Throw me on the go all in crew. You can't waste away a generational talent like Hughes now that he is a top 5 or even 3 player in the world. That means trade and draft picks necessary to aquire a top 4 defenseman.
Agreed with Lemonsauce. Get rid of any high priced bottom paired players who have a decent sized cap hit. Hoglander, Desharnais, Forbort whoever.
Sasson looks NHL ready and has shown great compete. He can fill in for one of the vacated roles.
Willander is obviously in the plans when Bostons season is done. I think he will be signing in Vancouver at the end of his season.
Would of been nice to sign Zadorov for the measly $200,000 he was looking for. I know management wasn't fond of his term but Zadorov for this team like a glove and would of stopped teams like Boston and Tampa take runs at our best player Hughes. This was a major miss by Allvin and our defense would of been much easier to fix today. Now Allvin needs to find another player like Zadorov.
So as for this top 4 defenseman. Make any pick or prospect not named Willander available. Yes I would even make Lekkerimaki available if it brought in a difference making defenseman, such as Hronek. In the bigger picture nothing should be untouchable "other than Hughes" to get a player that may put us over the top.
Going to be tough and I believe Allvin has been working the phones for weeks and is having a problem finding a trading partner, but with teams continuing to fall trades will start to open up.
First and foremost, Hoglander and Desharnais need to go.
Things will get a little more interesting in the next few weeks. I hope Allvin once again surprises us.
Also if available trade for Zadorov back and fix your first major mistake.
Hoglander, Desharnais for Zadorov