Not to mention Pevs can help on the PK.

Here’s the thought process:

1) In a lot of scenarios, Peverley gets downgraded. Depending on how certain players pan out – Burmistrov especially – Peverley gets moved to the wing or the 3rd line. He’s a guy who should be a 2nd line center. Now, we’d obviously have a very offensively-capable 3rd line (with Peverley, Ladd, and Pettersson or MacArthur), but I’m not sure it’s our most effective use of him.

2) There are quite a few teams that need to clear some major cap space. Because Peverley is signed for two years, not just one, and at an almost ludicrously low rate, he’s incredibly valuable. Valuable beyond just what he brings as a player.

3) The Kovalchuk sweepstakes could have some interesting results. Teams still rumored to be in the running? NYI, PHI, COL, LAK. One of those teams seems surprising to me… Philly doesn’t have anywhere near the cap space to pull off Kovy… unless…

They dump salary to us. But we don’t just want crap, we want a solid player or two. We’d have to send back solid players as well, especially guys who are signed for cheap. Here’s an idea of the base we’d work with:

To Philly: Peverley, MacArthur
To Atlanta: one of (Carter, Briere), one of (Carle, Meszaros)

There are other options: if they want more D rather than F, we could send Sopel rather than MacArthur. If we get Carter coming over, I’d consider Little instead of MacArthur. So on and so forth. (And before anybody gets on me about this: this is not a “full trade” – there would be some leveling done with picks/prospects. I’m just looking at roster players.)

I’m just thinking out loud here, but if we want to acquire additional top-6 talent, I feel like Peverley is the way to get us there. Trust me, it makes me just as unhappy as it makes you, but you have to give something to get something.