Ugh...can we PLEASE stop talking about the expansion draft? It is done, it is over, and it was two years ago. It is of absolute ZERO consequence now. It is what it is.
Here's a change of pace:
Bratt for 14ov + Broz
Granlund+NJD 3rd for Markstrom+4th
Sign Athanasiou and Pius Suter
Resign most RFAs
Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell
Bratt-Malkin-Rust
DOC-Suter-Athanasiou
Puustinen-Poehling-Nylander
Carter
Pettersson-Letang
POJ-Petry
Smith-Rutta
Rudwedel
Markstrom
Desmith
$1mil in space. Challenge - make a better team for next year.
Fitzgerald is really gonna be tested this summer. They got 34M cap to work with. 9F - 2D - 1G to sign.
It's hard to believe they'd let Bratt go (RFA), but if they did that'd be spicy for the market. He's a massive even strength producer the last 2 years, so he'd be a perfect fit for us. There'd be a decline in linemate quality here, but the same goes for a lot of our desired players.
I'm leaning towards Garland as the most attainable/realistic good option for L2 right now. He depends on the PP the least for production out of the names I've heard. His career 5v5 production rate is 7% worse than Guentzel's, who's a monster there. That's very appealing to me for a 5 mil price tag with multiple years, combined with his speed, grit, age and serviceable defense.
He was used largely on L3 with Sheldon Dries as his Center this year, with 52.5% D-zone starts and still squeezed out 46 points. Same total as Rust, who got privileged ES usage.
If we're spending more than 5M I'd like someone that'd be likely to become a PP1 regular. That way it's worth it.