Awesome - thanks. Yes, I see what you mean about RW and RD.
The way I saw it (from the outside), is adding Domi as a 2C allows you to perhaps move Lindholm to the 2nd line (Domi would benefit from having someone else take draws on his weak side), and move Tkachuk up to the top line. I'm just not sure if he can play RW all that well.
Then you can have one of Bennett or Backlund play 3C, and one play 2LW on Domi's line.
I wonder if Gaudreu is the guy to move to get a top like RW or top 4 RD? Seems like it's a matter of time, but once again, I'm not in that market so it's hard for me to know how real the Gaudreau rumours are.
If you move Hanifin, I guess that leaves the door open to keeping Brodie. That allows you to keep Gio-Brodie together and have a 2nd pair of Valimaki-Anderson. Maybe that's asking a lot of Valimaki after a missed season though. But I can see that being a good D core that you can keep through the ED.
So maybe your top 6/4 could look like:
Tkachuk - Monahan - X (traded for Gaudreu)
Bennett - Domi - Lindholm
Giordano - Brodie
Valimaki - Anderson
Does that make sense to you?
In terms of the Domi/Hanifin trade, I could see the Habs adding Kulak to the trade. He may be a nice, cheap option to help ease Valimaki back in. He'd be the off man out in Montreal if Hanifin came over and was a very good top 4 LD in the playoffs after having sort of an inconsistent season. I know the Flames know him pretty well.
I get where you're coming from and at first glance it seems like a fit, but IMO it won't work well unless we assume Brodie is staying like you've put in on your proposal. I'm not expecting you to know the below because you're not a Flames fan and TBH, I don't think all Flames fan knows the below because they're not weirdo nerds like me.
Tkachuk and Gaudreau have been seen playing RW before, so we'd move them to RW if desperate rather than make lateral moves with them. A line with Monahan + Tkachuk isn't desirable due to the foot speed of those two guys and Gaudreau is small so he can't really make up their speed for them without risking being clobbered, it's a bad fit on paper.
Some feel that JG/Mony is a pairing that should be split, but few are on board with splitting Tkachuk/Backlund pairing. Idea wise, a Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm is a top line calibre line that does a lot of heavy lifting defensively (like the 3M line of yore, but should be superior with Lindholm vs Frolik). This drops JG - Mony - X as the 2nd pairing which can focus on offense. A JG - Mony/Domi line might work as this theoretical 2nd line, but again, too many holes on D if Brodie isn't staying. I'm not completely certain if this is a good line, but it might be fine. JG and Mony needs someone to get in the dirty areas and then run to the front of the net like Hudler and Ferland did. It doesn't need to be a big guy, but I'm not necessarily sure this is Domi's style.
Gaudreau leaving isn't due to the comments of certain Flames fans. IMO if he does move it's only because of his dad's health (had a cardiac event in 2018). I'm sure he'd sit around and be patient and loyal to the Flames org like Hamonic was to the Isles.
Brodie leaving isn't due to cap reasons. He reportedly wants to stay in Calgary, but his wife has MS and he's potentially considering leaving the Flames for a city with better climate so that she is more comfortable. It's not a cap space issue and I think many Flames fans wouldn't mind something around 6 mil AAV, but not much more than that.
We loaned Valimaki and he has been playing 20+ minutes in Finland each night so far. Many Flames fans were hesitant about shoving him immediately on the 2nd pairing, but I think he has proven so far he should be perfectly fine slotting in as the 2nd pairing LD in the same vein as Chychrun. Kulak isn't necessary as we still have Kylington and I'm sure there are other FA/PTO or super low cost LD that we could use to fill the bottom pairing.
Again, I'd love Domi. But I don't think it's prudent to pursue him until we can figure out the D issues on our roster first and that heavily depends on what Brodie decides to do. If we retain Brodie, I'm a lot more comfortable moving Hanifin for top 6 forward. But if Brodie is out, Hanifin for a 2nd pairing RD with upside is much more important to investigate before looking at Domi.