Yeah, 0% chance for MTL to make that trade... This one is prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrety one-sided.

Podkolzin is a good idea. Two-way winger with speed and high offensive and defensive upside. Pretty similar to what Svechnikov brings to Carolina, but will need few years. Looking at Kuznetsov and other examples.. its not a bad thing he would stay in russia for year or two.

Not gonna lie I thought it was a pretty fair trade haha. Gustafsson put up 60 pts this year. Beaudin = Evans? I could be totally off but just my initial thoughts.

I actually don't think CHI would do that trade.

I like saad but pens can’t afford his contract

Tarasenko dropped in his draft year because of his “Russian issues”... look how that turned out?

Boqvist is ready. He is unreal and Hawks fans should be very excited to get him in the lineup next year.

I don’t think that it is a bad idea to draft him, but it is definitely risky.

Boqvist could be ready next year, if the front office feels his defensive play has improved enough. Otherwise he'll be in London for another year, which is kinda what I'm hoping for.

I'm going to echo some of your thoughts. Not sure if it's fair because I haven't seen much of gustafsson (outside of stat sheets), but at the very least, it isn't ridiculous. Obviously with any breakout year, there are some question marks whether Gustafsson can repeat the year he's had.
But does Chicago really have the defensive depth to do this in the first place?

I'm a Habs fan and I gotta agree. Should either team do this trade? That's another question altogether but value wise this deal seems fair.

Yeah, but he's 27 yo and it was his first great season, I'd be surprised if he ever reach 50pts again

Keep in mind that he wasn't given the reins of the defensive until November 8th. So he got 60 points while Coach Q was giving him junk minutes and zero PP minutes. The difference is truly all coaching. JC used Gus a TON in Rockford last year (with success) and the transition has obviously worked out in Gus's favor. I wouldn't be surprised to see his point total GO UP from here. I'm not banking on it because other teams are now 100% aware and will make adjustments, but I don't see a drop off considering why things panned out the way they did. There are simple and somewhat obvious answers to the questions when you dig into it a little.

If they have him rated 3rd best player after Hughes/Kakko, absolutely take Podkolzin. I'm no scout, and certainly haven't been watching his team over in Russia, but everything I read sounds great. He is signed for 2 more years.
There are a few articles out debating who the Blackhawks should take. I hope they at least explore trading the pick for an NHL ready top prospect. If not, take best player available, I think the traditional view is if two draft prospects are close edge goes to the center.

He would be getting drafted 3rd! Why would not want to sign? Like when is the last time that happened?