Am I insane ?

[PTH]

OK, I know the answer will be yes, of course.

Now read the real question. ;-)
I made the following offer as a Mock GM, tell me what you think about it.
BTW: The guy has a major interest in Hossa, Perezhogin, Plekanec and Kilger... I tried to use this to make the offer more attractive :-) He also wanted to dump McInnis. Why not...

1) Your choice of Marcel Hossa or Perezhogin
2) Your choice of Plekanec or Kilger
3) Your choice of Oleg Petrov or Sergei Berezin
4) Your choice of Ward or Asham
5) Your choice of Traverse or Robidas
6) Your choice of Garon or Ribeiro

For Kariya, McInnis and your choice of Smirnov/ ( Popovic+3d rounder ) /
( option to flip 1st rounders at the draft OR we take your 2nd rounder - our call at the draft table )

If you want 2 from the same group (still for a total of 6 assets - but you can't take both the guys offered at #1 )
then I get to choose which of your assets I take in addition to Kariya and McInnis.

Markov is also available and could be worked in there somehow, at more cost to you, of course :-)

If I were you, I'd think that a Hossa, Plekanec, Berezin, Ward, Traverse and Garon offer would be best value.
-PTH

So, watcha think ?
If I were GM and this leaked out, would you want my head on a platter, or hope that Anaheim takes me up on he offer ?
My hope is that he wants both Plekanec and Kilger, which means I get to flip 1sts with him, thereby giving us a top 5 pick almost for sure... and a better chance at the playoffs for ourselves, with Kariya replacing Berezin or Petrov is the lineup - and little else is changed.

Anyone still with me ?

[BadCompany]

If I were a "real" NHL GM, I might be leery. But as a fantasy GM? I'd be all over it like a 16 year old with a fist full of dollars in a full contact strip club.

Of the guys you offered, only Kilger, Petrov/Berezin and Robidas/Traverse are in the NHL now. Only Ward and Asham, and maybe Garon have a chance at contributing in the next two years. Realistically guys like Hossa, Perezhoughin, Plekanec etc. are a good three years away from putting up great fantasy numbers, or even being impact NHLers. If they ever do. So you would lose Kilger, say Berezin and Robidas from your current roster, for Kariya and McInnis?

No brainer as far as I am concerned.

Even if your fantasy league is still going 5 years from now, when you might start to see Perezhoughin and Hossa and company outscoring Kariya, with the way mock GMs in fantasy leagues are always so eager to trade, you should have no trouble whatsoever recuperating your lost assets. If you haven't done so already Smirnov and/or the draft picks.

I'd do it.

[PTH]

BadCo - this is supposed to be a pretend GM thing, not a fantasy league or anything.

Why would you be leery ?

We lose 1 quality kid, loads of spare parts, to get a massive upgrade on a winger.
Dealing a quality kid is always risky, but I think it's a very reasonable risk... especially since we'd be getting some youth back as well.

[BadCompany]

I am always very leering of making such huge deals, to be honest with you, just because the potential for it to backfire is huge.

Hossa, Kilger, Berezin, Ward, Robidas, Garon

-for-

Kariya, McInnis, Smirnov and a chance to move up 7 or 8 spots in a poor draft year.

That seriously depletes our depth.

Kilger is replaced by McInnis, so thats all right.

Kariya is definetely an upgrade on Berezin, so that's all right as well.

But the rest?

You give up your two top AHL forwards in Hossa and Ward, meaning that you will have nobody to call up when injuries hit (given the good chance that Plekanec and Perezhoughin will still be in Europe next year, and Balej isn't even signed). You also give up your best AHL goalie. Yes, you still have Tarasov, but that means you will be more or less stuck with Hackett, because you have no backup for Theodore if he gets hurt. You could call up Tarasov, but then the Cits would REALLY have no goalie. Luc Belanger played nice for them and all, but they still really plummented in the standings when Tarasov was out and Garon was in the NHL. You could try to pick up a backup NHL goalie, and those are easy to do, but thats another asset that you would have to deal to complete this trade.

So the Cits are going to suck next year. I have always been of the belief that winning atmosphere's are much better for prospects than losing ones. You have no forward prospects worthy of a callup (unless you want to go back to Patrick Poulin and Craig Darby) and you have traded Robidas, your only spare right handed defenceman. If Brisebois, Rivet, or Quintal get hurt (what are the odds of that happening in Montreal?) then one of Hainsey, Jarventie or Descoteaux will have to play on their wrong wing. We saw how badly Robidas reacted to that.

I am not saying that I wouldn't do it. Just that I would be leery. Montreal is a team that is only now starting to recover from the depth problems it had in the past (and we don't have "depth" now, we have an NHL team - don't confuse that with "depth") and in this deal you trade away 3 regular NHLers (Berezin, Robidas and Kilger) and 3 top prospects (Hossa, Garon and Ward). In return you get two NHLers, and 1 prospect. That's a net loss in the depth department in my books, and it puts a lot of eggs into one basket. What happens if Koivu gets hurt next year? Kilger is gone, Hossa is gone, Ward is gone, who do you call up? Who backs up Tarasov in the AHL? Who plays on their wrong side when Brisebois' back acts up? Who provides the muscle to protect Kariya?

I don't know. I'd be leery.

[PTH]

Thx for your thoughts....

It's a tough balance - organisational depth overall, enough NHL depth to survive injuries but not so much that you have waiver problems, having a strong AHL Club, and finding a way to win at the NHL level while you're at it.

I think the trade would be good, but I can very much see why you'd be leery. But I think the top-5 players in an organisation are what defines it. I'd rather have Poulin and Kariya on the roster, with a waiver call-up as an injury replacement, than have Berezin and Asham with Hossa as a call-up.

I really see your point though.

[MPLABBE]

PTH,in what kind of a fantasy league are you in?


Man,I never thought it could be so complicated!

[PTH]

Nah, it's just me making an over-complicated offer