I think you accidentally traded for the 2010 version of Kovalchuk

Sold, with a Christmas card for a decade.

He is all in this year. You should look at what he is doing lately. I know he is a kind of rental but for a Was playoff run he could be interesting.

Gets Maclellan or whatever the phuck his name is fired.

2010 Kovalchuk has more value than that. Anyway, that's still a bad trade for the Caps. Even though Kovalchuk has been having an amazing performance with the Habs (THUS FAR), he's not worth a 1st and a very good prospect

Just a 1st OR Alexeyev for Kovalchuk is an overpayment

You could argue that he actually was traded for less in 2010:

Kovalchuk
Salmela
2nd

FOR

Cormier
Oduya
Bergfors
1st (Hayes)
2nd (Holl)

Solid offer on Gudas, but he's not for sale, and the Caps aren't throwing in picks.

edit: or their top prospect. Scandella, Folin and Kovalchuk for Gudas is fine though. I think Montreal wins it, on value, but it gives the Caps some interesting options, in terms of lines and pairings. Folin isn't close to Gudas. Folin is almost Djoos, in terms of age, style, and career stats up until this year. Djoos didn't make the Caps this year, but is on the top pain in the AHL. Kovalchuk, the Caps could have signed for nothing last week. Scandella isn't quite as good as Gudas, but if Montreal prefers Gudas, and is willing to add two usable players to upgrade, that sounds like something the Caps should look at.

You can't. The value was there, even if 3 or 4 of those pieces didn't pan out. At the time of the trade, that was a huge haul for Kovy.