Bring on the forwards

Leafs laugh and hang up the phone

Tage Thompson is a draft bust, Conor Sheary is a 3rd liner, Ristolainen is meh

I wouldn't say Tage is a bust, played with the statistical worst line in the league but he is no blue chip prospect. But I agree with your take, I just see it as you are going to move Zaitsev for close to nothing, Kadri would get an ok return, so more or less the trade is kadri nylander for 1st ,2nd, prospect, under contract cheap winger and a RHD probably wouldn't happen but I wouldn't say that the trade is ridiculous. Probably being biased but oh well

Lets try and look at that leafs trade objectively. But first lets clear some things up.



Kadri is not a salary dump in the slightest. He is a 2nd line center and damn near all metrics support that point. Zaitsev in this trade market at worst has slight negative value, at best slight positive value.

Now, on we go.

- If the leafs were to move on from Kadri they'd be looking for at the very least a 1st round pick+. To start lets assume Kadri ~=1st + 2nd.
- As I said before Zaitsev value is either slightly positive or negative, lets assume for a team with cap its more or less value neutral, so marginal value.
- You could probably recoup a bit more than a 3rd for Tage, but considering based on his last season he statisticially doesn't look like he's ready at all for the NHL I think its fair to assume that as a floor value similar to Kadri.

This leaves Nylander for Ristolainen + Sheary, which I am not on board on. Ristolainen might work in Buffalo but he's not going to get the powerplay time he did in Buffalo. I also do not like the look of his transition metrics if Nylander is the guy going back.

Just because Dion is a meme doesn't mean he is worth 4 mil a year, easily could sign for 1mil or less