I am in the middle of tabulating an absolutely CRAZY rumor chart heading into draft/UFA Season,

I will be launching the Rumor Chart ib the next 24 hours,

Trade CRAZY Coming?

It has been a loooong time since this many teams are looking to doing this many things heading into the draft/UFA season. There is a bit of a perfect storm...

*Many more teams than usual feel they are a player or two away from leveling up right now. Either making the jump to a playoff team or from a playoff team to a contender.... Very few "pure rebuilds" exist...

* For a few years now teams have known the cap would likely finally be "flat no more" this summer...Contracts were handed out with that in mind...Therefore we will see group of teams, who have for years now been handicapped by the cap and current contracts, find themselves with actual flexibility. The more creative GMs will thrive...

* Teams will be looking at Florida and how Bill Zito has masterfully put together a strong perennial contender and try to follow the format. And while that is easier said than done, the one clear actuality is Bill created a culture and turned over almost everyone...

So I will be putting out a bunch of blogs previewing some of the key UFAs (and even some RFAs) who will be available as well as other players who could very much be traded at or around the draft...

But before all of that, I thought I would ask for your questions since we haven't done a "What the Ek?" blog for some time now...Ask me anything regarding the possible trades/signings or the NHL in general....I will put up my answers in a future blog...AMA.

Just start your question with "What the ek?"

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