Of course people will chalk it up to a vendetta, but I don't think Bergy did all that great.
and they would be right...
Tatar at his best is kinda meh, and doesn't fit into their long term plans, and is coming off a finals run where the team didn't even feel he was good enough to dress.
Tatar was a tire fire last year, I'm not going to argue any different. But it's the first down year of his career and he's been a consistent top 6 level performer his entire career until last season. Excellent possession and xGF numbers as well. So the puck goes in the right direction when he's on the ice. Offensively he's a stop down from Max Pac, but only just a step. Max is a 2.0-2.1 P/60 guy usually and Tatar is a 1.70-1.80 guy usually. Tatar is also under control for the next 3 years for 4.8 million.
Tatar was used for most of his time in Detroit as a winger on the key match up line, and has pretty solid numbers in that difficult usage. Nice player.
The 2nd is nice, but it likely doesn't become anything to write home about in the best of cases, and with this management group is almost assured of being a bust.
PK Subban was a 2nd rounder, drafted by this management group. I'm not going to defend their drafting, because it's generally been pretty shit, but a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. You can't downplay the value of the 2nd just because.
So it's all riding on Suzuki, and is he all that? I don't know, but I wouldn't be so thrilled if the Leafs were trading JVR under similar circumstances and that's the return we got.
Well let's be clear here, that's largely due to your borderline sexual feelings about JVR. Nick Suzuki is as close to a stud prospect as you're ever going to see move in a NHL trade. To give you an idea of how skilled he is:
D+1 Season PPG:
Kadri - 1.66
Suzuki - 1.56
Keep in mind that Kadri was old for his draft class (october birthday, so he was 18 yrs & 9 months at the time of his draft), and Suzuki was one of the youngest players in his draft class (He was 17yrs and 11 months at the time of his draft). If you age adjust for this, all of a sudden you're comparing Kadri's 17 yr old season to Suzuki's
Kadri - 1.39
Suzuki - 1.56
and Suzuki's skating is way better than Kadri's was at the same age. Just a really high end prospect with a floor of being an above average #2 with, with a mid tier #1C max upside imo.
Meanwhile, Vegas turns a guy that they didn't even want to play into a guy who could, and should (he's young enough, so health is the only real issue), rebound back into 30+ goal guy form, especially on a pretty good team for once. And they signed him to a fair dollars deal, and a great deal from the standpoint of contract length (taking advantage of his health issues and down year). The only value they had to part with was a prospect and a 2nd to do it (whatever they gave up for Tatar is in the past and irrelevant). Plus, they get one more year of dirt cheap Max before the extension kicks in.
Okay...but the extension is paying Max on the back 9. So they just traded a stud prospect and a 2nd (not to mention a useful top 6 winger under control for the rest of his prime) for the honour of paying Max 7 million a year to maybe bounce back, and maybe not decline between the ages of 30-34. Yeah, Max was a 35 goal scorer during his prime. He's now currently exiting his physical prime though. How many times to we have to see these non elite guys signed at 30 yrs old, only to watch them decline in their early 30's before we figure out that it's a bad bet? James Neal, Scott Hartnell, Patrick Sharp, Pominville, Backes, etc, etc.
It's the same reason letting JVR walk was the right one. Paying non elite guys approaching 30 is usually a bad idea.
If Suzuki was some kind of can't miss guy, then I'd like the deal from Montreal's vantage point.
Suzuki is a can't miss guy. He's a #2C at minimum.
