Interesting responses so far. Kind of as I expected. Seems to be an overrating of the value of Nylander mostly. Not necessarily Nylander himself... but the general value of a winger.
The thing that needs to be realized is in todays game it is basically impossible to acquire a high end, blue chip Defense prospect or Top pairing NHL Defender, without drafting them and developing them yourself. It just doesn't happen. The premium value on high end Dmen is too much.
Since proposing the deal I actually think I have sided slightly with Oilers fans in that the value definitely favors Toronto a tad due to that premium price of Defenders. Especially compared to the value of a Winger. And Bouchard is a fantastic prospect who has developed nicely in the AHL this year on the defensive side of things. He should be ready to step into a Top 4 role for the Oilers potentially as soon as next October.
I had kind of thought that with Jones and Bear breaking into the NHL so well, as well as already having Nurse, Larsson, Klefbom, and Broberg in the system that perhaps they had an opportunity to deal from a strength to get a weakness. We'll see how AA does with the Oilers. But I do not like AA as a player at all, I think he is truly awful and wont move the needle at all in Edmonton hence why I think they could be in the market for legit Top 6 winger help again this summer.
So ya, I get why Oilers fans would be saying no. Though I think at some point a time will come where they need to make a move to bolster that Top 6 more. McDavid and Drai are absolutely great but they need more help. Perhaps a smaller deal along the lines of Kapanen/Larsson ends up being the solution between the two teams instead.
Here's the thing.... teams don't trade players who are currently at the top end of their lineup (even if they're wingers) for picks/prospects,
unless they are trying to dump them. The Leafs are very happy with Nylander's play this year, and have been very happy with his play (even with it costing $7m) for 3 out of his 4 seasons in the league -- so there is little reason to believe he cannot continue it.
When you see deals like this happen, is when teams either:
- Have a guy they know they cannot resign (not the case here)
- Have a guy they need to clear out in order to make cap space for other players (again, not the case here, Kerfoot/Johnsson will go first if required)
- Are a rebuilding team, who they feel the player is not going to be part of the long term plans (again, not the case here)
The one disconnect with reality that these boards suffers from as a whole, is an over-valuing of picks/ prospects (remember, it did start as Hockey's Future Boards), and the reasons that teams trade for them. If you're a team who thinks they can win now, you don't a highly valued member of your team to get a guy that might help you in 2-4 years.
Most GMs primary focus is patching making their NHL team better today. They acquire prospects when they have an excess of something, because they know that prospects are key to organizational depth, and getting bargain contracts.
