An article from the Athletic points to a survey of league executives who indicate that Eric Staal won't fetch a 1st if he is traded. So, playing around, Brown, Bracco and a 4th for Staal as a rental..
The good -
*Creates a solid match up line with Kadri/JT/Hyman that can go head to head with TB, Boston, Pitts, Caps top lines
*Gets Kadri into the top 6, where he should be, and addresses the need for a gritty lw in the top six
*Gets Hyman to his strong side, where he should be
*Gets Kappy into the top 6, where he should be, albeit on his off wing, creating a scary good scoring line in Kappy/Matthews/Marner
*Creates a scary good 3rd line in Johnsson/Staal/Nylander that can exploit softer matchups
*Creates an offensively dangerous and responsible 4th line, with Ennis/Marleau/Moore, and solves the 4C sitch, while maintaining an important role for Marleau
*Brings in another Ontario boy, Stanley Cup champ vet, and reunites another former Olympic player with Babs
The bad-
*We lose hometown hussle Brown and his pk ability (although he probably has to go in the offseason anyways)
*We lose winger depth in Ahl ppg prospect Bracco (although its hard to imagine how he cracks the leafs RW depth for the top 9, unless the plan is to trade Nylander in the offseason)
*Losing Brown, Bracco and Staal as forwards for next year means the leafs probably take a step back up front in 19/20 (but it might be worth it if Staal moves the needle for this years playoff run)
*dealine trades for Staal from wild fans seem settled on a 1st and 4th. Don't know if this trade satisfies or if its what the wild need
*I don't have a clue what having Moore in the lineup means for bonusses
*also dont have a clue how the leafs plan on paying pb this year, but I'm assuming they have a plan for that, although I doubt very much that this is conducive to it... regardless, its fun to think about having Staal as a 3 C...
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