I do wonder what would happen though.
Miller very well could still be doing the 25 goal, 45-50 point thing here, while Buch could be doing the 30 goal, 70+ point thing somewhere else and we'd be right back to saying, "I wish we'd moved Miller and held onto Buch."
And beyond production, we still would've have to give Miller something comparable to his current deal. Assuming we didn't deal him anyway, because of said contract demands, there's a good possibility he's dealt if we pursue Panarin. Either that or Kreider is moved, because I don't think they'd have Panarin, Kreider and Miller all on this roster at their current salaries.
That's one of the things that often gets overlooked in some of these deals. We didn't trade guys who had multiple years left on established deals, we traded guys who were coming up on some degree of free agency and who all got raises upon leaving the Rangers.
McD and Miller alone would be $13 million, so there goes Panarin right there.
Separate from that, Hayes would push that total up above $20 million. We keep anywhere from 1-3 of those guys, and this is a very different roster, albeit not necessary a better one.
