That's a terrible deal for WPG. Only way it's good is if that 2019 1st is top 7 or 8.

If Trouba only signs for two years, it means that he doesn't want to be in WPG. Does this make it seem better?? BTW, WPG will only trade him if he isn't going to be there long term.

That makes more sense, but still feel like you could do better. Taking back terrible Staal really hurts the deal.

Honestly, if I'm the Rangers, I probably do this deal. The only thing giving me any pause is that I expect that 1st to be a lotto pick and I'm not sure if I want to get rid of that. To be honest, you'd be better off not even offering to take on Staal; we're not really strapped for cash, and if we're taking back Kulikov, does it really help you at all? It sounds like you're just using that to get a bit more value out of us, value we don't need to give because we don't really need to get rid of Staal's contract. Plus, you don't want Staal. Keep Kulikov, we'll keep Staal, and we'll mess with the value a little bit to keep it fair for both sides. You probably wouldn't get quite as much in other assets, but we're in no way really inclined to give up to get rid of his contract, since we have plenty of space (and getting Kulikov back only saves us space in the 3rd year after Kulikov's contract ends). I'd suggest like Hayes, Pionk, NYR 1st for Trouba and like a decentish prospect or a 3rd or something? Since the Staal/Kulikov trade is basically just you taking on the third year of Staal's contract at like 70% I don't even think you get that much out of it. Or like downgrade Pionk to Ryan Lindgren, Sean Day, or Tony DeAngelo and get rid of the extra thing on your side? Of course just spitballing. This of course contingent on him signing an actual extension with us, not bridging.

On a side note: That's probably way too cheap for Hayes. We're expecting him to get 5x5 at least if he ends up getting a long term deal. Not that it really matters, since you're under the cap by plenty, just a note.

tl;dr don't bother trying to woo us by taking the last year of Staal, we have enough cap space to work with it and can easily buy him out and not have to pay for it, make it simpler for both sides, and make sure Trouba has an extension in place for us, we don't want to bridge him.

tbh the Rangers would be fine with you not taking Staal, but you're also giving us back Kulikov, which makes the cap hits early in the deal just a tiny bit in your favor (something like 300k saved for the Jets), in exchange for you taking just the last year of Staal's deal. We can easily buy him out next year, and we're in no way strapped for cap space, so we can just hold on to him.

Why I switched Kulikov for Staal on our end was the fact Staal didn't have many points but his (+/-) was ok. Kulikov was also injured a bit during last year which Staal wasn't. I agree though, it is a wash....

plus-minus is a bad stat, it's horribly weighted against players who get PP minutes and for players who get PK minutes. Because Staal was on our PK and you don't get a minus for goals against on the PK, his Plus-minus is much higher than other players who played better but just didn't play the PK. Staal had a bounceback year this year from injury issues and was fine, but he's getting older and he was awful in like 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. Both players are not very good right now, and 2 years from now when Kulikov is off of the Rangers books and Staal is still on yours for 4m, you're gonna wish you didn't take him. Staal's contract is one you would expect the Rangers to pay someone to get rid of, but we're not going to do that because we can handle it. You'd rather just leave us with Staal and make a deal without him, trust me.

PK or PP doesn't affect the plus minus....

It seems like there is an extreme under value of Hayes in this scenario. Its obvious by the 3.3 AAV that you projected. You really believe the Rangers would be willing to part ways with a probable top 10 overall pick in the 2019 draft, a very young and promising defencemen in Pionk (who was on team USA in the world championships at 22) AND on top of that Kevin Hayes who scored a career high 25 goals last year for Trouba? Trouba is an outstanding young defencemen, and has been linked to the Rangers multiple times but this seems like an extreme over-payment for the top 4 defencemen.

Honestly a more realistic scenario would be a 1 for 1 (Hayes for Trouba), if you can guarantee a long term deal with Hayes.

It does.

"When an even-strength goal or shorthanded goal is scored, the plus–minus statistic is increased by one ("plus") for those players on the ice for the team scoring the goal; the plus–minus statistic is decreased by one ("minus") for those players on the ice for the team allowing the goal.[1] Power play or penalty shot goals are excluded. An empty net does not matter for the calculation of plus–minus." via Wikipedia

"Plus-Minus
A player is awarded a "plus" each time he is on the ice when his Club scores an even-strength or shorthanded goal. He receives a "minus" if he is on the ice for an even-strength or shorthanded goal scored by the opposing Club. The difference in these numbers is considered the player's "plus-minus" statistic." via THE NHL WEBSITE.

This means, if you score a PP goal, you don't get a +, and if you give up a goal when the opponent is on the PP, you don't get a -.