That's a lot to give up for Toffoli

Agreed. He's a pending UFA. Zucker has term and makes more sense at that cost.

My thing is, Kreider and Toffoli are going to be the top 2 trade deadline targets for this season. Kreider is going to cost someone waayyy too much. So there's going to be a lot of interest in Toffoli, which will undoubtedly raise his price.

I don't really see the hype for Toffoli or the huge difference in value you've given between the Craig Smith and Toffoli trades.

Toffoli over the past 7 seasons has played 494 games and scored 131 goals and has 278 points. In 47 career playoff games, he has 21 points.
Smith over the past 7 seasons has played 521 games and scored 136 goals and has 271 points. In 48 career playoff games, he has 16 points.

These guys seem surprisingly comparable. The only real difference is age, and Toffoli is about 2.5 years younger. Why would you pay so much to get Toffoli when you can get eerily similar production for a cheaper price?

All the more reason to stay away. Rental players prices are inflated too much because of the no strings attached but getting a player with term not only costs a less inflated value but also guarantees future value down the line. Assuming cap is something the team can navigate.

While I agree with that, I can harken back to what GMJR said about Tanev when he signed him, "But at the end of the day, if you don’t give the player in free agency what they’re looking for at what the going rate is, guess what? You don’t have the player. So, we could be sitting here right now without him, talking about, ‘We could use a player, maybe someone like Brandon Tanev.’ Or, we could just have him right now."

Now in that quote, replace "free agency with trades/trade deadline" and replace Tanev with Toffoli.

Also, it may be an unpopular opinion, but I think Toffoli would be the better get. His possession numbers have been incredible on a terrible LA team. All the while, Zucker's possession metrics have been iffy even when the Wild have been competitive and his goal scoring is best described as volatile.

My take: Go with the better goal scoring version of Simon in Toffoli instead of the worse possession version of Rust in Zucker.

Pretty sure the rumors are saying Taffoli for Chucky straight up.

Kreider is going to cost more like a 1st.

Saad is going to cost even more like Chucky and a first or a B+ prospect and a 1st...unlike the others, Saad has another year of term. Pens would be smart to get serious on Saad, ask chicago to retain $1m on his cap, use him for the playoffs and see how he does and flip him the following year or during offseason. Plenty of teams could use a winger like Saad given his playoff cup experience and his ability to play defense and drive possession. Problem is he's not coming cheap (if chicago has any intent on moving him) but also that would benefit the Pens if they flip him in the offseason.

Granlund is more likely to get traded than smith. Just saying.

Gross overpay for Toffoli. Overpay for Zucker.

You don't pay for retention when a player is not worth the cap hit. You pay for retention when a player IS worth the cap hit but you need it to be less. Saad is not worth the $6M cap hit. Just look at Chicago AGS, 1/3 of them retain on Saad because they know that he is not worth it and no contending team wants to trade for $2M "dead" cap space next season.

I think either player brings equal traits to the discussion. The contracts are what separate the players value IMO. Thinking about it with all aspects involved, I'd go for the guy whose locked up long term and would cost the equivalent of the guy whose UFA at years end and may want to go to warmer climate come July 1st for all we know.