Quoting: CD282
Kassian has spent less than 25% of his TOI with McDavid this year. Of course he performed better in those minutes, but his 2.14 P/60 5v5 with superstar Derek Ryan is better than Kubalik's production this year (0.41) and last (1.82).
Actually, superstar bump is what you're seeing in Kubalik's history: his first year his most common linemate was Toews (he scored an amazing 2.08 GOALS/60 in those minutes) and significant time with Kane (a mind-blowing 4.95 G/60 with Kane!), since then he has seen very little of these two. To break his first season down farther, he scored 3.38 P/60 with Toews and 1.54 without. He scored 6.77 P/60 with Kane and 1.77 P/60 without.
I'm not even arguing that the trade is fair, I'm simply saying that your argument is disingenuous: you're giving Kubalik credit for production that is CLEARLY influenced by his superstar linemates but denigrating Kassian for the same.
If what you were saying were true, then why wouldn't everyone who plays with them have those production levels? Because Kubs actually has ability and is known around the league as having a sneaky good quick release and a goal threat. Its also good to recognise he has performed on the international stage with "superstars" too.
Implying that Kassian a 30 year old who carries a hit of 3.2M for the next 2.5 seasons with his career production is in anyway a comparable asset to Kubalik a 26 year old RFA who in his first 2 years in the league alone, scored 47 goals. Almost as many as Kassian has had in his 6 years with the Oilers, also the same amount of time McDavid has been there.
Also good to note the type of teams we are discussing, Oilers have easily made playoffs in those years whilst Kubalik played under an AHL coach who couldn't put a system together and still put some reasonable numbers on the board.
If you were to do a poll amongst the whole community on ACGM I would feel confident that majority would agree that Kubalik holds far more value. There would also be large numbers that would suggest Kassian holds negative value.