If you're looking at this trade I wouldn't get too hung up on Jokipakka. Unless you're a dope, it is very very clear Dorion was posturing for the 1st and settled for a 2nd. It's not like Calgary said "okay okay you can have a 1st or you can have Joki and a 2nd" and then Dorion jumped on the Joki deal. Jokipakka clear is a throw in here both because we can benefit from an 8th d and probably also to let Dorion save face without having to look like he caved and took a 2nd. My bet is, if we went back in time and made sure Jokipakka wasn't born so he doesn't exist, Dorion probably still does Lazar for a 2nd.
That doesn't mean there won't be potential positives from getting Jokipakka. Maybe he plays a few games for us if we have injuries. If he ends up putting it together here and becoming a long term NHLer, that's not really anything that should be put against Calgary, at this point he is a throw in. The best way to view this trade at this time is we moved Lazar for a (2017?) 2nd.
I'm fine with this trade, but I am not thrilled like some people. I guess it had to be done. I am not crazy enough to think Lazar has upside to be anything else other than a 3rd liner, but from CGYs perspective they moved a mid or late 2nd in a "terrible" draft for a guy whose odds of bouncing back and building on what he did in his first two years in the league are a lot greater than the odds of that pick being anything remotely useful.
If the pick ends up being a 2018 pick, that's really good. Calgary isn't a sure thing to make the playoffs every year so that pick could be a bit higher. Not only that, it puts off us having to use the pick for another whole year which grants us some versatility if we are in fact going "all in" over the next few years as we'll have another mid level asset to peddle.
