Quoting: CheechYou
In the event that Hertl's enough of a draw for Pasta to choose SJ as his landing spot, SJ should make Pasta their #1 priority and sign him. Then they can trade Meier to NJ for a Holtz package or another place for a similar deal.
pasta wants to compete that is literally the whole reason people are making up these rumours that he is going to leave in the 1st place and again even with bergy and krech most likely retiring next season san jose is in no better position to compete then boston. we will atleast have cap in 23-24 to bring in players where as san jose doesn't.
san jose most likely will be the worst team in the pacific next season and potentially for the next while.
Anaheim/ LA/ Seattle all have much brighter futures and will have more available cap within the next 2-3 seasons to make more moves, vegas and alberta are already in win now and mostly will continue to be a top team for the foreseeable future. like i said until san jose clears karlsson/vlasic/couture they will not be a competitive team
moving meier to sign pasta is a ridiculous idea, 1. you are taking a shot that whatever you player you move him for is gonna be able to replicate the production and play he brings and 2. considering pastrnak will have a larger contract then him you are also just putting san jose even that much worse into cap hell. 3. Pastrnak is a great player and all but not even mcdavid could make this team a PO team.
best bet is to potentially consider moving meier and then keeping the squad young and look to make a push when they are in their mid 20's and hertl is in his early 30's and still highly productive
also boston doesn't accept that trade anyways it would either have to include
1. Bordeleau and the 23 1st plus the rest of the trade
or
2. eklund and then it can be the 24 1st
labanc is currently negative value so that 2nd+4th barely cancel that contract out, emond and meygna are literally just scraps that will never touch boston's roster
so pasta alone would either need to return a lower tier A tier prospect + a top 10 projected pick or would need to return a higher up tier A tier prospect like eklund and then san jose could top 3-5 protect their 24 pick.
but even then im sure if pasta was made available and was willing to sign an extension like you predicted here, boston would receive better offers