The flipside to the Lightning taking back McDonagh and creating a bigger salary-cap headache for themselves is the Predators have again cleared the books to make a monster move of their own.
Every dollar counts in Nashville. Ensuring they can have some freedom to wheel and deal is important. Subtracting McDonagh's $6.75 million cap hit gave the Predators more than $26 million in cap space this summer, according to CapFriendly.
What does Nashville need? Scoring. Filip Forsberg can do a lot, but asking him to do it all is too much.
What do they have a surplus of? Goaltending.
Juuse Saros is a Vezina-caliber netminder with a year left on his contract and staring at becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer. The Predators also have top prospect Yaroslav Askarov ready to take over the NHL as he dominates in the AHL.
If the Preds build a blockbuster trade around Saros and Marner, it could solve a few issues for both teams. Toronto would get a no-doubt No. 1 goalie in Saros, while Nashville would get a star player to wheel with Forsberg and create problems for the rest of the Western Conference. The nearly $6 million in added cap cost for Nashville could be weathered easily, and the Leafs saving that much money to add a top goalie seems ideal.
It makes sense in theory and on paper, but reality has a way of getting in the way of a great fantasy trade idea. But the logic makes sense, especially for Toronto, who is desperate to make a deep run in the playoffs.
