Toews

My god. Capfriendly really should delete this feature. And it's all because of trades like this.
Potentially losing 2 first rounders, Ryan Strome AND top prospect in Lundkvist for Jonathan Toews??! What is wrong with you.

Puts a lot of pressure on Kakko, Gauthier, and Kravstov to produce -- that RW depth could work out in a couple of years, but I would not be confident in it going into next season.

TBF Im happy you feel its an overpay, you gotta remember Im doing this from the perspective of a Rangers fan. I think the fact that were making the Hawks retain (at minimum) 3 million will cost us something extra.

To me Strome doesnt have much value, whatever value he does have is tied to Panarin. Lundkvist and the 1st potentially are the only thing of significant value here.

So heres the thing, will there actually be pressure? Kakko will have Toews and Panarin to essentially hold his hand and guide him, you couldnt ask for a better pair to guide a potential young stud. Kakko has a year under his belt, a tough one at that, but he knows what to expect now. Kravtsov is a bit more of a wild card. His ceiling is pretty high though and I think his confidence would roll high if he knew he would line up with Zibanejad and the 1st overall pick LaFreniere. I think there would be more pressure on Zibanejad to lift up these kids, but I think he can shoulder the weight. The third line I feel like Chytil needs to be surrounded by strong physical players, because he isnt. I think it should help open up the ice a bit for him, but also would be a learning curve for him to understand how to use that big frame of his a bit better.

From a Rangers fan perspective then: what would be the logical reason to trade away key pieces for future right in the middle of what looks like an extremely successful rebuild? Acquiring someone like Toews makes absolutely no sense what so ever.