IMO you gotta take the best deal when dealing with your best assets. If that means they go in division, so be it. Restricting the market doesn't help you and depreciated the value of your asset. The more buyers the better for the return. All things being equal, you move them far away, BUT if the offers are substantially better in the east, you gotta take it. Where is the tipping point --- good question. Similar offers where the deal in the east comes with an extra 5th rounder included...no. But there should absolutely be a tipping point where the deal in conference is substantially better.
I think we dealt Lehner to Buffalo BECAUSE we got a 1st and the other offers were not a 1st. That is how it should be. Why we didn't do it with Hoffman would only be out of respect for Karl so HE didn't have to face him much.
No way we don't strongly consider all offers for EK65, including from a rival like TOR or MTL.