Quoting: Sebybbq
Montreal Have Romanov, Norlinder, Harris and Strubble who are coming shortly on the left side. Graves would fill a short term need for sure but Romanov and Harris will take the work load in a very near futur. Graves have had a outstanding year, but there way to much uncertainties in is case to justify that trade. Adding to that bad Compher contract this offer is jut not what Bergevin would look for. Tatar is clearly the best player in that deal and both Graves and Compher have very limited ceiling. Bergevin would be looking for at least a players with some high potential. Montreal would probably want Graves+ a good Prospect and possibly a 2nd round pick.
Every team can list a bunch of prospects and say that they are "set", but the reality is that few prospects actually live up to expectations. Even if Romanov etc make it, Graves plays the heaviest minutes and the PK, so he could be a very useful player in the D group even if he wasn't on the top pairing.
Compher's contract isn't bad, it's fair market value for a 0.5ppg player who is also a good PK'er.
Tatar might be the best player, but he's also a 29 year old pending UFA which factors into the trade valuation.
As for limited ceilings, Graves played as a top pairing Dman on one of the best teams in the league this season. How much higher than that do you think a players ceiling can be?!
Colorado would want to include Compher (or Donskoi) to balance salary. It's rare these days that trades happen where one team is taking on a lot of salary. That said, I suppose Colorado could keep Compher instead of resigning Namestnikov and/or Jost, but it makes sense from an asset management perspective to resign Namestnikov (rather than lose him for nothing) and instead move someone else who can return something (i.e. Compher or Jost).
In any case, let's say that it was Tatar for Graves + 2nd + prospect. Which prospect would you want? The value of the trade can value hugely depending on which prospect it is you want.