Carolina laughs so hard at this. Pesce holds more value than Nylander. Pesce had the better cap hit, plays the more important position, and plays more minutes. He's not as good offensively, but if you want Pesce, Toronto is adding to Nylander. Not the other way around. We've been over this

I like your thinking, but as Caniac said, I think Leafs would be hard pressed to get Pesce for Willy 1 for 1, let alone adding Suzuki and 2 2nds. You probably have to remove the 1st from Philly and add on the Leafs side too. Marner is probably Konecny+Tippett (which I doubt Flyers would even do), and Provorov is probably worth more than Timmins+3rd…?
I dont see any scenario where Bert signs for the Leafs. unfortunately. I think it was pretty clear he wasnt coming to a Cdn market. Brown at 3M and on the top line? Eeeek

Flyers don’t pick up the phone for trades that don’t help their rebuilding team actually REBUILD

Canes weren’t willing to do this in 2018, what makes you think that things have changed in 2023?

Besides, anyone can be groomed into a 1/2W that only does offense. They are about a dime a dozen each draft class. It is nowhere close to groom a 1RD quality dman who is one of the best in the league defensively.

That’s not giving nylander enough credit. He would’ve had the most goals on the canes and points. In 2018 nylander wasn’t close to that, he would be a great add to the canes. Nylander is also really good at winning battles and protecting the puck, not as much of a liability on the D end as people may think. That comes from when he was young and developing. Watch him up close and you’ll see.

There’s not a lot of 40 goal scorers around the league to get its not as easy to develop them as you think

First of all, we can’t be sure that he would lead the Canes in offensive production based on the different systems being employed. I should probably clarify my “dime a dozen” comment. There are several prospects each draft class that boast great offensive prowess. They can be groomed into being a 1st/2nd line offensive winger. They might not be 40 goal scorers, but they can be elevated to 30-35 goal scorers, or an overall very effective offensive forward.

For the style of hockey the Canes play, they value defensive prowess greatly, with everyone on the roster, including even Svechnikov, being at the very least, somewhat competent defensively, with several roster forwards being exceptional defensively (Aho, KK, Staal, Stastny, Turbo, Martinook, Fast). The main reason this kind of trade never happened in 2018, and why it still won’t happen now, is that Pesce is a cornerstone piece. The Canes are a relatively young team, and assuming that Svech, Necas, Jarvis and KK all continue to take steps forward, there is really no reason to move Pesce for someone who would become a bit redundant.

I’m not trying to knock Nylander or anything, but this is just very reminiscent of the Hall/Larsson scenario, but for this one, I think it would be a lose-lose scenario. For the Canes, they give up a cornerstone piece of their blue line with no immediate replacement in hand, and get another offensive minded forward, who Rod will try to make a 2-way winger (loss of offensive production in favor of adding defensive capabilities.) Not to mention the cap structure isn’t great for another big name to be signed next year. As for Toronto, they lose a big offensive presence just to build up their blue line, with their cap structure being even worse, with the difference in cap between Pesce and Nylander likely to be offered to Matthews. It’s a move that makes sense for both sides for 1 reason, but makes no sense at all for others.