Crouse is a good player, plays a physical game and can score. I think a fair amount of GMs would value his combination of scoring and physicality, but 40-45pt wingers, physical or not, also aren't unattainable and some of the asks in this thread feel very bloated to me. If he was available I think Crouse would be worth something like a 1st and a decent spec. I think as a trade piece he reminds me of Blake Coleman in 2020, though Coleman can play C even if Crouse is the better player.
I wouldn't put it out of the question though that Arizona could find the perfect trade partner who'd be willing to pay through the nose, but I think paying that much for a winger would require you to be a clear contender who needs the perfect piece to put you over the top, and Detroit definitely isn't in that position and not many teams are, imo.
It’s always entertaining reading some of the value expectations, on certain players who for whatever reason, have become HF favs on this site. Especially when you compare them to players who have the opposite HF hate on the site. Those people who think Crouse is somehow worth multiple 1st Rounders and top prospects, are the same folks who likely say Shane Pinto is worth about a 2nd Rounder.
You’re 100% correct on what his value likely is. If Detroit traded for him, he’s not replacing anyone on their PP, and likely ends up like Rasmussen this season. Playing up and down the lineup, depending on where they currently needed him.
He’d be a role player this season in Detroit. Maybe that changes in another 50-100 games, maybe it doesn’t.
His opportunities in Arizona today, just wouldn’t be those same opportunities in Detroit this season. 25% of his production is also on the PP. In Detroit this year, he’d likely be around 18-22 point right now. Capped out between 30-35 points at season’s end.
That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be a great addition. He’d make them even more of a matchup nightmare. Having him, Fischer and Rasmussen would cause all kinds of matchup issues in a 7 game series. He’d be a pace changer for sure.
So while he can be a consistent 40-50 point player with the right opportunities, some of the values people are talking about, just aren’t based in reality. Even with his ability to change the pace of a game.. There’s much cheaper options out there, to accomplish what he’d bring to the table, than many of the asks in this thread. That goes for every team. Not just Detroit.
Those who say Arizona would just keep him if those asks weren’t met? Well of course. That’s how things work. That’s why it took them a year to trade Chychrun. They set a price nobody was paying. Doesn’t mean a player is somehow worth some inflated value because a team isn’t trading him.
