Quoting: PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood
2 things,
One you definitely are undervaluing Holl. He hasn't been the best yet but he's definitely still a good player. Its been 8 games only. Couple that with the fact that Kempe hasn't ever been more than a 30 point winger, it's fairly even given the roles the players play on their team.
Secondly, your team has an old core that still wants to win. They won't likely feel good about wasting a year. Getting defensive help could be a huge help in turning this around and fighting for the playoffs in a wide open west.
Its a trade that makes a lot of sense. Not sure I'd do it but it's not one that overly favors either team. Fills holes on both sides
I hear your second point. But that core has been losing for years, and that's without one of them being the injury. Blake has shown little to no initiative to increase the speed of the rebuild for the sake of the core. Thats not a bad thing, from my point of view, just facts.
As far as your first point, I can't see Holl being anything more than a 3RD when Doughty is back. Roy is the Kings second best defenseman by a wide margin at this point.
Also, while the 30 point comment is technically true, it discounts the shortened season last year. He ended with 29 points in 52 games. That's a 20 goal, 40 point pace in an 82 game season. I can only imagine how that would increase playing for an offensive team like the Leafs, where he'd likely be on a line with JT and Nylander, or some such combo.
Regardless, the biggest piece is something that
@OldNYIfan brought up, and that's contract status. Kempe's value comes in the fact that he's a RFA with team control on a phenomenal contract. The Leafs would be getting at least 3 years of him, likely more. Whereas Holl has only a year left of his contract and doesn't fit into the Kings plans outside of a stopgap for this year. Especially with the Kings RD pipeline of Clarke, Faber, Grans and Spence all soon to be pushing for spots.