I'm absolutely expecting the price will be two-three major assets plus cap dumps. Looking at the Eichel trade for example. And thats with Eichel having health issues.
My quibble with this thought is that I'm not sure if a single asset in the Eichel package was directly "major." Or if we are calling 2-3 of them 'major' then we need to consider that the NHL players being discussed as a return for Petey are 1-2 tiers above being a 'major' asset. Buffalo wanted three 1sts (or 1st equivalent) for Eichel and they got it. But they didn't get a stud NHL player plus two 1st round assets.
Tuch was a good NHL player, but he was a 25 year old who had only played at a 50+ point pace once in his career. He wasn't nearly the caliber player being floated as a return for Petey. The 1st was expected to be mid-late and Krebs was a really good (but not elite) prospect who wasn't NHL ready early in his D+3 season.
The 2nd and 3rd assets would have been a hell of a lot worse if you replace Tuch with a guy on par with the Kyrou, Dobson, Barzal, Larkin, etc that we've been hearing in the Petey discussion. Buffalo got their quantity of 1st round value assets that they were famously asking for. But that doesn't mean that every stud is worth three 1st value assets no matter how good the primary piece is. If Vancouver wants the second and third pieces to match the Eichel return, then they aren't also getting a high end NHL player. If they want a high end NHL player, then they aren't getting the second and third pieces that Buffalo got for Eichel.
Crafting a similar offer to the Eichel trade off our current assets, we're probably talking about Holloway, Snuggy, a 1st (top 10 protected), and something equivalent to a 2nd/3rd rounder. Holloway is currently pacing to match Tuch's career year at the time of the trade (his age 22 season). Tuch was about a year and a half older at the time of the trade than Holloway is now and both had mid-1st round pedigree. He was making $4.5M in year 3 of a 7 year deal. So more expensive, but more certainty than Holloway. Snuggy is pretty similarly positioned to where Krebs was as a prospect. Both in their D+3 season, both mid 1sts, both saw their stock rise post-draft, but neither had proven anything at the NHL level yet. Our 1st is probably viewed a bit more favorably than the Vegas pick at that point.
Kyrou, Dvorsky/Lindstein, and a 1st would be
massively more than Buffalo got for Eichel. Kyrou is substantially more valuable than Tuch was. Like, by a country mile. Dvorsky is more valuable than any single asset in the Eichel trade as well. Using Lindstein would get it closer, but the gap between Kyrou/Tuch is way bigger than the difference between Lindstein/Krebs.
