Quoting: Affectionate_Side_64
First of all, of course Nash is shopping him. They are going to be rebuliding or at the very least retooling and have an elite goalie prospect in Askarov to fill those shoes. You literally said they aren't shopping him then claimed to know the price. What do you consider shopping?
Saros is 28 and has 2 years until he's a UFA. Why would they happily hang on to him and let him walk for nothing? People can make up whatever rumours they want, if your source is Michael Gallagher then you have no leg to stand on.
There aren't a ton of comparables but here are the closest :
Leafs trading for Andersen, who at the time was younger, had been performing better than Saros is now, and was signed to a 5 year deal rather than 2. He went for a late first and a second.
Dallas got a 5th round pick for Ben Bishop, who was one of the best goalies in the league at the time, for Cernak, Budaj and a 7th
Luongo (also one of the best goalies in the league at the time) and steven anthony (?) were traded for Shawn Mathias and Markstrom (when he was completely irrelevant, going on to do next to nothing for Vancouver).
San Jose paid a 5th for Dubnyk and a 7th after a stretch with Minnesota where he was one of the league's best goaltenders.
2 1sts and an A prospect? Take a step back and question whether that makes any sense at all.
FWIW Andersen did not have a new five year contract in place, at the time of his trade to TOR. The Leafs gave that to him day later. He wasn't performing better then, than Saros has been for the past few years. Andersen had lost his starter's job to Gibson, at the time.
I think you're mixing up a few of Bishop's trades. He was traded WITH a 5th by TBL for Cernak, Budaj & a 7th. He was a 30 year old rental at the time. DAL traded a 4th for his rights in the off-season.
Luongo was in his mid 30s at the time of that trade, and signed to a now illegal terrible contract that paid him into his 40s.
Dubnyk was a 34 year old cap dump having a terrible season, at the time of that trade.
Regardless of what the current market for star goalies might be, you've got Samsonov commanding a better return than Saros, which doesn't compute. He's coming off a good season playing with a strong team, but Saros has been consistently elite for a long time.