I wouldn't trade Val + Honka for anyone right now. Not Crosby, not Weber, not even Adam Banks.
It has nothing to do with them being better, or having the potential to be better. It's just asset management. Val is coming off an impressive rookie season. He's a massive 6'4 behemoth with speed, and I think people understate his absence on the Seguin and Benn line. He's also 19. Honka is one of the smoothest skaters I've seen on a blue line, is a gifted puck handler and could be more Klingberg than Klingberg. He's also 19.
Trading these two for anyone right now would be risky at best. Trading these two for Seabrook would be galactically stupid. He's not even especially fast, and gets the favorable zone starts (it's Hjalmarsson that gets the tough matchups). No I'm not trying to call Seabrook overrated or anything dumb like that.
Just that people overrate the impact of one player who still has to contend with a system lacking depth, and personnel. For example, who does Seabrook partner with? Goligoski, Daley, or some of the rookies? Klingberg then draws another rookie, or another one of the meandering vets? Seabrook is not even close to being the answer for this team as a real contender.
IF Lindell, Nemeth, Honka, and Klingberg develop into solid NHL players (what a group if they do develop) THEN you go after a big free agent signing. Until then, keep trading your Smiths, Chiassons, Glennies, Morrows, Connautons, and Jokipakkas (this isn't an insult to any of them: they're solid prospects, but also interchangeable when compared to one another as opposed to Ritchie, Ully, Dickinson, Honka, Lindell, etc). Anyway, just thought I'd torture the obvious.
