Oh so now a rental Martin Erat is Patrick Kane for three years.

Also, forsberg has never been half as good as Kane

Relative to team, though? Martin Erat was the 2nd leading scorer in Predators history to that point. http://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters?reportType=season&seasonFrom=19871988&seasonTo=20122013&gameType=2&playerPlayedFor=franchise.34&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points&page=0&pageSize=100

Kane right now is just 4th all time on the Hawks.

But that Erat trade is still the worst in Caps history, so Caps fans tend to take it as a cautionary tale against overrating a thirty-something guy enough to give up a top propsect for him.

Mcdavid is probably the 20th leading scorer in Oilers history.

Erat>mcdavid?

Apparently not.

What does that even mean?

You know Ovechkin is older than Kane right? Better to have them both now than if/when McMichael reaches that high level and Ovechkin likely has lost a step.

I personally think McMichael is within spitting distance of Lafreniere for rookie of the year this year. Nobody's going to bid that high on Kane. One players have any PR issues, their trade value drops precipitiously. See: Kuznetsov, Evgeny.

He might be in the same class as Laf for top rookie next season, he certainly has lots of potential but if the argument is what's going to yield the best immediate results playing with Ovechkin it's Kane right now and that's worth paying a premium for given the circumstances. With an aging Ovechkin, are you willing to trade future wins for wins right now before he inevitably loses a step? I would argue you should.

I see a post-Ovechkin top-nine of Vrana Backstrom Wilson, McMichael Kuznetsov Oshie, Protas, Eller, Panik. It might turn out they're still pretty decent.