I feel like the concept of a rental trade has completely missed a subset of fans here. Presumably by ones that don’t sell very often maybe? You’re not supposed to be able to replace Jake in the trade. You wouldn’t be able to even if he was extended. In fact, if this trade had featured a signed Jake I wouldn’t assume the prospects would be any different. The pick would be a guaranteed first, and I don’t know that a single other thing would change. Maybe another lower round pick.
But…..it’s a rental and inside the value of rental this is a very high cost. There’s no proof it was deserving of any more because historically there is no real example of “more”. There’s a debatable similar at best. Jake’s success is irrelevant, most people assumed he would fit in great. The Canes are unlikely to keep him. This is for a few months.
You also clearly don’t know the prospects very well so there’s no real point to this. We also don’t know what prospects were available which makes the prospect argument even more useless.
Actually, I tihnk the real concept that is missed here is that you are a fan of the prospects and are thus weighing the value based on your personal feelings versus the actually value returned.
You are trying to adhere to "this is a rental trade". But the fact of the matter is players like Jake Guentzel are not moved in rental deals. The last time we saw a player of his caliber moved at the age he was moved was Marian Hossa. Marian Hossa returned Colby Armstrong, a 1st round pick, Erik Christensen, and Espositio (one year removed from being a 1st round pick). Granted that deal also included Dupuis. But, I would say Dupuis didn't have much value at that point in his career.
The Thrashers received a 1st round pick, a Michael Bunting type player, what was at the time the best prospect in the Penguins system, and an additional 30 pt guy.
For comparison the Penguins received Bunting, Ponomarev who is a potential NHL ready player whose upside is a bottom six forward, Koivunen who is a potential top six forward with no real elite aspects to his game, Lucuis who is a scratch off, and a 2nd round pick.
This isn't some crazy haul. It's a bunch of mid pieces for one of the best players moved at the deadline in the last 20 years.
Dubas clearly valued "quantity" over "quality". The Penguins should've been much more focused on acquiring a 1st and one of Carolina's top prospects, not diluting the value by getting Bunting back which is obvious to see is what happened.