The return for Stepan would have been great if we drafted an elite first line level talent at 7. The trade in itself was good. While we drafted a good glue type player who will play for us in all situations very similar to Stepan in that regard actually, we did not get elite talent for Stepan. Funny that the reason Stepan isn’t an elite player is he can’t skate. Lias is an even worse skater, so there similarities continue. Has a long way to go to improve there but he has time. I do have hope for DeAngelo though. I liked that part of the deal.
The return for Mcdonagh is very strong. Howden and Hajek are huge talents and the picks are what you’d want. The Miller for Namestnikov part of the deal is a complete loss for a rebuilding team. Just a horrible move by Gorton to include him. And make no mistake it was a separate part of the trade both Gorton and Yzerman confirmed that.
It's hard to say.
Sure, it sucks we didn't draft an elite talent at #7, but the Lias pick allowed us to take a big swing on Chytil that is looking very promising.
Without that #7 pick, I'm not certain Gorts gambles on Chytil. If we only had one first, it had to be a sure thing. With gaining that #7, we were able to successfully double dip. Chytil, ten days away from being eligible for this upcoming draft (and likely would've been top-10), is like gaining two top-10 picks from the 2017 draft.
Sure--in retrospect, we could've taken a bit more of a risk on the #7. Vilardi, Suzuki, Liljegren, and Mittelstadt..some of those may have been flashier picks. Rangers supposedly really liked Makar and Pettersson. But they had to revisit after they were selected, and they went for more of a sure thing with the top 10.
Our pool desperately needed it.
As for Miller, I wasn't a fan of that move. Still, Namestnikov looked similar, so if you consider it as Miller for Nams+2nd that could be a 1st, that looks like a potentially good move for us. Nams' 2-way play was something we needed. Unfortunately, Miller fit in well on TBs top line and Nams is lagging. But let's see what hapens.
Look at where we were a year ago.
Through trade, signings, and draft, we added Andersson, Chytil, Howden, Hajek, DeAngelo, O'Gara, Pionk, Lindgren, Bereglazov, Bigras, Sproul, Lettieri...all in the last 12 months. Never mind that Virta, Ronning, and Gettinger have even had some promising seasons.
Our pool is looking way better.