We have people complaining about giving up first round picks, and we have people comfortable with giving away the player we just picked with our highest pick in years mere months after the draft.
Talk about two different sides of the extreme. In terms of future assets, Raymond and Seider are the two pieces we can least afford to move right now, but in the same breath, not having the gut to give up a first round pick to get a high end talent, 22 year old center that we can plug and play in our top 6 for the long term future is not the way to build a team either.
Just so everyone is clear, this is the appropriate valuation of assets. Young high end NHL player > young high end prospect > first round pick.
Raymond was a lottery level talent, the odds of you picking in the top 3 is not the betting favorite, the players available at #4 or later in the upcoming draft is probably not as good of a prospect as Raymond, even if they play a higher value position.
So, we shouldn't discard Raymond in order to keep a first round pick and HOPE we get a better player. And we shouldn't pass on a player like PLD just because the Jackets might want a first round pick in return. There's a balance that we can strike that falls in the middle.