Hull Fan always values unknown potential above all. Bigger stats the better.
I'm not saying that as a knock, but she's made it clear she's a fan of the young and unproven for a while.
I am a fan of the young and unproven rather than the old and past it. Yes I advocated blowing this up for a while before it actually happened. You think I wouldn't want Joe Thornton if he bizarrely decided to waive his NTC because of his age? Hell yes I'd take him or Marleau, thank you. But they aren't going to waive their NTC/NMC to come to Dallas at this stage of their careers or Dallas' playoff trajectory in a supremely crowded Central Division and WC as a whole. PHX and VAN basically had to fall apart for us to sneak in and while I expect Dallas to be better next year, anything can happen in this highly competitive conference.
If Nill could somehow pull another Seguin or 25-28 year old proven center with term on his contract trade more power to him. I'll applaud in awe but I think he caught his one white whale and there's not going to be a young, signed, almost super star out there coming to Dallas this off-season.
So if there's no blockbuster you've got the aging free agents who won't be worth the money/term they'll sign for on a still budget team, you've got the unproven young ones whose value may still be low because of that, the next group the upside may still be there but will cost a lot Kadri, Schenn, Gagner, Ennis etc. and the one year guys like Spezza who will cost a lot in terms of trade and could walk beyond next season.
Of those 4 choices which is better? Especially considering Stasny, Grabovski may not choose to even look at Dallas anyway. Will Richards get bought out and is he worth the money he'll sign for? Does he even want to come back to Dallas considering he burned some bridges on his way out before and clearly prefers the East?
Do you believe Brayden Schenn is a large improvement on Eakin or that Kadri will leave his issues in Toronto? Are either of them worth the cost to acquire them? Is Gagner or Ennis, two smaller guys, what we want on a small team anyway? Do we want to trade a fortune for a year of Spezza considering he's never played in the physical West and can be a FA next summer?
Every one of the above have warts of some kind. That's why they're available. Some will cost significantly either dollar or traded assets out to acquire. Not all play our style either.
I've long said the biggest bang for your buck, Seguin excepted because Nill's a witch and Boston is cray, cray about trading away talented younger players, is to nab the guy who hasn't broken through. As with any trade this has definite drawbacks and can lead to giving away a good piece for a guy who ultimately falls short of what he was projected to be. But it's also how you get the guy with probably the most upside, because in 3 years they'll be established NHLers who won't be available.
There's a risk that Team A is giving up on their guy for a reason. There's also a risk that AHL play never truly transitions to NHL production. There's a legit fear that the piece you give away is better than the one you receive. I've always acknowledged those caveats. None of those guys is guaranteed to be a star in this league. But their pedigrees suggest they will and if the scouts sign off trust their take and make a bold move even though it can backfire. Doing nothing is an even bigger failure in my eyes considering the steps this organization has taken forward this year.
Sometimes guys are given up on way too soon but prospect trades happen to fill organizational holes, to clear a log jam of players who don't play well out of position for whatever reason, or just because new GM isn't in love with the previous regime's prospect and wants to acquire his guys. Heck in the case of Chiasson a team would get a guy they know is going to be in the NHL next season and not one whose either barely had a cup of coffee in the NHL or no games at all.
Back to the Anders Lee hypothetical he played great down the stretch for them but Snow is under a lot of heat, he has to make the playoffs. Chiasson, proven NHLer fills their void at wing at the cost of a guy who's best position is probably center that he's not going to play behind Tavares, Nielsen, Strome, or Nelson. In fear of getting burned Snow may still not make that trade but there's logic and reason for both sides to contemplate it.