A thing

I would think Andreas Johnsson gets moved only as part of a deal for a top-6 power forward or top-4 RHD. Nyquist is a good player, don't get me wrong, but he doesn't fit the bill on either fronts.

The wings are going to want a 1st for Nyquist (who knows if they get it though). If not, it'll have be a 2nd or 3rd round pick, plus an enticing prospect. I don't think this is enough for him. We could eat the Zaitsev contract, but again, it'd have to be on top of a 1st or 2nd/3rd and prospect.

I watch all the wings games that I can and he's good on defense as well as being a great passer and having good puck control skills. Would be great with Tavares. He's worth the Leafs giving up actual assets for their run, but I think he'll end up somewhere like Calgary or Winnipeg

I get your point, but Zaitsev was a good player, when Babcock was deploying him more as a two-way guy and gave him pp time. He's a defensive anchor right now and he's not suited for that role. He's probably never worth his cap hit, but at his peak he's probably only overpaid by half a mil or so. Johnsson is also a very good young player, who's already past the prospect stage and is both a warm body for the Wings now in the rebuild and will be in his mid-late 20's when they're contending again, so he has all the tools to be a good piece. For the Leafs, giving much more than this isn't optimal, but a guy like Michael Carcone could be still reasonable enough.

Unfortunately the Wings have a serious logjam at defense in the AHL. One is NHL ready (Hronek) and there’s another 3 guys that are only a year or two away. I guess I didn’t realize how long Zaitsev’s term was. Holland isn’t going to take that on. If you take off Zaitsev and make it a guarenteed 2nd round this year and 3rd next, I think that’d work though.

Agree completely on Z. Kinda drives me crazy sometimes on how babs sets and deploys the roster..

I also think Johnsson would be a good fit with a rebuilding Wings team. Think he'd do really well there and get the chance to play and stick in the top 9 if not 6.

Also wonder if the trade would be more palatable to wings/leafs if it was expanded with other pieces from the leafs and include Jensen coming back? If Z goes I think we need another rhd in the roster