Quoting: BurgerBoss
With that logic, TB should trade Steven Stamkos in exchange to Justin Williams because his performance in the playoffs were better.
Barkov's TOP3 2-way player in the league, TOP5 C with a 96-point season under him in a worse team than WSH and also only 23 years old.
Kuznetsov's barely a TOP15 C, possibly not even that, under a 72 point season in a better team and just got caught from using cocaine during a national competition.
Despite Kuznetsov had a terrific playoff run a year ago, his current value isn't even a half of what Barkov's value is.
Just look at these charts from last 3 years. According to them, there's not a single part of the game where Kuznetsov edges Barkov.
Usually if one guy leads his team by a ton of points, it seems like he did more of the work, because he was probably double-covered, so Stamkos getting 18 points in the 2015 playoffs is just as impressive as Justin WIlliams getting 25 in '14, when Kopitar and Carter got just as many. Similarly, I know Kuznetsov played with Ovechkin, but he also had to carry someone most of this board insisted was a fourth line right wing on any good team, on that line.
I'm more impressed that Barkov was tenth in the league in points last year than that he got a ninety point season when his linemate had four fewer points, in a year that produced three times as many ninety point seasons (14) as the previous ten year average (4.6).
My main point is the Caps aren't giving Kuznetsov away, while he's going through some hard times. They have five other centers on their roster and they'll give him a sweater as soon as he's ready.
If my value on the above trade is off by a pick or something, it really doesn't change that.