In no world is Willander going to be available in a Buchnevich offer. I imagine VAN would do this offer if you did subtract him though

The Blues are not retaining 23M. And they're not spending their 1st on a winger or a small Dman who can't defend well. Most importantly, they are not doing a tear down rebuild.

Kind off odd to think the Blues would retain a total of $9,000,000 over 3 years for Binnington.
I'm not a big fan in general of this trade for both sides. Binningtoin is pretty average with a bad season last year, a meh season before and this year he's average.
Blues might want to keep him because they were close to qualify for the playoffs and might want to keep core players like him. A rebuild now seems not like the right way for them.
The retentions seem not reasonable at all.
By giving up a top prospect with Kaliyev/Turcotte (preferably Kaliyev) it seems like there is one pick too many still, that the Kings would have to give up

Heh. Binnington was "average" this year? And "bad" last year? I'm super confused, because it seems like you're not judging off stats, but you cannot possibly have watched him play.

That said, you somehow covered the Blues attitude toward such a trade quite well.

Im sorry what? Did you just call Willander a Small dman who cant defend well LMAO, he's 6'1 that's not small. The best aspect of his game is his defensive game lol.

He’s wrong about Binnington being meh this year as he’s been great this year, but Binnington was bad in 22/23 and 21/22

I assume he’s calling Cole Hutson a small dman who can’t defend well as in the description the OP has the Blues taking him round 1

-I think the retention is just too heavy here. I get that it doesn't make sense for the Kings to take Binnington at $6M; but I also think they could find a goalie of similar caliber for less of a package. Maybe you call up Vegas and see if they'd be willing to clear Adin Hill's $4.9M now that Logan Thomson looks capable of being a #1 on a sub-$800K deal. Maybe you talk to Barry Trotz and see what you'd have to add to this to get Juuse Saros. Maybe you just keep Cam Talbot (2.46 GAA/.915 SV%) and offer him the $3M you'd be paying Binnington here. Whichever way you go, I think there are much simpler and/or cheaper options for the Kings to pursue - paying for that much retention just doesn't make sense to me.

-I could see the Panthers doing this but I also think they have more pressing needs - this summer they've got just over $20M in space with 7 F / 5 D / 2 G signed. D-wise, they've got a top pair (Ekblad/Forsling), a #4/5 type (Mikkola), and a pair of #6/7 types (Balinskis/Bjornfot.) I think they probably focus on the forward group first and settle for a top-heavy D corps if they run out of space - I also think 3 years of $3.25M is a ton of money to eat for a mere 2nd round pick on the Blues side of the equation.

-I am super intrigued by this deal, honestly. Ballparking the draft pick value basically has Vancouver giving up the equivalent of a mid/late 2nd round pick, in addition to Podkolzin (change of scenery needed) and Wallinder and they upgrade Mikheyev into Buchnevich with 50% retention. Canucks turn a 30 point middle-6er into a 65-70 point top line winger while saving $1.875M in 2024-25; St. Louis gets a little extra draft capital and a good prospect in return.

Really depends on where Vancouver thinks they are. If they think their window is right now, I make the move - you're giving up on a guy who could be a big deal but is still 2-3 years away from being in the NHL. Buch is still young enough that you could give him a JT Miller extension and get good value out of it; I honestly think it's a worthwhile gamble. I think it's a pretty solid deal for both sides.

No, I was referring to drafting Hutson.

Binnington was nearly as good in 22-23 as he has been in 23-24. The calamitous, almost traitorous play by forwards and Dmen in front of him (including 30 goals kicked/batted/gloved/deflected past him by teammates and too many open back door taps to count) made him look bad in stats. In 21-22, he was lights out at the start and at the end (including the playoffs), but completely lost his mechanics from November to March. He was tough to watch then and I was just about ready to give up on him. Since April of 22, he has mostly been outstanding, with some odd stinkers thrown in for good measure.

Conversely, most people thought he was really good in 20-21, but he was actually super hot and cold that season, and nowhere near as good as people made him out to be. The moral of the story, stats don't always tell the right story, even the objective ones.

Not doing the first trade

the next two however? maybe, id rather just not have Mikyeve in there though since we have saad