Yeah, no. Necas has more value than buch. 6 fewer points in 3 fewer games while being 3 years younger? You can't even argue it's because Buch has a bad team around him because Carolina have been a team where offense goes to die for their entire existance. Morrow could be involved if in a package for Buch if we miss out on Pettersson, but Necas is just the more valuable player for me.

buch also has better defensive play and is still ahead of necas in a down year. Not to mention he scores more goals. Buch will likely have half of his salary retained for next year putting him at 2.9 million per year. Meanwhile necas is one of many FA's the canes will want to resign and he will likely get 6-7.5 million per year.

Yeah it's a no from the Rangers. But could very possibly do a 4th.

C'mon now -- what are the chances that either Stancl or the kid picked with the late third play 181 games in the NHL?

Canes pass. If you make necas a 1st and Gunler instead, sure. The asking price for buch is equivalent of 2 1sts.

I think you could see Morrow moved for Buch but no way they add Necas. They’ll try to keep all the offense they can for a run. So I’d imagine they want to finish the deal with draft capital.

Morrow and picks for Buch retained or not

Tampa Bay might have an interest in Kapanen half retained for a 3rd or a 4th. But they'd have zero interest in Perunovich.

A 24 year old explosive winger with PPG upside or a 70 point winger for 18 months? I'd still rather have Necas

You seem to skew things to fit a narrative quite a bit. Not advocating for the trade for Carolina. But it's disingenuous to say alot of the reasoning you're saying. Team doesn't really matter, but for the sake of this exercise. Carolina is the 12th best GF/G in the NHL, St. Louis is 24th. Doesn't matter though because all of our offense is concentrated on one line anyways.

You like to mention stats in tenses where it sheds light to fit a time frame. For reference "24 year old explosive winger with PPG upside" I could very easily label that as a 24 year old inconsistent winger. Versus Buch who is a "70 point winger" whereas in all reality he's been a PPG winger for the last 3 seasons versus Necas having a .71 PPG over the last 3 seasons.

Necas is on pace for another 65-70 point season, second consecutive... hard to say "inconsistent". Buch hasn't been ppg, he's never had an 80 point season. His injury issues will stop him from getting there. Plus this year, he's struggling to get even that. You point to team success, but neglect to mention Necas is playing with Jack Drury and Stefan Noesen and still on a 65 point pace. This isn't narrative, it's how they've performed this year. Necas is clearly the more valuable player between the two