Once a Kings Fan Too
Joined: Jun. 2018
Posts: 41,649
Likes: 26,367
Let's put aside the automatically disqualifying element of immediate-buyout Josh Anderson being included in the package, even with the accompanying second to offset him. (Even you admit that he is included in the package "for Cap reasons," i.e., he's only there as a benefit to Montreal alone.)
You want us to trade you Trevor Zegras and run the risk of Montreal finishing in the bottom 10 in 2025 and Calgary making the playoffs? In which case we've traded a two-time 60-point-plus season top-6 forward for "Nothing special" Justin Barron and a pick next summer in the second half of the draw? That would be the epitome of GM malpractice in risk non-management.
I find it both hilarious and definitive that the fanbase responsible for 95% of the Zegras trades isn't Anaheim's but Montreal's. Oh, there's the occasional Brink, Bonk and a first or two from a Philly guy (which is reasonable), and I've seen a couple of efforts by some desperate Penguins fan to cobble together something from their bare larder, but the subconscious admission by Habs fans that they need Zegras (or a line-driving forward like him) is only matched by their refusal to pay a legitimate price for him. You wouldn't trade Cole Caufield for something approaching that package (with the more imminent Edmonton 2024 first and 2024 Boston second replacing the speculative 2025 picks in this package), so why do you think that you get Trevor Zegras for it?