Yah those people were clearly way off with their takes lol. Even before the trade it was obvious that he would get a first.

The person that I was responding to was, though. As much as Hagel is young and blah blah blah, he isn't worth 2 1rst+. He's not worth more than Horvat. That's why it isn't a good trade from TBL's perspective. They goal is to win now and rn Hagel isn't better than the players up for sale this year (and the players rumoured to be up for sale last year that didn't get traded

Blais is not an "A Tier Prospect".

He is nearly 27 years old with multiple seasons under his belt. He showed some promise in St.Louis but played poorly in the Rangers system. He is a cap equalizer who likely was attractive to St.Louis in the context of having to take back some cap/a contract because they will need NHL bodies past the deadline and he played his best hockey for them. The realistic best case scenario for him is that he makes it as a third liner on St.Louis, but even that isn't guaranteed.

Raty is not an A prospect. He might have been the Islanders best prospect, but that's more a consequence of their poor drafting. He's your typical teams 4th or worsts best prospect that gets moved at the deadline. Someone who has some upside, but they aren't a sure thing star. The fact that he was originally pegged as a first round talent is not a positive. It means he was a faller. Fans tend to have a very strong bias towards fallers, but in reality fallers are almost always more Sean Day than they are Jakob Chychrun. Someone falls out of the first round because their development stopped, or went poorly.

The Hagel trade was cap motivated. If Hagel was a pending UFA he would have maybe gotten a 2nd and a B Prospect based on the prices last year. Using Hagel as a comparison doesn't work, because his entire value was predicated in his contract. He was cost controlled for 2.5 seasons at a 1.5M AAV. That was as a player who at the time had established himself as a top 6 forward. Tampa gave up extra picks to get a 4.5M player for 1.5M. The only possible comparable situation at this deadline might be Jakob Chychrun, since he is signed at 4.5M for 3 years, and a comparable top pairing defenseman would cost 6-7 million. Even then, that isn't as drastic as getting a 2nd line forward for an almost replacement level cap hit.

When you say Hagel is not worth more than Horvat, you’re talking strictly about their on-ice impact and not considering their contract situation, but I see your point. You’re talking about the opportunity cost of the two 1st-round draft picks the Lightning gave up for Hagel. If you assume that what they cared about most was maximizing their chances of winning a 3rd consecutive cup, they would have been better off using those picks on more impactful rentals.

That was my point

My dream came true. Tarasenko an Panarin are reunited once again after Buffalo 2011. That Russia U21 is one of my favorite teams in the history of hockey

Heh. Blaiser puts a Blues sweater back on, and suddenly he's one of the best players on the ice in the 2nd period. Kooky.

damn right he is