Serious statement regarding Kent Hughes and a possible special trade involving the CH

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MarcO
January 8, 2023 (9:11 PM)

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The trade deadline is only 56 days away and we can already see that it will be difficult for the GMs to deal.

It's going to be very interesting to follow over the next few weeks though, it's coming fast.

According to what the excellent Capfriendly site reports, 19 of the league's 32 teams are operating within $2 million of the cap. Even worse, 17 of them are using LTIR to get where they want to go.

The last three years of almost no cap increases will force GMs to be creative if they want to make trades. In this regard, renowned journalist Frank Seravalli believes that GMs will have no choice but to use a Third-Party Brokers if they want to pull off a big deal by March 3rd.

Since 2013, the NHL has allowed salary to be withheld in a transaction. However, it wasn't until 2018 that teams started to get creative with this benefit and thus involve a third team in a deal so that they could also retain salary. The Vegas Golden Knights were the first team to do this, helping Ottawa send Derick Brassard to Pittsburgh.

To date, the highest full AAV of a player ever involved in a third-party deal was Nick Foligno's $5.5 million. Seravalli says there are 14 players paid $10M or more and of those, only Jack Eichel has been traded. The Sabres also did not withhold any salary in this deal.

The journalist wonders how the Blackhawks will do, in the current situation, to trade Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Here is his proposal for Toews:

Chicago trades Jonathan Toews to Colorado with Anaheim's help.
Toews' cap hit is $10.5 million.
> Chicago keeps 50%: $5.25 million
> Anaheim keeps 50%: $2.625 million
> Toews arrives in Colorado with a salary cap hit of $2.625 million.

Right now, Seravalli sees only six teams that could, with their payroll and standings, serve as the 3rd party in a deal. They are the Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings.

If the CH is not on that list, they could very well be on it quickly. As Dan Kramer says, if Kent Hughes is able to sell and free up some payroll, he could very well get in on the action and make some special trades like this.

By trading his veterans who will become free agents without compensation this summer (Jonathan Drouin, Evgeni Dadonov, Sean Monahan), he could free up as much as $16.875M. He could get even more play if he also trades Josh Anderson ($5.5M) and Joel Edmundson ($3.5M).

That way, he would have plenty of room to help in a trade, while getting a great gift in return. Still, Kent Hughes must succeed in cleaning up his house before the deadline...

Basically, Hughes could receive draft picks, simply by withholding a percentage of some players' salaries, only to finish the season (these salary withholdings will be erased this summer).

Don't be surprised if trades are announced and Kent Hughes is involved in this strictly for salary.