Show me any player in recent times that got this much for them.
That is 4 1st rounders, and high 2nd rounder and more.
It is insane. What player has gotten 5-6 high end assets any time recently. Prices are always way less than HF makes them out to be.
There isn't an example. The reason being that players like Pettersson with term on their contracts
don't get traded, period. If one becomes available, and they very rarely do (and most often on expiring contracts), then you have to pony up if you want them. The Wings have been bridesmaids too often in the past decade and a half, it's long past time they become the bride. Nothing insane about paying a big price to lock down an elite 1C for the foreseeable future. Especially considering it's been the one significant and vital piece that has eluded us so far in this rebuild. MBN, Augustine, Kasper/Danielson and the 1sts are unlikely to join hands and make a Power Rangers-like transformation into an elite 1C.
With that trade, our rebuild would no longer appear to hinge on one of Kasper/Danielson developing into a top 6 C, and the one that doesn't get traded would make a great 3C (seriously, Pettersson-Larkin-Kasper/Danielson is a hell of a top 3). Augustine is redundant with Cossa, you don't need 2 high-end goalies. And MBN plus two likely mid-late 1sts are ultimately replaceable.
The closest recent-ish comparable I can find was Ryan O'Reilly, a far lesser player than Pettersson who was older and on the back half of his career, going for two NHL roster players in Berglund and Sobotka, Tage Thompson, a 1st rd pick, and a 2nd rd pick. And would you look at that, despite paying a big price St Louis ended up winning the Cup. Do you think they're regretting not having Thompson and that 1st round pick now? Paying the package I suggested similarly leaves Detroit in a better position now and going forward. The pieces we'd be giving up are far easier to acquire through other means than a player like Pettersson.
The people saying they'd offer Kasper plus a 1st are the ones who are detached from reality. May as well save your breath if you're going to offer that, you're not getting a young, elite 1C with term for a prospect and a mid-first (possibly a late 1st depending on how much Pettersson would improve the team). And I'd be willing to bet a lot of the people who would make such a joke of an offer will also fault Yzerman for not getting a 1C.
With the trade I proposed, we could be looking at this in a couple years:
Berggren-Pettersson-Raymond
Debrincat-Larkin-XXX
Rasmussen-Kasper/Danielson-XXX
Veleno-Compher-Motte
Edvinsson-Seider
XXX-ASP
Johansson-XXX
Cossa
The defensive XXXs could be filled internally by Wallinder, Buium, or Tuomisto. The forward XXXs could be filled internally by Buchelnikov, Mazur, LDN, Plante, Kiiskinen, Finnie, Lombardi, Becher, Soderblom. Anything else can be acquired relatively cheaply in trade or free agency.
I'd much rather be in that position than still having MBN, both Kasper and Danielson, Augustine, and those two 1sts and still scratching our heads wondering how the hell we'll ever get an elite 1C. Pettersson, Larkin, Raymond, Seider, Edvinsson, ASP, Cossa. That's a core you can build a championship contender out of.
