Alright, so here is my current opinion of what the Senators need to do:

First of all, we trade Alex Picard and Brian Lee to two separate teams for 3rd Round draft picks. There are two reasons for this. First, neither Picard nor Lee fit into my plan. Secondly, because the two third rounders will be used as bargaining chips later.

The two draft picks, as well as San Jose's 2nd in 2010, are shopped in packages with Alex Kovalev, Jonathan Cheechoo, Chris Kelly, and Chris Phillips to three different teams. All in all, shedding these players frees up $15.3 million in cap space. (Kovalev 5, Cheechoo 3, Kelly 2.2, Phillips 3.5, Picard 0.8, Lee 0.8).

The three teams are Vancouver, Chicago, and St. Louis. The return is Kevin Bieksa, Patrick Sharp, and Andy McDonald. The amount of salary we take on is $12.4 million, so we have $2.9 million breathing room for additional changes at the deadline.

Chicago is strapped for cash, so the most they can take is Kelly. Sharp for Kelly saves them almost $2 million. I think they would easily go for one of the 3rd round picks, San Jose's 2nd, and Kelly for Sharp. That's a really respectable return.

Vancouver is making no secret about their will to acquire Peter Forsberg. Only, they really don't have the cap room for it, and Forsberg is still an injury concern. Trading Bieksa to us for picks gives them almost $6 million they can offer Forsberg. Or, the way I see it, Forsberg and Kovalev are similar players. Maybe Vancouver accepts Kovalev and the other 3rd rounder for Bieksa. Remember, even without Bieksa they are STACKED on D - Salo, Ehrhoff, Schneider, Edler, Mitchell, O'Brien.

In the end, the team poised to pick up the remaining pieces is St. Louis. If they trade us McDonald, they effectively have $12.3 million relief. If all went as planned, they would only take $6.5 million from us, which leaves them almost $6 million more to add. I think St. Louis would jump at Cheechoo and Phillips for McDonald.

So what does the lineup look like after all that? Well, I think it looks like a Stanley Cup winning team:

Michalek - Spezza - Alfredsson
McDonald - Fisher - Sharp
Foligno - Regin - Shannon
Ruutu - Winchester - Neil

Kuba - Bieksa
Volchenkov - Carkner
Campoli - Karlsson

This assumes that Donovan does not return, but if he does we have the cap space to fit him in easily.

I see Kevin Bieksa as a bit of a rental. Once Jared Cowen is ready (which could be next year the way he's going now) he will replace him and we can trade Bieksa for picks/prospects and relieve some cap. Similarly, Patrick Wiercioch will be able to take Campoli's spot if the latter doesn't come around soon.

If all this happened, our biggest question would be who, between Brian Elliott, Andy Chiodo, Mike Brodeur, and Chris Holt, will battle hardest and be the backup for Pascal Leclaire. That is, until Robin Lehner is ready to take the helm.

^^ All that, with about $3 million in cap space and some great youth in the fold, sounds like a pretty rosy future to me.

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