CherryToke
Registered User
If we are in the playoff race, the question should be: do we have any reasonable chance to survive the first round? If the answer is no, then you deal him.
However, this is not how it works in VAN. If the team is anywhere near the playoffs, Vrbata and Hamhuis will be kept in order not to send the "wrong message" to the team and the fans.
Whether that would be a smart decision long term or not is a whole different story though.
this is how it works for every team. GM's don't trade their best players when they have a legit shot at the playoffs and live to talk about it.