Wow, for a first proposal thread, it seems like I've struck a nerve here with some folks.
I originally contemplated this as a 1:1 trade, but I foresaw a degree of sentimentality from the MTL side, in that the offer had to be a little more appealing to sway them. This trade doesn't happen unless MTL is about to commit to a rebuild, and if so - there's probably a bidding war to get BG.
However - Girard isn't small beans either. He's on a killer contract for the long term. Assuming he progresses as he had in the last two years, this contract is an absolute steal.
The real catalyst for this offer (as I stated before) is around long term cap space. With the $ committed to Mikko R., and the expected $ you can expect to commit to Mac (9m+) and Makar ($8m+?) - there's just not enough slack in the line to build around so much space committed to the D, esp. if the Graves of the world are about to land $4m AAV.
If Byram performs well enough - we'll be back in the Barrie position (aka forced to make a trade) all over again before you know it. There's just not enough space on the D for Makar, Girard, and Byram to co-exist; if you are one of them, you want the PP time to reach your incentives, and there's not enough ice time to go around, IMHO.
Maybe I'm completely wrong, but ... I'm open to debate. I just feel we gotta spread the wealth (literally).