How can you have missed the point so completely?
I didn't say that a 3rd and a 4th round pick was the best offer, just as I didn't say Makar and 3 1sts was.
I said 'if', and they were both obviously extreme examples.
Neither one represents a 'different' principle. They are exactly the same - do what's best for the team.
Since, as I said, we don't know what was offered, we have no way to laud or lament his 'principle'.
The "floppiness" of "do what's best for the team" is exactly the problem.... you're chasing a constantly moving target, and making decisions in a shorsighted vacuum, rather than looking at the bigger picture.
Was signing Nylander for $11.5m better than losing him for nothing? Personally I don't think so, but I can see the arguement otherwise.
Regardless of which way you feel on that isolated question -- the bigger problem is that nobody had the foresight and guts to look at Nylander's impending contract situation, and say to themselves:
- Trading Nylander at the deadline is not going to be realistic -- playoff bound teams don't sell.
- Trading Nylander in August is not going to be realistic. Teams have for the most part made their bed for the year.
- I need to know what Nylander is going to cost me in June or very early July, and make an informed decision as to whether I want that or the package I can get in late June or early July.
I don't recall the rumoured offers for Nylander, but as I guy who was on a $7m 1-year deal with no trade protection, it seems highly likely that the Leafs could have gotten a 1st round pick + a top 6 forward or top 4 defenceman of a similar or younger age to Nylander.
If Nylander's price tag was going to be $11.5m,, I'd much rather have had that package then signing him to that deal. Now, if he had agreed to something that puts him in that $9m range, I think you could have argued the opposite... which is back to the whole principled management thing... make a determination that you need answers, and don't compromise on that. If Nylander isn't prepared to give you an answer you like, operate with decisivness, and don't put hte ball into his court.