This board is pretty ridiculous overall, not only do leaf fans undervalue their pieces, but the rest of the board does as well.
I would not advocate trading Dion for nothing, but at this point if you want to build a team properly, there isn't much you can do with Kessel/Dion except trade them. They bring this team into the bubble region, but we have no way of adding another significant player to bring us over the top without trading one away due to their production and cap hits. Pretty ****** situation we find ourselves in, and no one to blame but management.
As for Franson, I would like to agree. Problem with him vs a Vanek or Kabs, is that this is really his first year putting up this type of overall impact. Last year he was awful in a defensive role on both ends of the ice, and the year before he was a 3rd pairing defender. Do all teams want to throw assets and cap at a player who is all over the map like that? If this were a business investment, Franson would be the type of business I would try and stay away from due to unpredictable earnings and unstable growth
.