Quoting: JohnnyCanucklehead
So, with a little hindsight - would this have been a good trade for the Habs? or was last year's playoff run worth it regardless of the fact that Kotkaniemi is now gone & Suzuki isn't as productive? I'm asking for your honest thoughts & not trying to mock the current Canadiens' season.... knowing the huge salaries S&K got this off season would give me pause, but I'm assuming that the Hurricanes would not have offered Kotkaniemi such a big contract (or any contract) if he'd been a Leaf.
It’s impossible for me to deal with KK in a non-emotionally biased way, so I’m going to treat this like Suzuki+Dvorak for Nylander+Liljegren from Montréal’s POV. In that case, while the value
may be there, there’s no way Montréal could do that, since it would leave them with Jake Evans as their #1C. And I’d still lean towards having Suzuki over Nylander. In the end Nylander will likely be a 70-80 point winger, while Suzuki will be a 60-70 point defensive centre, making Nick more valuable. I haven’t watched Liljegren play at all, but I can’t imagine he’s ahead of Dvorak right now.
From a Toronto POV, this makes no sense positionally as well, because it means they would have 0 real top 6 wingers and Kotkaniemi and Suzuki would be rotting on the 3rd and 4th lines. Plus they give up a badly needed cheap defense option.
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