1 season of Miller doesn't have that kind of value. It wouldn't be hard to say that 2 years of Nylander alone is more valuable than 1 of Miller. Comparatively, the LA trade is probably in the ballpark, if not a bit more, of what you could expect from Miller but you got Kerfoot as well from the Leafs.

Too much for Nylander.

so now the leafs need to add two top 6 forwards instead of 1 and then still cant afford to re-sign Miller next year. terrible for the leafs

Detroit passes, No need for Hoglander especially not a the price of Zadina.

Yeah I could handle zadina for hoglander

Why are the Kings paying for JT Miller's salary retention? With this return, the Kings should be getting 50% retention from Vancouver on Nylander and Toronto should be paying all of Miller's salary.

Gives the Leafs 8M in cap space and the best player involved in the trade.

so which two top 6 wingers can the leafs get for 8 mill in cap space? What happens when Miller regresses to his career average or worse because he's aging out of prime while Nylander is still an 80 point plus player for two years?
this is terrible for the leafs

2.6m for Miller and room to add. Pretty easy to see what the result of the trade.

ah yes, cap space, the magic solves everything answer. People love to bring cap space up but never have a solution to what happens if they cant sign another forward for whatever reason. So then they have to trade for one, ok, which one? and for how much? oh, and another one, and the bottom 6 depth, and goaltending.
the leafs arnt trading guys for cap space because cap space is only as valuable as what you fill it with. Miller isnt even a major upgrade on the cherriest of scenarios where he replaces Nylander and now they gotta worry about replacing Miller next summer too.

Miller is the best player in that trade. Sure Nylander has value at two years. Kerfoot is replaceable at a similar AAV or less. Dubas seems to do well in the that regard. There's room for a year flyer on a goalie as well. Certainly not looking beyond a year or two but Nylander only has two on his deal. It's not a crazy deal.

except that they dont just need to replace kerfoot, they need to bring in another top 6 winger to play on the Miller/tavares line. Then they need to bring in bottom 6 scoring which was their major issue in round one. and as for taking a flyer on a goalie, a good one is going to run them 4 mill easy. , not to mention their RFA's. The leafs need to add to Nylander, not trade him for a guy and then still need to add

Maybe a swap of Schenn for Holl solves even further cap challenges as well. In current state, it'll be tough to add alone without moving pieces out.

no, because the leafs dont need schenn, and again it's not about the cap, it's about the leafs needs. Just shipping out good players to clear cap doesnt fix the leafs issues, they need to add to their team and swapping good pieces for other good pieces doesnt get them anywhere.