Is that a joke?

Swayman will cost you a ton. Its gonna start with Mercer too.

The Blues have neither the need nor the cap for that.

lmao that swayman trade has to be a joke

Agree...Swayman may cost more that recent 1st and 2nd.



But lets not get carried away here
(a Mercer trade would start with Swayman)

Mercer has had an okay start in the NHL.
Swayman has had an elite start in the NHL.

What makes you think this?

Okay start? Mercer got mostly third line minutes this year but is on pace for close to 50 points as a 20 YO

Swayman has played 47 professional games between NHL and AHL. Little early to start calling him "elite".
Generally, goalies are harder to project making a skater-for-goalie transactions very hard to price.
In most cases, the center with hold more of their value over time.

Okay, lets try to read a little bit harder. I said he got off to an elite start. Can we all agree a 1.9 GAA with a .931 SV% is a pretty elite start?

Guys jump in the league playing for crap teams with no important games and score at a little over a half point per game all the time.

One is common, one is not.
One is elite NHL level production, one is not.

Not rocket science here folks.

Ya. That’s cool. Not saying he’s bad. Not exactly a rarity for an offensively talented kid to come into a situation like New Jersey and score a bit. Solid player, bright future.

A 1.90 GAA and a .931 SV% through a goalies first 32 games is a much rarer thing to come by.

Negative

"all the time"

Centers with 0.5 or more pts/game over last decade in their D+2 season:

Lundell (2021-22)
Mercer (2021-22)
Hughes (2020-21)
Hischier (2018-19)
Pettersson (2018-19)
Matthews (2017-18)
Eichel (2016-17)
Aho (2016-17)
Draisaitl (2015-16)
MacKinnon (2014-15)
Lindholm (2014-15)
Monahan (2014-15)

"all the time"

Blues say no
No cap no space no reason

Two points:
1. I would be far more interested in a list of forwards that had .5+ppg in their first season.
2. Care to compile the list of goaltenders with a 1.90 and a .931 through their first 30 starts? I think it’s going to be shorter.

1. "first season" is less instructive on the players development curve that age (ie, Bunting vs Raymond).
2. List below

Binnington
Brossoit
Darling
Dreidger
Gustavsson
Jones
Korpisalo
Lehrner
Mrazek
Murray
Nedeljovic
Pickard
Raanta
Shesterkin
Stolarz
Swayman
Ullmark

I picked a name out of a hat and checked it. Raanta had an .897 and a 2.71 through his first season (25 games), so you wanna try again? Or were you hoping I was just going to take your list at your word.
BInnington doesn’t qualify for either (very close on GAA though)
Brossoit isn’t even close.
Darling doesn’t qualify for GAA, but i think he does for SV%.
Dredger’s a nope.

Should i keep going through this or did you just make all of them up?