Why not Bieksa?

but for some reason i still have faith in mihalik….hes just so damn big…and he does good for norfolk…look at chara he didnt develop until age 25 ….mihalik is still 23…could be good in a few more years……purcell…expendable if it were me id offer purcell and jones/rights to paul ranger if he aint comin back

great idea…

percell and smaby. or if they are looking for more offense… percell and chewy and maybe a pick or something? like a 4th or 5th. idk are they trying to shed salary? or just dump a guy cuz they have so many? what about bringing back o’brien? hes deff improved his game a lot since going there… maybe bieksa and o’brien for percell, jones, and mihalik/smaby?

They need to clear over $3mil in cap space which means they probably don’t want any salary coming back. In other words they’ll want picks or prospects, or players on 2 way deals who aren’t waiver eligible. Since they’re the ones over the barrel you don’t give up the farm but we have a number of d-men in the minors who project out as 5-7 and forwards who will never crack the top 6. One of each of those and a late round pick should do the trick. Washington may be willing to give up a top prospect if they don’t get Mitchell though, This bears watching in any event.

Big, physical righty-shot defenseman with offensive tools? I can see the temptation for the Lightning’s brain trust, especially if, as part of the deal, Vancouver is willing to accept one or two players they can pass through waivers and store on their farm team.

Bieksa would definitely give this defensive corps some overall top-4 depth. It will still lack an established, top-end puck-mover, but you’’ll essentially have 5 defensemen who would be at least the #2, #3 or #4 on many (but not all) teams. This would be a welcome change.