Quoting: Shibbal18
Volkov has 30 goals with Eichel, Getz and Silfverberg are place holders until Zegras at least can take on a bigger role. Silf gets a shot in the arm with Eichel. They can try Rakell with Eichel as well. Eichel is a much better goal scorer than Comtois so you have the same amount by your standard but that goal scorer is a much better player. the 3rd pair d is serviceable and with 2 great goaltenders behind them, can give Anaheim enough to cover there TOI. I also think Guhle has a lot more to offer than both on the 3rd pair but know that everyone disagrees with me, so Id start him in one of those spots. Anaheim with Getzlaf and Zegras have a much more complete team then Buffalo ever did with Eichel. Buffalo with Eichel and ROR were a couple of points out of a wild card spot, but they literally had no dmen and their #1 goalie was battling alcoholism and depression
I think Volkov is a good player but he's not a 1st line player and I don't think he would score 30 goals. He's a middle 6 player at best imo.
I know they're placeholders until younger players take over those roles but that's why they aren't playoff contenders because they're both in the Top 6 and you don't know if Zegras can take a Top 6 role with the pressure of contending for a playoff spot.
I know Eichel is better than Comtois and he can score more than him but "replacing" a good goal scorer with an elite player overall in the Top 6 doesn't change the fact that no one would be able to score goals except for Eichel and maybe Rakell if he has good Chemistry with Eichel. The offense likely wouldn't be the worst anymore but still bottom 5.
And LW would absolutely suck without Comtois. Not a single Top 6 LW on the team. So there probably wouldn't be a good line mate for Eichel.
That 3rd pairing isn't serviceable imo. Larsson has been awful under Eakins and was worse than replacement level. Rafferty isn't an NHL level D-man. I disagree on the Guhle take. He hasn't been good enough in the AHL and I think Mahura and Benoit both deserve that spot more than him.
Ducks have Eichel but no O'Reilly level player. The Offense overall still sucks especially on LW. RW is fine with Terry and Rakell in the Top 6 but there is no Top 6 LW on the team. Top 4 Defense is decent but the 3rd pairing is bad. Goalie's would be good. That's not a playoff team. They are in the worst division but that basically means only 3 playoff spots (I'm pretty confident the Wild Card spots will go to 2 Central teams) and Vegas and Edmonton take two and Vancouver and LA are both better and Calgary probably as well.
Ducks shouldn't get Eichel. They're better off without him. (Not talking about the value because I think the Sabres would get more from a different team and this would probably be good value wise.)