Fair enough - I was just looking at the last trades… however I see most of these goalies traded as a necessity - pending UFA, goalie controversy, etc - whereas we have a great goalie on a good deal
I see 2 possible reasons to trade Helle.
1) An offer too good to refuse and
2) Expectations to contend in the 2 years remaining on his contract.
For the right offer, I'd trade my mother. Obviously, that would create an enormous hole that would need to be filled, one way or another. It can be done. There are always goalies available, though you wouldn't expect to easily pick up one as good as Helle.
We have just 2 years remaining of Helle's contract. Will he be willing to extend here if the team still looks like it has these last 3 seasons? If so, or if the team is looking much better, will we want to sign him for the money and term that he would be able to get as a UFA?
We may not have him for more than those 2 years and we may not have that good a team yet in 2 years even if we are on the right path. If our retool is going to take a few years to bear fruit, we might be wise to cash in on Helle now and get serious about landing a replacement. Hopefully we could have the replacement ready by the time we really need him.
Barring that really strong offer, I'm more inclined to keep him than to move him. I would hope that he is still good and wants to stay here for a fair price after this contract. Might be a different picture a year from now when he has only 1 year left. Cross that bridge when we come to it.