This trade, like all trades, should be judged by the info at the time of the trade and the aims/goals of the trade. To judege a trade by what happens after makes sense in some ways, but is also folly. There is always a random element to all trades and players so "resulting" (judging by the result rahter than the data at the time) is a statistical and strategic error.
The sharks have a 1-2 C. They also have a small army of potential top 6 forwards. They also have a potential top pairing D (dickinson) and another in Mukh. They had NOTHING, like really, truly, nothing in net. There are only so many forwards, so many D, and so many goalies that can fill a roster. If I had 25 great forwards and no D and no G, then of course Im gunna trade forwards to get those other positions. The sharks have celly, smith and musty likely to make the team ahead of edstrom (bystedt and maybe haltunnen or cherny too among others). The sharks arent going to have 7 ELC top nine forwards in the lineup on a nightly basis. SImply put, there wasnt a whole lot of space for edstrom, kinda like there wasnt a whole lot of space for Askarov in nashville.
So Nashville adds a forward (and a pick) that fill holes in their system and for whom there will be space in 2-3 years when they are needed. The sharks fill a hole that needed now with clear space to utilize that player at the NHL level. Its an obvious win win...
As for the pick, I expect VGK to make the PO's in the lower end (or miss closely). So, I expect the pick in the 16-20 range, but would not be shocked in the 12-15 range just like what happened with Pit. I also wouldnt be surprised to the pick in the 21-25 range as well. top 10 would be surprising as would bottom 10.
Of course, I wish the sharks could have kept that pick. Then they could add a top end D and another top end F, just like they did this year. But, I would rather have a top end G than another top end F (or D), so I take that tradeoff...
Truth is, objectively, the sharks now have high end prospects at all positions, and they have many many prospects that may move up on those top 100 lists, as I think guys like Pohlcamp may really surpise people. Noone talks about misskey or roberts either, so who knows.
This year is a big development year, and will give grier alot of clarity on what he has, so he can go forward with even more clarity in building a competitive roster.
Remember, every year, presupposed surefire studs flame out and lowly ranked overlooked guys suddenly emerge. This year will be no exception. Maybe Dick has a terrible year in london and pohlcamp competes for the hobey baker (semi-facetious there). How will Wetsch do? Misskey? Roberts? Svoboda or Klee in their freshman years and Lund in his junior year? LSW and havelid playing against men in sweden? Cardwell, Gush, or one of the other semi-forgotten prospect "veterans"? Graf or some other unepexted College or Euro free agent? And of course dylandrea or grundstrom stepping up in the NHL? So many things can happen, so we'll know soon...