You're getting a lot of crap for this proposal, but from a Vancouver perspective I think it's at the very least tempting. We're pretty set in terms of young forwards, with Petey, Brock, Bo, Miller, Gaudette and Pearson all being 27 or younger, and with a pretty solid glut of good forward prospects on the way in Madden, Lind, Hoglander and Podkolzin. While I think it would be kinda foolish to sell on Virtanen right when he looks to be breaking out, it's not like we don't have the pieces to make up for it. Bottom line is that we do have the young forward depth to make a deal.
Juolevi has certainly has his struggles, but he's playing well in the farm right now. Basically I see his value being pretty equal to Andersson's right now. That said, Juolevi probably fills more of a need for us than Andersson, as we're pretty light on D prospects. If possible I'd rather eliminate this part of the deal entirely.
The one area where we're really lacking is on the blueline, particularly on the right side. As it stands right now, our right side looks something like this...
Myers
Tanev
Stetcher
Rafferty
Tryamkin(?)
Woo
Rathbone
Myers simply isn't a top pairing guy, and in a handful of days he'll be on the wrong side of 30. Tanev is at a similar age, and despite being healthy this season, has been pretty much made of glass for most of his tenure here. And again, not a top pairing guy. Stetcher is a warrior, but he is what he is. A 4-5 Dman. Rafferty is putting up amazing numbers in the AHL, but he is 24, and that needs to be taken into consideration. Tryamkin is a massive question mark, as are Woo and Rathbone.
Bottom line is we need a top pairing gamebreaker to put the finishing touches on our rebuild, and when I see a 19 year old defenseman with 21 points in 29 games, it's difficult not to drool.
Because I consider Juolevi/Andersson to be a wash, I look at this deal as Virtanen/1st rd pick for Lundkvist. I'm skeptical because, like I said before, we'd be selling low on Virtanen, so I might pass, but it certainly would address our most dire need. I think it's a fair proposal.