Quoting: sporkknife
What I will say is that players values tend to change drastically over the course of time. Off the top of my head Carter Verhaege went from a 4th liner to a 2nd line scorer and is worth way more now than he was last year.
I'm not going to sit here and say that Risto wasn't a highly touted prospect. A former 8th overall selection. Of course Ehlers for Risto was a good trade once upon a time, maybe even Risto had more value as a higher draft pick. But in the here and now Ehlers is one of the top ten wingers in the league and Risto is not one of the top ten defenders in the league (and that's generous). Ehlers would command a package more similar to that of Sam Reinhart.
Anyway, at the end of the day anything you think you are sure of in regards to players and trades will be proven wrong with time. Who cares how knowledgeable fans are if they enjoy their favorite team. The smartest fan and the dumbest fan have the same impact on the hockey ops: zero
You are 100% correct Ehlers is a great player, I will agree completely.
Since I am a Sabre fan, I watch Ristolainen every game.
I will say this without reservation that he is better now than he was 2016 when Chiarelli offered Hall for him.
He is better than he was in 2017 when the Ehlers for Ristolainen suggestions were being presented.
He is certainly better than he was in 2019, when Brisbois was interested at the TDL.
Murray turned down the Hall trade because Murray had just eliminated ALL of the NHL caliper NHL defensemen from the Sabres and Ristolainen was the only NHL quality d-man and he had just given away the farm to get Kane the previous year.
How dumb would he have looked after trading Myers, first, Armia, Stafford and Lemieux for Kane then get Hall for just Ristolainen.
Let's agree that Ehlers is worth a ton.
Reinhart is worth a ton.
If all Jet's fan think Stanley is worth more than Ristolainen, take them out of the trade and make it:
Reinhart, Sam [RFA Rights]
For
Copp, Andrew [RFA Rights]
2021 1st round pick (WPG)
2022 2nd round pick (WPG)
2022 3rd round pick (WPG)
That should then be fair since you think Stanley is more valuable than Ristolainen, then more value is being taken away from the assets being sent to Buffalo than being sent to Winnipeg.
Then we can call it a day and agree, I hope.
I suppose that is what I should have said from the get go, take them both out of the trade and move on.