Help me put together an offer involving Letang

[bizzl]

My team is way over the cap next year and I'm trying to pare things down without compromising my competitiveness. My roster is in my sig, but if I re-sign everyone I will be well into the 90 million range, and we use the NHL cap at 64.3 mil. Of the expensive pieces I have (Crosby, Letang, Boyle, Kiprusoff, Bryzgalov) I feel that Letang is the most attractive, as Crosby isn't going anywhere.

The team I'm looking to make an offer to has the 4th overall and is willing to move it, but I feel that Letang is worth more than a prospect like Barkov or, more likely, Jones. This is his roster:

C: Hanzal, Seguin, Legwand, Kesler, Krejci, Stajan
W: Fleischmann, Pavelski, Perron, Vermette, Wheeler, Ruutu, Stempniak
D: Brewer, Carle, Girardi, Oduya, Robidas, Brodin, Meszaros, Pitkanen
G: Miller, Lindback
Prospects: Bjugstad, Scheifele, Omark, Tarasenko, Tedenby, Erixon, Fowler, Gormley, Gudbranson, Trouba, Musil, Larsen

His defense will be quite good in a few years, but for now it's not so hot. At the same time, Letang would become probably his best player. He's currently under next seasons cap, and the players that will be getting big pay raises are fairly expendable, like Fleischmann, Vermette and Ruutu. Adding Letang would cost him 7.7 million in cap space, but with a player of Letang's caliber I'm hoping that won't be much of an issue.

Cap space in this league is highly valued, because we've got a system that really promotes rapid escalation of salaries, so there's a fairly high rate of player turn over. Getting the 7.7 million in cap space is what's motivating me to move Letang in the first place, so that needs to be taken into account when evaluating this deal.

The other thing to consider is that I got Karlsson off of this GM the summer before his 78 point season, and he's never forgotten. Because of that our negotiations have been fairly inconsistent and I don't think we've made a deal since the Karlsson deal. I had no idea that Karlsson would bust out like that, but I had a good feeling about him so I went after him hard, and its worked out for me. Now, whenever I ask for a specific player that hasn't done much (I've inquired about Fowler a number of times) he gets edgy.

Who would you guys go after, in addition to the 4th overall, in exchange for Letang? Should I give him a list of 4-5 players that I would couple with the pick for Letang? I'm thinking that might alleviate some of his concerns, if he gets to choose the other player. Guys like Tarasenko, Fowler, Scheifele, Seguin and Wheeler are all guys I would love to add.

Thanks for any responses. I'll rep anyone that can lend a hand.

[Shoeless]

In that league and with your situation, I would be very happy to acquire that 4th overall pick and 7.7 in cap space for Letang.

[als_revenge]

In that league and with your situation, I would be very happy to acquire that 4th overall pick and 7.7 in cap space for Letang.

Unless I'm missing something, the other GM is very [Edit: NOT] close to competing for a top prize. So I'm not sure picking up Letang, at a 7.7 million cap hit, will be especially appealing. He's a bit of an injury concern and who knows where he'll be playing after this year.

On the list you provided, I think the best you can hope for is one of Scheifele or Fowler. I can't see Tarasenko, Seguin or Wheeler getting tossed in.

[bizzl]

Unless I'm missing something, the other GM is very close to competing for a top prize. So I'm not sure picking up Letang, at a 7.7 million cap hit, will be especially appealing. He's a bit of an injury concern and who knows where he'll be playing after this year.

On the list you provided, I think the best you can hope for is one of Scheifele or Fowler. I can't see Tarasenko, Seguin or Wheeler getting tossed in.

With his current roster he actually finished 11th of 16th this year, so I'm not sure how close he is to being competitive yet, but teams jump up and fall down rankings all the time in this league.

It's nice to be getting a bit of a reality check with this. I see Dobber ranking Letang as the #2 defenseman to own and it goes to my head a bit. Thanks for keeping me honest!

I'm going to start with the 4th and Scheifele and see what happens.