one-off series win in 2017 between non-playoff years) in the McDavid era came after he actualized as a puck-moving top 4 D man. He was their 3rd leading scorer this year and was 18 points clear of 4th. He led their skaters in time on ice per game. How much depth can they really add with that space to offset the downgrade from whoever is filling his 23 minutes a night?
Same question with Nurse. He might be overpaid, but he had a pretty damn good season too. 22:22 a night, 33 points, decent possession numbers, physicality. Who's replacing that for a fraction of the price? By the time you replace what he does to prevent the blueline from getting even worse, how much do you have left to spend to upgrade the offense?
And if one of them is gone, how confident do you feel about the state of the blue line after 2025/26 when Ekholm's deal expires and he's 36? McDavid has one more year left on his deal. What is his willingness to stay like if they make the blue line noticeably worse in the final year of that deal and then there is even less internal talent left when Ekholm is done?
I don't have a good solution for them, but trying to sell McDavid on a retool as his contract is ending would terrify me because I think there is a real chance that selling any core player for futures turns into you losing McDavid and your job.
I think their path has to include finding a way out of the Arvidsson/Henrique contracts (and maybe Kane's too).
