That trade you are proposing is sending out around 11 million aav for just next year. You need to find a team that has that type of cap space or a player making around 5-8m aav. Personally if you trade zi a, we would be in the EXACT same position as we started.. no center depth. The idea you have is great, trading buch, krieder, names/prospect like lindgren would be a great offer for a player. I'd love to try that offer for draisaitl but I doubt that happens. But we have a 1st line center in zibs. If we can get another like him for those players that I think we are set in our top 6 for a long time, but just understand by doing a trade like this you are exposing kratsov or kakko to 1st ki e duties that they might not be ready for. But if we can keep names he cou,d play on the 1st line. So it is possible.
I do realize that any package sending out Zibanejad still leaves us needing another top 6 center; but I disagree that it leaves us in the same position as right now. I see Zibanejad as a 60-70 point player moving forward for the duration of his prime, which he has already reached, IMO, at 26 years old. He may get a boost in point production due to the explosion of talent we are about to add around him, maybe he does hit 80+ points for the next couple years. But for all intents and purposes I view Zibanejad as more of a high-end #2, or at best a co-#1. Given what we have on the roster RIGHT NOW, I'm still looking for a true #1 center, the 80-100 point guy year-in, and year-out to grow with our core of wingers. If I can't find a true #1, I'm at least looking for another 1/2 tweener, which is what I envisioned guys like Zegras and Cozens to be -- extremely high #2s or lower end #1s -- capable of putting up 70-80 points but not the true, true elite top centers like Hughes, Byfield, Lafrieniere project to be.
Aho, or a guy like Aho, who scored 83 points last year at 21 years old, fits what I'm looking for way better than Zibanejad. I think it's realistic to believe that Aho puts up 100 points in the near future. I think for sure it's almost likely he becomes a 90+ point center and hits that mark a couple times in his career. To me, this is a step above Zibanejad pretty clearly.
If I can get Aho, then I don't need necessarily a Zibanejad or Zegras as my #2 center. It becomes way easier for me to find a second line center with a 20th overall pick next year. I can get a 50-60 point Derek Stepan type, and my team is built just fine. But pair Stepan with Zibanejad, and I'm still a little short on center resources.
So do I make that trade? Zibanejad+ for Aho? Depending on the plus, all day long. My search for a center to pair with Aho just got a lot easier than my search for a center to pair with Zibanejad.
Barring being able to get a true #1 guy like Aho -- and I think many of the reclamation project names or 2019 draft picks we've talked about (William Nylander, Alex Newhook, etc) fall short of that -- then of course I am not trading Zibanejad. I still think he very well may be "good enough" as a #1B center paired with another top guy to be determined, given our strength at wing.
