Quoting: Windjammer
Lol. No wonder you think this makes sense you don't understand contracts or player skills. Rust ,with the exception of one fluke year as I said, is a bottom 6 player. At 28 he is what he is.
Pettersson would be behind Morrissey, Heinola and Samberg and was only in Pittsburgh's top 4 because Pittsburgh has bad defense. Poulin is okay, but as a winger isn't needed by Winnipeg.
Now for the funniest thing in your post. Rust is two years from being a UFA while Laine is an RFA for 3 more years. As an RFA, Laine can't "just walk". He can sit, but it does nothing for him, as he still owes 3 years. Read up a little bit on contracts to get a better understanding.
Sorry to hurt your feelings, it's just a bad proposal.
While I fully admit that Laine is a solid point producer, well, actually a solid goal scorer, you are overdoing the value plays on both sides a bit. He is not a creator. He scores goals. However, it's not like he is Ovechkin at that. The last two years he has been 3rd on the Jets in goals scored, 4th in points. He is good at it, but he is not as much a monster at it as people like to suggest. He is not defensive, he is big but not exactly physical. He is not "the guy" on a line, he needs others. The biggest thing for him is that he will be turning 23 this season, so you would expect things to improve a bit over the next few years from where they are now. But his personality might be a bit of an issue as well.
To me Laine is in the 2nd tier of players, probably towards the bottom of that tier. He is not a superstar (Oechkin, Crosby, etc). He is in that start range of not someone that you build around, but a piece that you get to put around that cornerstone player(s) to prop them up. A very important piece, but a bit over hyped.
Personally, I'd rather pull Connor from the Jets, or even Ehlers. (#1 pick would be Scheifele, but that is not a comparable to Laine) Connor is good offensively, okay defensively, but soft as wet tissue. However, he doesn't require others to make the plays for him. He is kind of like a Kessel with defensive awareness. Ehlers is behind Laine, but he is also considerable cheaper, a better value.
Due to contract and attitude, this is an overpay by the Penguins.