Unrelated to the trade, The Sens draft pick decision this week is pretty fascinating. They owe Colorado their 1st either this year (4th overall) or in 2019 from the Duchene trade. They have up until they are on the clock to make their decision on whether to send this years pick over to Colorado. They know it is 4th this year, in what seems like a pretty good top of the draft. I don’t know too much about the 2019 draft other than at this point it is being called the “Jack Hughes” draft. Hughes is apparently a prospect in the class of Matthews or Eichel. Obviously to land the top pick next year they need to both suck and get lucky in the lottery. Sucking seems like a sure bet- they were terrible this year, just traded their 2nd best forward for nothing and they will likely trade the best defenseman in the world for futures. They could very easily be the worst team in the league next year and get the best lottery odds. But best lottery odds is still pretty low.
It is a tough call. 2-4 next year could be worse than 4 this year. Who knows. I think they should probably just suck it up and toss Colorado this years pick and be done with it. They do have an extra first this year (22). Move on and don’t let that cloud hang over you all next season.