NYLANDER

Not a chance. Former first round pick and a third for Tanev ?

actually no bud, tanev is a piece to needs and to have shown interest in him for the past year, if van r gonna give him up for a teams that wants him the value has to be slightly higher for the team who wants him.

You aren't wrong with that assessment, however, you still need to use logic in determining how a team will overpay for the asset.

First of all what is the motivation for Toronto to obtain Tanev?

The Leafs could really use a top pairing defensively sound right handed defenceman. Tanev certainly fits the bill which makes him a target for Toronto. He'd play top pairing minutes with Reilly and likely make Reilly a much better player.

With that in mind, its easy to spin the trade in a way that will increase Tanev's value.

Lets say in a realistic world, Tanev is likely worth a late 1st round pick or a 2nd and a lesser prospect (think a defence prospect projected to be a 2nd pairing guy) That's a fair return for a 28 year old defensive defenseman with a history of injuries. Since he fills such a need for Toronto, it will increase the demand and therefore the return.

No lets look at the two main options Canuck fans try to use in Tanev trades.

1) Nylander for some package of prospects and Tanev.

This is a case of fans taking the needs of their team and comparing them with the perceived needs for Toronto and blowing everything out of proportion. Yes Toronto could use defensive help, yes they have unreal depth upfront. However if you look it from just a player vs player standpoint, the trade is insanely bad for Toronto. They trade the best player by far for a small upgrade on the blue line. (Tanev doesn't transform the Leafs blueline into an allstar group, he improves 1 player and PK but in this scenario is greatly reduces Toronto's offence. ) So this trade is a really bad deal for Toronto. You'd almost have to add Petterson, I know that isn't a fair deal but you have no idea if Petterson can handle playing in the NHL yet, while its safe to say Nylander can and at times dominates at this level. So with that said, I think we can agree that there is no way to make a trade that has fair value moving both ways.)

Now onto the second most seen trade proposal.

Tanev for Liljegren +

This one is really easy to shoot down because its a trade that mocks itself basically.

The need for TO is to obtain a top pairing right handed defenceman. And to get it they are giving up a kid who is projected to be a top pairing right handed defenceman with a huge ceiling. Why would TO trade exactly what they are looking for, for a player that is 28 and has a big history of injury?


In conclusion you have do have to pay to play, however, there are a lot of costs that make playing the wrong move.

What should a Tanev trade look like? Something like either Tanev for a 1st (That is likely the best Vancouver can do) or a first and a non roster prospect not named Liljegren and the Canucks would retain half of Tanev's salary. That is how the Canucks make the trade better for them. It gives TO two bonuses, 1st the addition of Tanev is great and secondly they can save cap space next year when they have a real cap bind. That's how you coax more out of TO but you can't go overboard because Toronto isn't desperate. They'll just laugh, hangup and be a dominant team this season with the lineup they have.