The price was maybe a slight overpay but acceptable for a player of that caliber.
The main problem was the circumstances surrounding the deal. Everyone could see that we had a pretty flukey run in the playoffs (not hyperbole, basically take your pick of underlying statistics). We were not seen as a consistent contender, which is the type of team that would have made that deal should be. And now we're in a spot where for every 1 reason Duchene may want to re-sign here, the team has given him about 5 not to. The more shrewd move would likely have been to wait things out further...what was the rush? See where the team was after more than 10 games or so and by then the price likely would have come down.
To re-iterate, I didn't like the trade but didn't hate it. Definitely think we could have gone about it much better.
And looking at that list, thing that sticks out most: 4 top 6 forwards out, only 1 in.